Nine’s $110m for ratings gold medal
DAVID Gyngell and Channel Nine’s private equity masters have shown they are willing to spend their way back to the top of the ratings tree, with a $US100 million ($A110 million) deal to snatch the Olympic Games from the Seven Network.
It’s the third time that Nine’s new chief executive has pulled out the chequebook before his official return to the network next month. Just days after accepting the job, Mr Gyngell announced a new version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire, raising the prize to $5 million to win back viewers.
PBL Media, which is controlled by CVC Asia Pacific since James Packer’s sell-down this year, has rehired the former Nine boss to reverse the network’s fortunes.
Nine has lost its lead in ratings and advertising sales to Seven. Mr Gyngell’s brief is to improve the network’s content to boost revenue growth. “One of the great myths is that private equity is focused on costs,” PBL Media boss Ian Law said last month.
Atul Lele from White Funds Management said investing heavily in better programs was a proven way to win viewers. “That’s what Channel Seven did in terms of their success over the past two years, and it’s good to see that Gyngell is taking on that same strategy to revive Channel Nine’s fortunes.”
Seven has attracted the biggest TV audiences in all but two weeks this year with hit shows like Kath and Kim and Border Security. It is tipped to dominate ratings again next year, helped by its coverage of the Beijing Olympics. The network has broadcast the marquee sporting event since 1956, with the exception of the 1984 and 1988 Games which went to Network Ten.
Mr Gyngell was in Lausanne on Friday to personally submit Nine’s bid for the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics and the 2012 London Summer Olympics at the International Olympic Committee’s headquarters. He joined his predecessor Jeffrey Browne, who had worked on the deal for more than 18 months. Nine is understood to have outbid a $US75 million offer from Seven.
Nine’s bid was helped by the fact that it teamed with pay TV operator Foxtel and offered internet coverage through ninemsn, its joint venture with Microsoft, which will enable it to “reach the broadest possible audience on a variety of broadcast platforms,” according to IOC President Jacques Rogge.
