Southern Cross Media set to buy Austereo
Regional broadcaster Southern Cross Media is making an agreed offer to buy Austereo – owner of the Today and Triple M networks, the company has announced.
The deal is worth around $700m and will turn Southern Cross Media into one of Australia’s biggest media players.
In an announcement to the ASX this morning, Southern Cross said it was offering just over $2 per Austereo share.
The deal has been in the offing since it was announced that Village Roadshow was in talks to sell its 53% stake in Austereo.
“Austereo is not allowed to hire or fire any on air talent being paid more than $1m” ??
So… that’s… err… Kyle and H&A…?
31 January 2011, mark that day in your diary, the day that quality FM radio in Australia and indeed a world benchmark was put under threat.
Let’s look at the directors and management of SCMG, the company making the offer:
Director Tony Bell was behind Southern Cross Broadcasting mk 1, head of a company that was a large proponent in the decimation of regional media in the 1990’s through the value destroying process of ripping local production and community involvement out of TV stations in regional Qld, NSW, ACT, Vic, Tas and SA. Presided over the botched TV purchase of Channel 9 Adelaide that was sold about a decade later for much the same that it was bought for (an actual loss). A buy-em-up, strip-em-down, sell-em-off style.
CEO Rhys Holleran was managing director of Sunshine Television (sold to 7, now 7 Qld) and since that round of drawing up of TV rate cards, lead regional radio companies that evolved to SCMG.
The management of the company who have made the offer for Austereo are regional media types who have always dreamed of meddling with metro media assets. This is the company that follows what the metro innovators set the standard with and badly emulates them to the detriment of the audiences of regional Australia.
What hope do metro radio audiences and clients have that these regional cowboys won’t destroy 30 years of value built up by two quality eras of management?
Unless the very capable staff and management of Austereo are allowed to continue in their current manner, the third era of this company will not be fondly remembered. But that’s business and we know it doesn’t work that way.
I am no disgruntled Austereo employee (plenty of them will post their own thoughts), but am a SCMG shareholder since the MMG IPO. I don’t care for share prices or dividends, I care about quality management for clients, audiences and communities and seeing the laughable approach that SCMG have to this in regional Australia, I shudder at the thought of quality metro media assets being made a mess of.
Tend to agree, just the thinktank to lead Austereo into 1987 and beyond….