Network Ten and its institutional investors might well be in for a revenue windfall the way Harold Mitchell’s smoke signals are puffing.
Mitchell was rampant in his praise for James Packer’s raid on Ten this week in a series of telling comments on the ABC’s Lateline on Wednesday night. The media buying sector’s everywhere man praised the billionaire for his swoop on Ten, repeatedly claiming it was a very clever move.
Could it be that Harold’s decades long position to shun Ten in his annual TV advertising deals might swiftly change, now that a Packer is attached to the broadcaster?
A betting man would say yes. Given Mitchell’s long loyalty to the Packers, media moguls generally (Kerry Stokes) and his penchant for TV ad deals which typically favour only two commercial networks, Ten might finally get some more of the ad treasures found in the Mitchell Communications Group bunker.
Ten’s senior brass have been frustrated by Mitchell’s advertising aversion to their network for many years – there have been some right squabbles between the two sides, particularly under former Ten chief executive John McAlpine. James Packer’s swoop on Ten may well fix the tension.
If Harold follows his historical pattern of following the TV moguls, Ten should uncover some new bucks. The trick will be working out which TV network is going to lose in Harold’s handouts. Given Channel Nine and PBL Media have no media mogul on its books, they could be the losers.
It will be hard to see Mitchell deliver an even hand to each of the TV owners – part of his negotiating power comes from handing more advertising share to a couple of players at the expense of one. In return, Mitchell extracts more value from the winners, which is then cleverly massaged amongst advertising clients.
Follow the money, as they say.
Paul McIntyre
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