Job losses at SCA as it outsources television and radio broadcast transmissions

Southern Cross Austereo (SCA) has announced up to 30 roles will be cut as a result of the agreement to outsource its television and radio broadcast transmission services to Broadcast Australia (BA).

An SCA spokesperson confirmed the roles under the axe are those from the transmission services and engineering sectors of the business.

Under the new agreement, which was announced to the ASX earlier this week, BA will receive SCA’s transmission assets and provide the media business with managed and maintenance services for over 500 radio and TV transmissions around Australia.

The initial term of the agreement is for 15 years, with the transition commencing over the next few weeks.

“SCA is a large organisation of 2,500 people and less than 30 roles, in transmission services and engineering, will be impacted by the decision to outsource our transmission services,” said an SCA spokesperson.

“We are currently in staff consultations and we will seek redeployment of staff where we can.”

The transmission outsourcing is expected to be completed by March 2020. It follows SCA’s previous announcement that it would be outsourcing its television playout to NPC Media, which is also expected to be completed in 2020.

The transaction will result in a non-cash loss of $9.2m from the sale of the assets to BA, to be recorded in the 2019 financial year. All future operating costs will be covered by BA. SCA reports it expects to achieve future cashflow savings thanks to the outsourcing.

BA currently provides managed transmission broadcasting services to the ABC and SBS in Australia and forms part of global communications group BAI Communications.

SCA’s chief technology officer, Stephen Haddad, said: “The outsourcing is a logical step for SCA, consistent with the group’s strategy of delivering content and media platforms and moving away from asset-intensive activities that can be delivered by specialist service providers.

“With the transition of television playout to NPC Media, the use of Telstra’s DVN network for distribution and this outsourcing of transmission services to BA, SCA has created a streamlined and efficient service that minimises the cost of delivery of broadcast radio and television to SCA’s licence areas.”