Seven West Media is set to take over Southern Cross Media Group’s television assets in Tasmania and other regional areas, after a previously announced deal with Australian Digital Holdings (ADH) fell through.
The $3.75 million binding agreement comes just months after Southern Cross Media (SCA) revealed in February it planned to offload the TV operations to ADH.
But that deal is now off the table, with SCA confirming on Tuesday that “final conditions to complete this transaction were not satisfied”.
The statement said “all further negotiations and discussions with ADH have now ceased”.
Instead, Seven West Media (SWM) will acquire the television licences and related assets currently run by SCA across Tasmania, Darwin, Spencer Gulf, Broken Hill, Mt Isa and remote, central and eastern Australia.
These areas, including 7 Tasmania, already carry Seven Network programming under an existing affiliation deal.
The acquisition is expected to wrap up by the end of June.
SWM Managing Director and CEO Jeff Howard described the purchase as “another positive step in SWM’s strategic transformation program”.
“Seven is Australia’s largest commercial, free to air broadcaster and we are excited by the opportunity to further leverage our leading news, sport and entertainment content in these new markets, across both Seven and 7plus to drive incremental revenue, earnings and cash flow,” he said.
For SCA, the sale marks the final chapter in its exit from television, as it sharpens its focus on radio and digital audio under its ‘all about audio’ strategy.
Pulse understands 7 Tasmania will relocate news production to Hobart for 2-3 weeks later this month while new studios are established at 183 Charles Street in Launceston’s CBD.
The current Watchorn Street building, purpose-built for the station in the 1960s but sold by Southern Cross Austereo in 2022, is set for redevelopment – with SCA’s lease ending this month.
