ARN Media is teaming up with private equity firm Anchorage Capital to submit a bid for a full takeover of Southern Cross Media.
👉 Background: ARN Media is one of the leading broadcasters in Australia. It owns 58 radio stations, including KIIS FM, plus the digital entertainment platform, iHeartRadio in Australia.
👉 What happened: Now, ARN Media is teaming up with private equity firm Anchorage Capital to submit a bid for a full takeover of Southern Cross Media, the owners of Triple M. ARN Media already owns a 14.8% stake in Southern Cross Media, but they want to take over the whole company.
👉 What else: But this deal will come at a cost for ARN, and not just a financial one. To seal the deal, ARN will have to shift its Pure Gold Network, a boomer favourite, elsewhere. That's because this deal will need to comply with broadcasting regulations.
💡When it comes to diversity in media, a single company can’t be hogging the mic.
💡For ARN to get their deal over the line, they need to comply with Broadcasting Services Act, which doesn't allow media companies to own more than two commercial broadcasting licenses in one market or area.
💡So as part of this takeover, it's likely that the KIIS Network and Triple M Network will live under the the ARN brand. Meanwhile, Hit Network and Pure Gold Network will live under the same roof in another company structure to get around these limitations.
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