ACCC Put Murdoch Family On Notice Over TEN TV Network
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The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission could still have the final say in whether Foxtel and the Murdoch family get control of the Ten TV Network.

ACCC Chairman Rod Sim has apparently put the Murdoch family

who own 50% of Foxtel on notice that all of their local media interests will be

taken into account in his ruling on the controversial deal between News Corp’s

pay-television venture Foxtel and Ten Network Holdings, according to the

Financial Review

“We will take a holistic look to try and understand

what influence News and or Foxtel could have over Channel Ten that would be a

level of influence beyond the 15 per cent direct shareholding that Foxtel would

have,” the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission chairman told

Fairfax Media.

His comments indicate that the ACCC will consider News’s 50

per cent stake in Foxtel as well as News Corp co-chairman Lachlan Murdoch’s 8.5

per cent stake in Ten through his private investment vehicle Illyria, which

also owns radio company Nova Entertainment.

His comments are a serious concern for both Ten shareholders

and the Murdoch family.

A decision on the proposed deal is due by September 10.

Of major concern to the ACCC is whether the combination of

shares give News and Foxtel effective control over Ten a move that could

substantially lessen competition in the market for sports rights and other

content.

Telstra owns the other 50 per cent of Foxtel.

Fairfax said that it is Mr Sims’ first public commentary on

the complex deal announced last month which will reshape the local media

landscape through the sale of 15 per cent of free-to-air broadcaster Ten to

Foxtel, who’s Multi-Channel Network will take control of the network’s

advertising sales. Ten will acquire 24.99 per cent of MCN.

“We are conscious that one of the News Corp executives

(Lachlan Murdoch) has a shareholding (in Ten) separately and we will bear that

in mind in our assessment of these things,” said Mr Sims. “It is too

early to say yet what our view will be but clearly the higher the level of

shareholding the more likely it is that there will be greater control.

“There’s no doubt that you can’t ignore these things.

You can’t be mechanical about this. You have to take common sense view of what

the various ownership stakes mean.”

Mr Sims, warned News Corp three years ago that it would

struggle to get approval for any expansion into free-to-air television.

 

He believes that control of Sports rights is the key issue.

 

In 2012 Mr Sims blocked Kerry Stokes’s Seven Group’s effort

to get hold of 50 per cent of Fox Sports through the acquisition of James

Packer’s Consolidated Media Holdings.

 

The ACCC had voiced concerns that Seven’s free-to-air

rivals, Nine and Ten, would be disadvantaged in bidding for sports rights if

Seven also owned half of Fox Sports.

 

Mr Sims said that Foxtel’s move was “very

different” to Seven’s and it was taking a smaller stake, but added:

“There’s no question that in the Channel Seven/Fox Sports matter our

concern was largely around sports rights and there is no question that thinking

is in our minds now.”

 

Any free-to-air network needs to work closely with Foxtel in

winning sports rights because it is the richest company, making almost $1

billion a year in underlying profit, more than the three metropolitan

free-to-air networks combined.

 

Mr Sims acknowledged that the market for video content has

changed since 2012, an argument Foxtel is likely to make, noting the explosion

of competition for content, including from overseas multinationals such as

Netflix.

See full story here.