Seven and Ten have expressed relief as the government moves to shelve its media reforms. News Limited's Kim Williams was also “relieved that common sense has prevailed.”
Channel Nine, which had most to gain from the reforms that may have enabled more quickly a proposed $4bn merger with Southern Cross Austereo, has remained tight lipped. SCA told AdNews it was not yet ready to comment.
While the shelving of the reforms on reach puts an immediate barrier in front of the merger, some papers have speculated that the two will plough on with the merger by selling off some parts of their businesses.
Seven West chairman Kerry Stokes said that the firm was "pleased that the four remaining bills ... will not be proceding. We had expressed reservations about both the content and the process." The company remained open to "debate proposals for improvement in this important area", he added.
A Ten spokesperson said the network was "pleased that commonsense has prevailed and the Government has decided to withdraw the four remaining media reform bills".
Principles aside, said the spokesperson, "these bills were fundamentally flawed, contained numerous significant drafting and operational problems and could not realistically be implemented in their current form."
Newspaper Works Ceo Tony Hale urged "any future government looking to reform media legislation to engage and consult with all of Australia’s media companies, including the newspaper publishers, and not seek to unilaterally impose draconian changes".
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