Tomorrow morning, Macquarie Media Ltd COO, Adam Lang will address the National Radio Conference in his capacity as Chair of Commercial Radio Australia.
No doubt Mr Lang will be upbeat about how well the industry is performing and the exciting new directions that lie ahead. But that’s not what people want to hear him talk about when what they really want to know is “what the hell is happening with the sale of 2CH?”
Last week radioinfo published a column about the the ACMA imposed deadline to sell the station by last Friday, September 30. In it we wrote of the dire consequences the regulator may choose to impose should that deadline pass, which it obviously has.
radioinfo has been inundated with calls as to what we know about the sale. Beyond what we knew a week ago, as Schultz, the teddy bear of a prison guard in Hogan’s Heroes used to say, ‘We know nussing!”
Mr Lang, who is normally available for a chat on matters to do with MML and answers questions as candidly as he can has gone to ground and is said to be on holidays. Our main spokesperson at the ACMA has also been on holidays for a week now.
Yesterday, October 5 the ACMA posted a statement on its website which restates everything we know about what might happen if MML breaches the act but nothing about what it is doing about it now that the deadline has passed.
2CH to be sold
Commercial radio station 2CH must be sold to remedy the temporary breach of the ‘two to a market’ control limit for commercial radio licences in the Sydney licence area, under the terms of an enforceable undertaken given by Macquarie Media Limited (MML).
The temporary breaches arose following the merger of MML (at that time Macquarie Radio Network Limited) and Fairfax Media Limited’s radio interests in March 2015, as a result, MML is in a position to control three commercial radio broadcasting licences in Sydney – 2GB, 2CH and 2UE.
The Australian Communications and Media Authority granted MML approval to resolve the temporary breach of the ‘two to a market’ limit by 30 September 2016. The ACMA originally approved temporary breaches for a period of one year to 30 March 2016. This approval period was subsequently extended by a further six months to 30 September 2016. No further extensions can be granted.
The ACMA may object to a proposed purchaser under the terms of the undertaking if it forms the view that the purchaser is not appropriate.
The undertaking has been published on the ACMA’s website. Details of temporary breaches approved by ACMA are provided in the Register of Notices and Approvals under Part 5 of the Broadcasting Services Act 1992.
The ACMA has no further comment.
5 October 2016
Thank you Peter and Radioinfo for your two great articles of late on this matter.
The real question is timing. If negotiations are close, the unsold business scenario may be avoided. ACMA would be well aware of natural justice to not begin any process the day after a deadline.
Otherwise, it appears MML have been very disorganised, wistfully hoping for the law to change their way. It has not. Therefore, I hold no sympathy for them. It is time to sell or have it sold for you.
What will be most interesting for ACMA is ensuring independent control ie. MML will not have a controlling influence in the station. This would hopefully remove the likelihood of a sweetheart sale to a closely related entity.