Nine Entertainment’s chairman has added his voice to growing calls from media bosses for the federal government to revamp the industry’s ownership rules.
Nine chairman David Haslingden says Australia’s media sector is operating within a regulatory framework designed in the 1990s.
That framework’s relevance has been eroded because of the development of digital services and the proliferation of media sources, he says.
“We believe that it is important that Australian media can operate without artificial barriers in a world where media consumption has become barrier-free,” he told shareholders at Nine’s annual general meeting today.
“It seems ironic that, whilst we are currently only allowed to broadcast our leading Nine News content directly to 75 per cent of the population, our newly relaunched 9news.com.au website is available to all Australians.”
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Haslingden said Nine’s board and management would look for opportunities to expand the media group’s businesses if ownership rules were changed.
“Of course, the board will only pursue such opportunities if they meet strict strategic and economic return measures,” he said.
His comments on the need for a shakeup of ownership rules echoes those of several other media bosses in recent weeks.
Seven West Media chairman Kerry Stokes last week called for the regulations to be abolished, but feared a push to change the current ownership laws could hurt the cause.
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Fairfax, Ten, and broadcaster Southern Cross Austereo have also called on the government to wind back ownership regulations.
The government has indicated a desire to overhaul current ownership restrictions but is waiting for a consensus among industry players about possible changes before proceeding.
Current laws prohibit a broadcaster from reaching more than 75 per cent of the population, and prevent one company from owning a TV station, radio station and newspaper in the same market.
Meanwhile, Nine Entertainment chief operating officer Simon Kelly told its AGM that a pickup in the advertising market had given the company confidence about lifting its first-half profit.
He said that while Nine had a challenging start to the 2014/15 financial year, there was an improving trend in the ad market in the second quarter.
While Nine expects the market will record an overall decline for the first half, it believes there will be modest growth in the final six months of the year.
“Against this backdrop, we are confident we will deliver ratings and revenue share improvements and we will deliver on our full year television cost inflation guidance of plus one to two per cent before the cost of the Cricket World Cup,” he told shareholders.
Kelly said Nine expected to lift its first half net profit to between $85 million and $90 million, excluding a one-off profit of about $5 million on the sale of its HWW business.
Nine’s first-half profit for 2013/14 was $31.679 million.
