Murdoch, Gordon seek Oz competition watchdog review on Ten takeover bid
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Rebecca Hawkes
| 06 July 2017

Australian billionaires Bruce Gordon and Lachlan Murdoch have asked the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) to review a potential bid for troubled broadcaster Ten Network.

Both parties already have significant shareholdings in the free-to-air (FTA) network, which recently entered voluntary administration with KordaMentha.

The potential takeover is banned under Australia’s current media ownership laws, however the move would anticipate the successful passage of the Government’s media reform package.

The competition watchdog has confirmed it would evaluate the bid for Australia’s third TV network by Network Holdings – a 50:50 venture between Gordon’s company Birketu and Murdoch’s investment vehicle Illyria.

“The ACCC will assess the potential effect upon advertisers and upon competition within free-to-air television and between free-to-air television and Foxtel, particularly in relation to sport, given the holdings of the main players involved,” said Rod Sims, chair, ACCC.

“However, an ACCC investigation does not mean that the transaction raises competition concerns, but that further consideration is required for the ACCC to reach a view.”

An indicative timeline for the review gave 24 July as the closing date for submissions from interested parties and 24 August as the provisional date for announcement of the ACCC’s decision.

As the media law stands, prior to reform, Gordon’s ownership of WIN would put him in breach of the ‘reach rule’, which means a media company cannot have an audience greater than 75% of Australia's population.

Murdoch’s bid would breach the ‘two-out-of-three’ ownership rule, which prohibits media companies or individuals from owning a newspaper, TV station and radio station in a single market – although they are allowed digital assets.

Both the ‘reach rule’ and the ‘two-out-of-three’ ownership rule are, however, to be repealed under the Government’s media reforms. The package will be debated again when Parliament resumes on 8 August. Although it has industry support, its passage hinges on crossbench support and the opposition Labour Party is firmly opposed to the repeal of the ‘two-out-of-three’ rule.