Nine brings Stan into the tent as it looks to entertainment, sport for results

Pay TV will play an increasingly central role in Nine Entertainment’s battle for eyeballs as part of a ‘new strategic direction’ outlined by the company’s new broadcast boss.

Nine Entertainment’s Amanda Laing. Picture: Supplied

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Pay TV will play an increasingly central role in Nine Entertainment’s battle for eyeballs – and the revenue that comes along with them – as part of a “new strategic direction” outlined by the company’s new broadcast boss.

Amanda Laing, who rejoined the media giant from Foxtel just two months ago, unveiled her vision for Nine’s streaming and broadcast arm on Friday while announcing a significant overhaul of the business’s antiquated executive structure.

Under the sweeping changes, Nine’s subscription television service, Stan, will be fully integrated at the company, alongside the channel’s traditional broadcast and digital 9Now live streaming and video-on-demand platforms “for the first time”.

The move will see the role of one of the network’s longest-serving and most trusted executives, Nine’s former director of television, Michael Healy, significantly expanded as the executive director of entertainment across all three entities.

Healy has long been credited with developing the network’s brightest stars and biggest hit shows, including The Block and Married At First Sight.

Nine Entertainment's director of television Michael Healy.

Significantly, Nine’s Wide World of Sport and Stan Sport will also be brought together under one boss in a move designed to drive growth and better integration.

“Sport is at the core of Nine’s DNA and the biggest single area of investment across the Nine Group,” Nine said.

The Australian was assured the unification of the departments under one head would not result in any immediate redundancies to production staff.

The days of separate divisions of the Nine Network bidding against each other for exclusive content appear to be over, with Cailah Scobie appointed executive director for entertainment content acquisitions across all platforms.

The overhaul comes six months after Nine restructured its business into three simplified divisions – publishing, streaming and broadcast, and marketplaces – in January, leading to the departure of then Stan chief executive Martin Kugeler and Nine chief marketing officer Liana Dubois.

Not all the new roles will be fully integrated though, with Hamish Turner continuing to focus on the network’s traditional platforms as the executive director of Channel 9, its multichannels and 9Now, while Dan Taylor would concentrate on streaming as executive director of Stan.

The restructure comes at a critical time for Nine Entertainment’s broadcast division, as it continues to contend with dwindling advertising revenues and the ongoing encroachment of international streamers and online entertainment channels.