Credits roll as Ten Network pulls plug on ASX listing

The CBS-owned Ten will be removed from the ASX today, ending nearly two decades as a publicly listed company.

Then Channel Ten chairman John Studdy with chief executive Peter Viner ahead of the network’s listing on the stock exchange in 1998.

Ten Network’s time as a publicly listed company has come to an end.

After a long and tortuous sale process, the now American-owned free-to-air network will be removed from the Australian Stock Exchange today, ending nearly two decades as a publicly listed company.

The embattled network, sold to CBS after falling into administration, has weathered plenty of ups and downs since its float in 1998.

Known for shows like and Survivor, I’m a Celebrity — Get me out of here! and the Bachelor franchise, Ten slipped into administration in June after reporting a $232m half-year loss and its shares were placed in a trading halt.

The network’s takeover by CBS was delayed by a court challenge by a trio of disaffected shareholders, upset at the loss of their shares for no payment.

The Supreme Court of NSW finally approved the transfer of its shares to the US giant earlier this month after Justice Ashley Black found there was no prejudice in the deal.

The network was deemed worthless by an independent expert report prepared by KPMG on behalf of its administrators KordaMentha, weighed down by debts including hefty content deals.

The $41 million CBS takeover trumped a competing offer from billionaire Ten shareholders Lachlan Murdoch and Bruce Gordon and was almost unanimously backed by Ten’s creditors at a meeting in September.

Mr Gordon failed with a court bid to derail the CBS deal, and did not appeal the Supreme Court decision by the given deadline.

The network called in the administrators after Murdoch and Gordon, along with fellow shareholder James Packer, refused to back a new funding deal following the expiry of a $200 million debt facility.

The network’s previous woes in the 1990s almost saw it merged with Seven, before winning back audiences with pioneering reality television show Big Brother Australia in the early 2000s.

But in recent years, Australia’s third-ranked commercial network has struggled to win ratings and advertising revenue, despite such hits as the Bachelorette franchise.

Ten was first launched in the 1960s and was briefly named the independent Television Network, before being renamed the 0-10 Network.