Nine Entertainment

Nine Entertainment (registered as Nine Entertainment Co. Holdings Ltd[6]) is an Australian publicly listed mass media company with holdings in radio and television broadcasting, publishing and digital media. It uses Nine as its corporate branding and also prefers this usage to be used for the parent company.[7]

Nine Entertainment Co. Holdings Limited
Nine Entertainment Co.
TypePublic
IndustryMass media
PredecessorPBL Media
FoundedOctober 2006 (October 2006)
Headquarters1 Denison Street
North Sydney, New South Wales, Australia[1]
Key people
Peter Costello, Chairman
Mike Sneesby, CEO
Products
RevenueDecrease $2.171 billion (2020)[2]
Decrease $247 million (2020)[3]
Decrease $141 million (2020)[4]
Total assetsIncrease $4.4 billion (FY 2018)[5]
Divisions
  • Nine Broadcasting
  • Nine Digital and Publishing
Subsidiaries
Websitewww.nineforbrands.com.au

The entity is largely a successor to the former Publishing and Broadcasting Limited (PBL), which was established by the Packer family. The Packers officially ended their involvement with the company in 2008 and its name was changed to Nine in 2010. The company merged with Fairfax Media in December 2018, expanding its brands and investments across television, video on demand, print, digital, radio and real estate classifieds.

Nine's assets include the Nine Network, Nine Radio; major newspaper mastheads such as The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and The Australian Financial Review; digital properties such as nine.com.au, 9Honey, Pedestrian; video-on-demand platform Stan; and a majority investment in real estate web portal Domain Group.[8]

History

The company was a successor of the long-established Australian media group Australian Consolidated Press (ACP), created by Sir Frank Packer, whose Channel 9 was Australia's first commercial TV network. Kerry Packer inherited the company after his father's death in 1974. ACP was combined with the Nine Network in 1994 as Publishing and Broadcasting Ltd (PBL).

PBL Media

Under a split of PBL into two companies, after Kerry Packer's death in 2005, PBL Media, formerly held by PBL, was transferred to Consolidated Media Holdings (CMH).[9]

PBL Media was established in October 2006, when PBL transferred its media interests, including the ACP Magazines, Nine Network, and ninemsn, to the new business - a joint venture between PBL and CVC Asia Pacific.[10] The recapitalisation was announced on 18 October 2006.[11] John Alexander, chief executive officer of PBL, was announced as the executive chairman of PBL Media, along with Ian Law as CEO and Pat O'Sullivan as chief financial officer.

In June 2007, PBL announced that it would sell a further 25% to CVC Capital Partners for $515 million.[12] In September 2007, it was announced that the transaction was to go ahead at the increased purchase price of approximately $526 million.[13]

On 27 October 2008, James Packer and CMH representatives, such as Alexander, resigned from the board of PBL Media, effectively ending financial backing and future associations with the company.[14] James Packer later sold his media interests.[15]

On 16 December 2008, PBL Media issued a press release stating that the company's majority shareholder, CVC Capital Partners, had refinanced debt facilities as well as injecting in excess of $300 million. CMH stated that they would not be investing any further funds, and as such, CMH's 25% interest became diluted to a stake less than 1%.

Nine Entertainment

From 2 December 2010, PBL Media rebranded as Nine Entertainment Company[16] In December 2011 former McDonald's Australia chief executive Peter Bush was appointed chairman following the resignation of Tim Parker. In February 2013 David Haslingden, previously President and Chief Operating Officer of Fox Networks Group, was appointed to the Board as an independent non-executive director and chairman.

In December 2013, Nine Entertainment listed on the ASX, trading as ASX: NEC. Vendors included Apollo Global Management, Oaktree Capital and Goldman Sachs who took over from CVC in a refinancing deal in October 2012.

In 2014, Nine Entertainment Co. founded online streaming company Stan with Fairfax Media, investing $50 million into the joint venture.

On 16 April 2015, Nine Entertainment Co. announced the sale of its Nine Live business to Affinity Equity Partners for $640 million to reduce debt and fund an ongoing capital management program.[17] In October 2015, the WIN Corporation purchased a 14% stake in Nine Entertainment Co. from investment fund operator Apollo.

Hugh Marks (2015–2020)

In November 2015, Hugh Marks was appointed as CEO. He replaced David Gyngell, who remained on the board.[18] In February 2016, Peter Costello was appointed chairman.[19]

In March 2016, Nine Entertainment Co purchased a 9.9% stake in Southern Cross Media Group from the Macquarie Group.[20] On 29 April 2016, Nine Entertainment Co. ended a 27-year affiliation agreement with WIN Corporation, instead partnering with Southern Cross Austereo in parts of regional Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria, after securing a 50% revenue sharing deal with Southern Cross, which is higher than its existing 39% deal with WIN.[21][22] Nine sold its stake in the business in September.[23]

On 26 July 2018, Nine Entertainment Co. and Fairfax Media announced they agreed on terms for a merger between the two companies to become Australia's largest media company. As a result of the merger, Nine shareholders own 51.1 percent of the combined entity and Fairfax shareholders own 48.9 percent.[24] After the merger between Nine Entertainment Co and Fairfax Media in December 2018, WIN Corporation's stake was diluted to 7.76% but later increased to 15.24% in January 2018.[25] In September 2018, it was announced that WIN Corporation's overall economic interest had grown to 25%.[26]

On 25 May 2020, Nine Entertainment sold their New Zealand subsidiary Stuff, which had been acquired during the purchase of Fairfax in December 2018, to Stuff's chief executive Sinead Boucher for NZ$1. The transaction is due to be completed by 31 May and marks the return of Stuff into New Zealand ownership. As part of the agreement, Nine will benefit from all proceeds of the sale of wholesale broadband business Stuff Fibre to telecommunications company Vocus Group, and ownership of Stuff's Wellington printing press.[27][28][29]

In November 2020, Hugh Marks resigned from the Nine Network after revealing he was in a relationship with a former colleague.[30] Nine Entertainment relocated from Willoughby, where it had been based for 64 years, to new offices at 1 Denison Street, in North Sydney in December 2020.[1][31]

Mike Sneesby (2021–present)

In March 2021, Nine Entertainment announced the appointment of Mike Sneesby as Chief Executive Officer, effective 1 April 2021, following Hugh Marks resignation.[32] On 12 March 2021, Nine announced that it would be returning its regional affiliation back to WIN Television, ending its 5 year affiliation with SCA. As part of the deal, WIN will pay Nine 50% of advertising revenue and provide airtime to Nine's assets across the networks television and radio network. The affiliation switch was reversed on 1 July 2021. Upon the switch, WIN's unique branding was phased out in favour of Nine's metro branding with the WIN branding retained for local idents, promos, community announcements and sponsor billboards. However, WIN News remains under its unique name and format.

It was announced on 15 September 2021, that WIN's advertising department would be merged into Nine's advertising team with Nine's advertising platform 9Galaxy extending into regional areas from July 2022. This will mean advertisers in regional areas can book advertising directly with Nine for the first time instead of booking with WIN.[33]

Assets

Television
  • Nine Network, an Australian commercial free-to-air television primary channel
  • 9HD is an Australian free-to-air HD digital television multichannel using the primary channel simulcast
  • 9Gem is an Australian free-to-air digital television multichannel suitable for sport and entertainment
  • 9Go! is an Australian free-to-air digital television multichannel aimed at 14- to 39-year-olds.
  • 9Life is an Australian free-to-air digital television multichannel featuring reality and lifestyle programs[34]
  • 9Rush is an Australian free-to-air digital television multichannel aimed at a 25- to 54-year-old male audience. (joint venture with WBD)
  • 10 Darwin (50% joint venture with Southern Cross Austereo, Network 10 affiliate)
  • 9Now a video on demand, catch-up TV service which carries the main and multichannels of the Nine Network
  • Stan, an Australian subscription streaming service.

Radio
Main article: Nine Radio

News. Talk. Sport.
Callsign Frequency Location Launched date Format
2GB 873 AM
DAB+ 9B		 Sydney 23 August 1926 (1926-08-23) News talk
3AW 693 AM
DAB+ 9B		 Melbourne 22 February 1932 (1932-02-22) News talk
4BC 882 AM
DAB+ 9B		 Brisbane 16 August 1930 (1930-08-16) News talk
6PR 882 AM
DAB+ 9B		 Perth 14 October 1931 (1931-10-14) News talk

Music

The following stations are run under a lease agreement by Ace Radio.

Station Frequency Call-sign Location Launched date Format
2UE 954 AM
DAB+ 9A		 2UE Sydney 26 January 1925 (1925-01-26) Oldies
Magic 1278 1278 AM
DAB+ 9B		 3EE Melbourne 8 September 1935 (1935-09-08) Oldies
4BH 1116 AM
DAB+ 9B		 4BH Brisbane 2 January 1932 (1932-01-02) Oldies

Digital & Print
Main article: Nine Digital

News

Lifestyle
  • 9Entertainment
  • 9Honey, a women's network
  • Australian Financial Review Magazine
  • BOSS
  • CarAdvice.com, automotive reviews and news[35]
  • Drive
  • Essential Baby
  • Essential Kids
  • Executive Style
  • Australian Traveller Magazine
  • Future Women
  • Good Food
  • Good Weekend
  • Life & Leisure
    • Life & Leisure Luxury
    • Life & Leisure - Sophisticated Traveller
  • Wide World of Sports, online services of Nine's sports brand
  • Pedestrian Group (majority stake), a digital media enterprise including the former Allure Media[36]

Other businesses

Former assets

References
  1. Samios, Zoe (4 December 2020). "Nine Entertainment Co officially opens North Sydney campus". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 26 July 2021.
  2. Nine Entertainment Co. Holdings Limited (27 August 2020). "2020 Full Year Results Announcement" (PDF). Nine for Brands. Archived (PDF) from the original on 30 September 2020. Retrieved 26 March 2021.
  3. Nine Entertainment Co. Holdings Limited (27 August 2020). "2020 Full Year Results Announcement" (PDF). Nine for Brands. Archived (PDF) from the original on 30 September 2020. Retrieved 26 March 2021.
  4. Nine Entertainment Co. Holdings Limited (27 August 2020). "2020 Full Year Results Announcement" (PDF). Nine for Brands. Archived (PDF) from the original on 30 September 2020. Retrieved 26 March 2021.
  5. "Should You Like Nine Entertainment Co. Holdings Limited's (ASX:NEC) High Return on Capital Employed?". au.finance.yahoo.com. Retrieved 17 December 2019.
  6. "Current details for ABN 59 122 205 065". ABN Lookup. 1 November 2014. Retrieved 25 June 2021.
  7. "Our Name". Nine for Brands. Retrieved 25 June 2021.
  8. "Brands of Nine". Nine for Brands. 3 July 2020. Retrieved 25 June 2021.
  9. "PBL announces split into two separate listed companies" (PDF) (Press release). PBL. 8 May 2007. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 September 2007.
  10. Sullivan, Rohan (18 October 2006). "Australian Media Shakeup Begins". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2 August 2014.
  11. "PBL's $5.5 billion recapitalisation and establishment of Australia's largest diversified media group, PBL Media" (PDF) (Press release). Australian Securities Exchange. 18 October 2006. Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 August 2014. Retrieved 2 August 2014.
  12. "PBL sells 25 percent interest in PBL Media to CVC" (PDF) (Press release). PBL. 1 June 2007. Archived from the original (PDF) on 31 August 2007.
  13. "FIRB confirms no objection to CVC's further 25 in PBL Media" (Press release). PBL. 5 September 2007.
  14. "Packer Turns Back on PBL Media". Forbes. 27 October 2008. Retrieved 2 August 2014.
  15. Barry, Paul (12 October 2009). "Will the Son Also Rise". Four Corners. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. ABC TV. Retrieved 8 October 2019.
  16. Gyngell, David (2 December 2010). "Company Announcement - Nine Entertainment Co" (PDF) (Press release). Sydney, NSW, Australia: Nine Entertainment Company. Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 August 2011. Retrieved 25 December 2011. From today Nine Entertainment Company is our group's new title, new brand and new future. It will embrace Nine Television, Nine Magazines (through ACP), Nine Digital (through ninemsn, Carsales, Cudo and Sky News), and Nine Events (through Ticketek and Acer Arena) and thus draw together under one new banner all the outstanding people and vast assets of this great company.
  17. Sale of Nine Live.
  18. "Nine's new CEO Hugh Marks plans to respond to the Netflix challenge". The Sydney Morning Herald. 8 November 2015. Retrieved 9 November 2015.
  19. "Peter Costello appointed Nine Chairman". Sky News Australia. 25 February 2016.
  20. Knox, David (18 March 2016). "Nine buys Southern Cross shares". TV Tonight. Retrieved 18 March 2016.
  21. Knox, David (29 April 2016). "Nine signs affiliation agreement with Southern Cross". TV Tonight. Retrieved 29 April 2016.
  22. Janda, Michael (29 April 2016). "Nine and Southern Cross ink new regional TV deal". ABC News. Australia. Retrieved 29 April 2016.
  23. "Nine sells stake in Southern Cross after only six months". AdNews. 30 September 2016. Retrieved 7 August 2019.
  24. "Nine and Fairfax agree terms to merge to become Australia's largest media company". 9Finance. 26 July 2018. Retrieved 26 July 2018.
  25. "WIN's Bruce Gordon lifts voting power in Nine Entertainment". The Australian.
  26. "Nine buys back Perth station". The Daily Telegraph. Australia. 20 October 2015. Retrieved 20 October 2015.
  27. Pullar-Strecker, Tom (25 May 2020). "Stuff ownership to return to NZ after management buy-out". Stuff. Archived from the original on 25 May 2020. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
  28. Rutherford, Hamish (25 May 2020). "Stuff sold for $1 to CEO Sinead Boucher by Nine Entertainment". The New Zealand Herald. Archived from the original on 25 May 2020. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
  29. "Stuff chief executive Sinead Boucher buys company for $1". Radio New Zealand. 25 May 2020. Archived from the original on 25 May 2020. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
  30. "Nine boss Hugh Marks resigns". Sydney Morning Herald. 14 November 2020.
  31. Nine Entertainment Co officially opens North Sydney campus Sydney Morning Herald 4 December 2020
  32. Knox, David (3 March 2021). "Nine names Mike Sneesby as CEO". Mumbrella. Retrieved 3 March 2021.
  33. "Nine Upfront - Galaxy being developed for regional TV - Ad News". AdNews. 15 September 2021.
  34. Barrett, Dan (28 October 2015). "Nine 2016 Upfront: Plans to broadcast in HD and launch new lifestyle FTA channel". Mediaweek. Retrieved 28 October 2015.
  35. "Car Advice website started by a 21-year-old in his parents spare bedroom has sold for $35 million". news.com.au.
  36. Pedestrian TV to absorb Allure Media in post-Fairfax consolidation AdNews
  37. "Nine Launches 9Voyager Opening up Television Market to Small and Medium Businesses".
  38. Zappone, Chris (26 May 2011). "Click on down, let's make a deal". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 7 June 2011.
  39. "Mi9 latest to exit group buying, selling Cudo to owner of deals.com.au". Mumbrella. 1 July 2013. Retrieved 16 January 2014.
  40. Timms, Delia; Bonnes, Jeff. "About Find a Babysitter". Find a Babysitter. Retrieved 10 June 2021.
  41. Brooks, Mark. "RSVP Bought by Oasis Founders, Current Managers". Online Personals Watch. Internet Dating Excellence Association. Retrieved 10 June 2021.
  42. "News Corp buys Sky News in Australia and New Zealand from Seven and Nine". The Sydney Morning Herald. 1 December 2016. Retrieved 1 December 2016.
  43. Nine announces Weatherzone sale to DTN. Media Week
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