Struggling television business Ten Network Holdings has called on the Federal Government to reform media ownership laws after posting its third consecutive full year loss.
Ten made a net loss of $168.3 million for the 12 months to August 31, which was a 41 per cent improvement on the previous year’s $285 million loss.
Revenue from continuing activities slid 4.3 per cent to $626 million.
The company will not pay a dividend.
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Ten’s chief executive Hamish McLennan said established media outlets were being hampered by government’s failure to regulate online giants.
“The Government has said many times that it believes the current media laws belong to the last century and should be reformed,” McLennan said.
“Australian companies that are stymied by the current laws should not be expected to keep waiting for reform, while the online giants continue to operate in a largely unregulated environment.
“The two-out-of-three, 75 per cent audience reach and other platform-specific ownership rules were formulated before the internet became a mainstream medium and certainly before smartphones and tablets.
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“The rules are outdated, anachronistic and ineffective.”
In the company ‘s outlook for this financial year, Ten said advertising market conditions remain short but the metropolitan free-to-air television advertising market is expected to show marginal growth during 2014-15, despite it recording a fall in television revenue of 4.2 per cent this year.
McLennan said TEN remained firmly focused on executing its strategic plan which has yielded ratings improvements since May 2014 and growth for the network so far in the 2014 ratings year.
“This ratings year the network has recorded its first total people audience growth since 2011; it is the only television network to have achieved audience growth among total people and 25 to 54s.
“Key elements of the strategic plan articulated to the market in November 2013 included the development of event television content aimed at 25 to 54s (including live sport), the creation of stable, consistent schedules for the TEN, ELEVEN and ONE channels, and a strict cost control program.
“The impact of the strategic plan was initially evident with the success of the KFC T20 Big Bash League and the Olympic Winter Games, both of which generated good ratings and revenue for TEN during late 2013 and early 2014.
“From May on, TEN has seen ratings growth due to the success of programs such as MasterChef Australia, Offspring, The Bachelor Australia and The Living Room.
“MasterChef Australia was up 31 per cent on 2013, The Bachelor Australia grew on last year and became a pop culture phenomenon, and The Project recently posted its biggest ever audience.”
TEN’s catch-up and streaming service, tenplay, was ranked by Nielsen as the number one online catch-up television service in Australia for July 2014.
The company will not pay a final dividend for 2013-14.
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