Posted: November 19th, 2011 | Author: Michael Courtenay | Filed under: Blip, Hard Pill to Swallow, Media, News, Television | Tags: australia, Business News, Channel Nine, Indeep Media, Media, Television, Television Network | Comments Off
Australia: The owners of television network Nine Entertainment are meeting bankers to seek more time to pay off debts of more than $2.7 billion. Media analysts predict the owners, private equity firm CVC Asia Pacific, will get short shrift, which means the network is one step closer to a crisis not seen since entrepreneur Alan Bond took Nine to the brink of financial ruin. Shareholder activist Stephen Mayne says TV network owners have a habit of borrowing too much money. That, in hindsight, seems to be the problem besetting Nine. A few weeks ago Channel Seven owner Kerry Stokes was predicting that within a year the business would be owned by the banks. Media analyst Roger Coleman from CCZ Equities agrees, saying there have simply been too many lean years in the business cycle for CVC. Nine is hoping for a two-year extension of the debts, but Mr Coleman says it is unlikely given the current uncertain economic climate. He says while there are some assets that could be sold, including Ticketek and Acer Arena, CVC would have to keep the media businesses – website NineMSN, magazine publisher ACP and Channel Nine – together. READ MORE
Posted: November 11th, 2011 | Author: Michael Courtenay | Filed under: Bailout, Digital Media, Favorite New Thought . . ., Media, Michael Courtenay, Online Media, Print Media, Social Media, Socially Engineered, Standout | Tags: Digital Media, Fairfax Family, Fairfax Media, Favorite New Thought . . ., From The Web, Indeep Media, Media, News Ltd, Online Media, Standout | Comments Off
Today sees the end of an era at Fairfax Media, and Australian newspaper publishing, as the family that built the countries first publishing empire announced it had sold its remaining stake in the company. The news affirms that the demise of paper publications is set to become chronic. People can now easily and freely access news from virtually anywhere in the world using digital media via phones, tablets and computers, leaving the humble broadsheet close to redundant. Printed newspapers and magazines continue to struggle on both the standard measures, circulation and copies sold, as the industry waits hand in pocket, for a combined readership measure for both print and digital editions, hold your breath, it’s coming, really it is? And while the Fairfax family might have shed it’s under-performing publishing stock, those still sat around boardrooms must have some serious scowls, the Audit Bureau of Circulation figures for the September quarter contained little good news for either of the major Australian publishers, News Ltd or Fairfax Media. News Ltd’s Sydney Morning Herald saw its overall circulation shrinking by almost 5 percent in the quarter, while News Ltd’s weekend editions copped a steep fall of close to 8 percent. The Fairfax model for publishing has missed several key opportunities over the past decade, positioned well 5 years ago, Fairfax Digital should have become the companies flagship, instead the group made several bad attempts at resuscitating it’s print business? oops! M★C READ MORE
