Acquiring a regional broadcaster ‘not high on priority list’ claims Nine CEO Hugh Marks
Marks: “What does adding an acquisition of regional Australia add to us as a content business? Perhaps very little”
The CEO of Nine Entertainment Co., Hugh Marks, has poured cold water on the idea the network is keen to do a deal to merge with a regional broadcaster saying he thought it would add “very little” to its current operations.
Speaking at the latest round of hearings in the Senate Inquiry into media reform Marks said the company had pivoted from a broadcast to a content business which had become platform agnostic. Nine has been linked with a deal with regional broadcaster and radio player Southern Cross Austereo in recent months.
When asked how big a priority acquiring a regional broadcaster is for the company, Marks said: “What does adding an acquisition of regional Australia add to us as a content business? Perhaps very little. We run this company as a content business which is focused on expanding the number of platforms on which we provide content; the business models around that.
“I would love to have the funds available to be able to do some of the things the ABC has done”.
Looking at some recently available financial data, in 2014 Nine’s revenue was $1, 228 million. The ABC’s 2014-2015 funding was $1,113 million.
It appears as though Nine (primarily a capital city TV broadcaster) has around 10% more funds than Australia’s national (including rural and remote areas) TV and radio broadcaster which also has a great online presence.
It looks like it is not the funds you have but what you choose to do with them that matters. And next time some loonie whinges about how grossly inefficient and wasteful the ABC is … just remember those financial numbers.