Harold Mitchell accused of siding with Seven West in tennis broadcast negotiations
Former Tennis Australia director Harold Mitchell has been accused by ASIC of improperly helping Seven win the Australian Open broadcast rights by keeping the network abreast of bids by rival Ten Network.
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Advertising guru and former Tennis Australia board member Harold Mitchell has been accused of taking Seven Network’s “side” when negotiating a broadcast rights deal for tennis in 2012, the Federal Court case has heard.
The corporate regulator, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, is taking civil action against the former Tennis Australia director and the organisation’s former president Steve Healy, saying they improperly helped Seven West Media win the broadcast rights.
Both Mr Mitchell and Mr Healy deny wrongdoing and are vigorously defending the allegations.
Seven won the domestic Australian Open broadcast rights in a five-year deal worth $195m in 2013.
In the first day of hearings in the Federal Court sitting in Melbourne, ASIC claimed Mr Mitchell kept Seven abreast of rival – and more lucrative – bids by the Ten Network during the negotiations.
ASIC presented an email to the hearing in which Seven director Bruce McWilliam says to Mr Mitchell, “I know we are negotiating between ourselves.”
“(This is) as if Mitchell is on Seven’s side not the tennis side,” Michael Pearce SC, appearing for ASIC, told the court.
It was also asserted by ASIC that Mr Mitchell labelled as “crap” a report that said the sport could be getting more money from broadcasters.
ASIC’s broader case claims Mr Mitchell and Mr Healy did not reveal to the TA board competing bids from Network Ten and global sports media group IMG in talks over 2012-13.
When shown a report from advisory Gemba that TA could be getting more from competition between broadcasters, ASIC claims Mr Mitchell said: “This is garbage this is crap. Don’t bother getting reports like this again.”
It was alleged that the report was not included in material presented to the board, and several board members never saw it.
Last year, TA had a tender for the new broadcast deal and changed to broadcaster Nine, in a five-year deal valued at $300m.
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Witnesses expected to be called during the three-week hearing include corporate heavy-hitters such as former TA director and ex-Bank of Melbourne chief Scott Tanner; former tennis star and TA director John Fitzgerald; Nine’s former chief David Gyngell; Tennis Australia boss Craig Tiley and former Ten chief Hamish McLennan.
ASIC is seeking financial penalties against both men and is to have them disqualified from managing corporations.