Ten confirms program deal with WIN with increased affiliate fee
Anderson has squeezed a higher affiliate fee from WIN compared with its previous deal with SCA
Ten has confirmed its long-expected content deal with Bruce Gordon’s WIN Network, completing a redrawing of regional TV’s borders ignited by WIN’s legal bid to prevent the Nine Entertainment Co., from streaming content into its region.
Gordon is a major shareholder in Ten with a 14.99% stake in the network.
The longstanding relationship between WIN and Nine came to an acrimonious end when Nine dumped WIN in favour of a new agreement with Southern Cross Australia that saw SCA agree to pay Nine 50% of its ad revenues.
The announcement of Nine dumping WIN came just days after the Federal Court ruled in favour of Nine being allowed to stream its 9Now service into WIN’s broadcast areas.
The case highlighted the tense relationship between Nine and WIN and came after WIN narrowly avoided going off-air in December only after Nine agreed to extend the affiliate agreement at the last minute.
With WIN lacking a major network content partner, Ten has squeezed a higher affiliation fee from the regional broadcaster compared with what it was getting from SCA before Nine moved in.
However, Ten would not reveal the fee, which is a percentage of WIN’s revenue, other than to confirm it is a higher fee than previously paid by SCA.
The new arrangement with Ten begin July 1 and will extend the reach of Ten’s programming to six million viewers across 23 markets in Queensland, Southern NSW, Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia, Western Australia and the ACT.
Ten CEO, Paul Anderson, said WIN was a committed regional broadcaster.
“WIN’s strength in regional Australia, particularly its unmatched commitment to local regional news, combined with Ten’s growing audience will deliver a great experience for both viewers and advertisers,” Anderson said.
“Ongoing collaboration between us will continue to strengthen our services and we look forward to a strong partnership for years to come.”
Gordon said that as a major shareholder in Ten he saw a strong future together.
“As one of the largest and one of the longest-standing shareholders in Ten, I am absolutely delighted to formally partner with Ten in WIN Network’s markets throughout regional Australia,” Gordon said.
“I am very confident in Ten’s strategy and resulting audience growth and look forward to working with Ten’s management and board to continue to grow both businesses.
WIN CEO, Andrew Lancaster, said WIN’s advertisers would benefit from having a network “whose audiences are heading in the right direction.’
