US broadcaster CBS will strengthen competition with Network Ten takeover

IF CBS takes over Channel 10, it will be the greatest disruption of local TV in 60 years and we should accept the challenge, writes Jeff Kennett.

US broadcaster CBS has secured a deal to buy the Ten Network.

WHAT a week this has been already. On Monday, it was announced that US broadcasting outfit CBS has been given the nod to buy and operate Channel 10.

Of course, there is a lot of work and no doubt investigations to be conducted before the deal is completed. It may not be approved.

I have heard some commentators saying that CBS will not be able to turn Channel 10 into a successful broadcaster if its bid is accepted. What a group of half-empty, typically Australian small thinkers.

Let me tell you why I think a CBS-owned Channel 10 will not only survive but flourish.

Let me first declare I am a director of Seven West Media, among other things the owner and operator of Channel 7. I am also a political commentator on Sunrise on Friday mornings.

CBS is a hugely successful media operator in the US and is huge compared with our own channels 7, 9 and 10.

CBS has years of experience with much bigger audiences than exist in Australia and has budgets that could buy and sell some of our states. If they are successful and wish to buy the broadcasting rights to the very best of Australia’s sports, I suspect they will be able to trump anything the local channels can afford. And if CBS gets its hands on Channel 10, it spells trouble for subscriber television in this country.

Mind you, sporting bodies will have to prove their worth if they want to retain the value they attracted in their last rounds of negotiations. Local networks can no longer afford to pay the huge figures being demanded.

If CBS does get Channel 10, it will be the greatest disruption we have seen in the industry since television first broadcast here in 1956.

CBS’s interest in being part of Australia means the laws and regulations governing media ownership are out of date and parliament should sweep them away immediately.

Not only has the means of communication changed, but new entrants are coming here without the restrictions that parliament inflicts on Australian broadcasters.

For Bill Shorten and the ALP to oppose media reforms is a denial of what is happening in the world — particularly in the media.

His opposition proves he is yesterday’s man — simply unable to be relevant today — and lacks a sense of vision.

Bill Shorten says there is no need for media reform after the Ten deal.

I welcome CBS. I love competition. At Channel 7 we believe free-to-air television has a bright future. Like any business, challenges appear every year. Free-to-air television has been challenged by digital advertising and new forms of communication, not to mention the wide range of social media.

But the worm has turned and in the UK, free-to-air is on the rise.

And Procter & Gamble, the firm that sells everything from toothpaste to razors and every other personal product known to mankind, has cut its annual digital advertising spend by $100m without any effect on its sales.

I know from talking to some of Channel 7’s high-performing clients that they have come to the same conclusion and for brand recognition, free-to-air delivers better results than social media.

So change is all around us, in what we use, view and rely on for news and information.

Is it a coincidence that Amazon and CBS are arriving here at the same time? I have no idea but we are in for an exciting time in retailing and television. Bring it on!

BUT, while some things change constantly, others stay the same. Collingwood Football Club has appointed Nathan Buckley as senior coach for another two years.

That’s fine, and of course the club’s business. But Buckley set his own KPI at the start of the season when he said it was a case of top eight or out. Yet Collingwood finished 13th.

What is the value of a KPI at Collingwood? How can the coach make demands of his players when he is not prepared to accept responsibility for his own KPIs? And what of the board?

Buckley will not only be coaching for his future but that of his president, Eddie McGuire.

McGuire, who orchestrated Buckley’s ascension to the coaching position, has now served as president for 20 years. Only John Coates has served longer at the highest sporting level.

I have been, and am, a supporter of what McGuire has done for Collingwood and what he does for so many charitable causes. But teams of people deliver outcomes, individuals do not, whether it’s governments, sporting or commercial organisations.

If Collingwood can win a premiership in the next two years, McGuire will be president for life. If not, he and Buckley will walk the plank together.

No individual is, or should be, bigger than the organisation they lead. A top-eight finish is no longer good enough. A Grand Final is the only target acceptable.

Have a good day and go Hawks. And, yes, I know they finished 12th.

Jeff Kennett is a former premier of Victoria and president of Hawthorn Football Club

@jeff_kennett