ACCC waves through Skydance merger, Paramount devalues Ten licenses
Paramount Global has marked down the financial value of Network 10’s television licences by close to 40%, at the same time revealing the ACCC has waved through its merger with Skydance in Australia.
In a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission first reported in Capital Brief, Paramount slashed its valuation of the Australian licences by A$12.7 million, to A$20.7 million.
Paramount said the new figure represents the licences “estimated fair value”. According to Network 10’s Australian accountants, even this price overvalues them: it wrote down the licenses to zero in December, after posting a $322m annual loss.
The global filing also revealed that competition watchdog the ACCC had no objections locally to Paramount’s proposed merger with entertainment giant Skydance.
The free-to-air networks have long argued for the removal of a commercial broadcasting tax that cost the three free-to-air stations a combined $45 million a year.
The tax is the latest iteration of what has traditionally been known as a “spectrum tax”, introduced in 1964 as a percentage of TV revenues, in exchange for access to the broadcast spectrum.
In 2017, regulatory reforms saw the 4.5% gross revenue licence fee replaced with a flat tax (the CBT), and positioned as an ‘interim’ measure for a five-year period, but which the three stations argued was just as outmoded.
Seven news boss Anthony De Ceglie told Mumbrella last year that, given it produces ten-hour of free-to-air news a day, the commercial broadcasting tax is effectively “a tax on journalism”.
He used a Melbourne Press Club address last October to rally against the “archaic broadcast tax, designed 60 years ago during an era of super profits that simply no longer exist”.
The government recently suspended the commercial broadcasting tax for a year. Nine’s acting-CEO Matt Stanton told investors this week the twelve-month pause will save the company $15 million.
Paramount’s markdown of Network 10’s licences comes as it navigates a sale to film production studio Skydance Pictures – owned by billionaire Larry Ellison.
The deal was announced last July, but has hit roadblocks in the US, with The Center for American Rights petitioning the FCC to block the sale, over fears of Chinese investment in Skydance Media.
The ACCC confirmed to Capital Brief it approved the deal in December 2024, concluding there was such “a low risk that the transaction would breach section 50 of the Competition and Consumer Act” — which blocks mergers or takeovers that would substantially lessen competition in a market — that a public review was unnecessary.
Both Paramount and Skydance expect the deal to close within the first half of the calendar year.
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I think that you would find that the ‘spectrum tax’ is that the FTAs should be paying at least ‘some amount’ for usage of the broadcast spectrum that they have exclusively without paying … hence the ‘tax’ is a flexible contribution (based on profit I think) to bolster their annual profit.
Do you pay for your streaming or get it free? I didn’t think so.
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