Nine’s Stan will feel the heat of CBS-Viacom merger: Ten CEO Paul Anderson

Ten boss Paul Anderson says Nine’s streaming platform, Stan, could lose out from content deals in the CBS-Viacom merger.

Network 10 CEO Paul Anderson. Picture: Britta Campion

Network Ten chief executive Paul Anderson says the merger of Ten parent company CBS and American media player Viacom will present a huge opportunity for local streaming offerings and could further threaten Nine’s Stan.

In an interview with The Australian, Mr Anderson said the reunion of the major US media players could have implications for the local landscape, especially in terms of streaming offerings.

“What they have said is the first strategic priority that they’ve outlined is the direct-to-consumer components. So they’ve got some really strong direct-to-consumer assets with Showtime and All Access,” Mr Anderson said.

“And you know Viacom bought Pluto. So we’ll see how that all washes out. That’s going to be fascinating and that’s obviously one of their priorities.”

According to the Ten boss, Nine’s Stan streaming platform could lose out from content deals if Showtime were bundled in a new CBS/Viacom streaming service, and would be particularly vulnerable to rival Disney Plus — the media giant’s proposed new streaming service likely to launch in November.

“I think one of the things that Viacom have said is that streaming is becoming segmented. So in this market the introduction of Disney Plus at some point is going to have, one would imagine, quite an impact, given the popularity of that content. You know that will have implications for Stan.

“The Showtime content also that sits on Stan, we’re yet to see what happens long-term with that content as well,” he said.

Last week CBS and Viacom agreed to merge, a deal the media companies hope will put them on stronger footing to compete with larger rivals in a business increasingly dominated by streaming.

It will create a major entertainment player valued at roughly $US30 billion ($44bn), combining Viacom properties such as MTV, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central and the Paramount film and TV studio with CBS’s broadcast network and Showtime premium network. Viacom chief executive Bob Bakish will become chief executive of the combined entity. He said earlier this week the new company would have a “powerful DTC ecosystem”.

“Just think about getting content from Nickelodeon, BET, MTV and Comedy Central to CBS All Access and Paramount movies to Showtime.”

The Ten boss recently had to defend the network’s handling of contract negotiations with MasterChef judges Gary Mehigan, Matt Preston and George Calombaris, with the trio demanding a 100 per cent pay increase to more than $2 million each.

Asked whether the judges lost perspective of their market worth, Mr Anderson said it “was a question for them” but the show was suffering from “franchise fatigue” and the departures gave him the opportunity to revitalise the show.

“We’re now seeing that with The Block, and we’ve also seen it at the start of the year with MKR, and MasterChef was off in ratings compared to what was a very successful season last year.

“So you know the challenge that we all have for franchises is keeping them fresh and relevant.

“The fact you have this franchise fatigue across all of the major franchises across all the networks really signals that we do have an opportunity to change things up next year.”

Mr Anderson said he had received “hundreds and hundreds” of inquiries from those wanting to be new judges for the show.

“I think we shouldn’t lose sight of the fact that the judges are a big part of it (but) the real heroes of that show are the home cooks and the talent that turns up each year.”

Ten is the free-to-air broadcaster of this year’s Rugby World Cup and Mr Anderson said renewed discussions for a rugby rights deal had been “bubbling along” with the current deal expiring at the end of next season.

It comes amid increased speculation that Foxtel (part-owned by News Corp, publisher of The Australian) will pay less for the sport’s rights in future. “I don’t think there’s anything concrete at all being established by any parties yet. Yes, there’s a certain set of rights negotiating periods that Rugby Australia have to go through.”

Referring to the Israel Folau sacking and legal case saga, Mr Anderson said Rugby Australia had “had some high-profile press they probably didn’t want”, but the Wallabies’ Perth win over the All Blacks displayed the potential strength of the game in Australia ahead of the World Cup. “Between Fox Sports or Foxtel and ourselves we obviously both have an interest in making sure that the game is in as strong a place as possible.”