SCA’s regional TV licence numbers didn’t add up: ADH
Australian Digital Holdings walked away from a deal to buy Southern Cross Austereo’s regional TV licences because of “serious risks” to the long-term viability of the regional stations, according to ADH CEO Jack Bulfin.
Bulfin made the statements to Mumbrella after SCA this morning announced a binding deal to sell the regional TV licences to Seven West Media for $3.75 million cash upfront.
The licences cover Tasmania, Spencer Gulf, Broken Hill, Mt Isa, Darwin, and Remote, Central and Eastern Australia and involve channels carrying the Seven broadcast through affiliate deals.
ADH, a conservative digital media operation founded by Bulfin in 2021, announced its intention to buy the licenses from SCA in February. SCA said the price was $3.75m in cash with further fee arrangements to take total deal value to $6.35m.
But according to Bulfin, who made the comments by text message, ADH could not accept the financial risks it uncovered during the deal process.
Jack Bulfin
“The deeper we looked into this business, the more issues we uncovered—many of which had not been disclosed by SCA,” he wrote.
“Some posed serious risks to daily television operations and the long-term viability of the business.”
“Those were risks we could not accept.”
“As due diligence progressed, it became increasingly difficult to trust the information provided. The numbers simply didn’t add up.”
In a statement to Mumbrella, an SCA spokesperson rejected ADH’s characterisation of the deal collapse.
“SCA conducted itself with professionalism, transparency, and good faith. While we acknowledge ADH is new to television, they ultimately failed to meet the obligations and deadlines they agreed to—which is why the deal didn’t proceed. We wish ADH all the best with their future media endeavours.”
SCA’s ASX release today said this on the collapse: “The final conditions to complete this transaction were not satisfied and all further negotiations and discussions with ADH have now ceased.”
SCA said in the release it would use the proceeds of the sale to pay down debt.
Bulfin described the regional stations as working in challenging conditions.
“We wish the staff and the new owners of the television business every success. The teams in Tasmania, Spencer Gulf, and Darwin do outstanding work under often challenging conditions.”
ADH was founded by Bulfin with the backing of Alan Jones and other conservatives. Its core product is the streaming ADH TV, and it has intentions to launch the US brand Newsmax into the Australian market.
Mumbrella has also contacted Seven for comment on Bulfin’s statements.
Would probably be useful to give readers some context on ADH rather than just quoting what is clearly not a serious operation, run part time by an urban planner and which continued to platform Alan Jones until recently, in a headline for clicks.
User ID not verified.
Looks like Bulfin’s business model collapsed at the ballot box on Saturday.
User ID not verified.
Have your say