The leak of years of sensitive financial forecasts for what was then a relatively new pay TV media company, Foxtel, was the story that got away for former Chanticleer columnist Ivor Ries.

Ries, who helmed The Australian Financial Review’s daily business column between 1991 and 1999, said he “accidentally” got his hands on a full, 10-year financial forecast for the company, which began in 1995 as a joint venture between Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp and Telstra.