Nine acquisition of Fairfax assets back on table

Investment bankers in the media space will be working hard to drum up fresh business following last week’s industry reforms.

Among the deals said to be back up for discussion are: the acquisition by Nine Entertainment of the digital mastheads of The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and The Australian Financial Review.

As part of the same deal, Nine would buy the remainder of streaming service Stan that is owned by Fairfax, and also the radio stations 2GB in Sydney and 3AW in Melbourne. The radio stations are jointly owned by Fairfax and John Singleton.

While Nine said it was not in active discussions about such assets, onlookers believe they make sense for the free-to-air broadcaster. It is also perceived to be a good move for Fairfax to merge its assets with Nine given the publisher will face declining revenue after it spins off of its online real estate website Domain.

Other deals up for discussion are a merger between Ten Network and Bruce Gordon’s regional WIN Television, which comes after his sweetened bid along with Lachlan Murdoch to buy Ten on Friday.

Market analysts say the merger could be logical, although sources close to WIN say no such plans are afoot.

Another possibility, according to some, is that CBS in fact buys WIN should it successfully buy Ten, given that the 88-year-old Mr Gordon may now be pondering the asset’s future.

WIN is already a Ten Network affiliate in NSW, Victoria, Queensland and Western Australia and an affiliate of Nine in Tasmania.

Earnings for WIN are thought to have been challenged by its affiliation in the past year with the embattled Ten, which in recent months was placed into receivership.

Meanwhile, Paris-based billboard operator JCDecaux has recently been running the numbers on listed APN Outdoor, which recently made attempts to merge with oOh! Media before the plan was blocked by the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission.

HT&E, which owns radio assets and billboards and was formerly known as APN News and Media, is attractive to Seven West Media, although majority shareholder News Corp, publisher of The Australian, also owns a major stake in the business and may be an interested suitor.

With the passage of the media reform bill last week, media groups will now be able to own radio, television and print assets in one stable and reach at least 75 per cent of the national audience. The biggest reform in 30 years has also seen the abolition of broadcast licence fees, changes to the anti-siphoning scheme and reduced gambling advertising during live sport broadcasts.