SYDNEY: Australian Consoli-dated Press (ACP) has bought Pacific PublicationsÕ 50% share in their joint venture TV Week for $60m, just months before rival Seven Network is expected to take full ownership of Pacific in September. The acquisition ends the 22 year-old joint venture, initially between ACP and News Limited, and comes after ACP exercised an option that obliged Pacific to either buy out ACPÕs 50% or sell its share for the offered sum within a fortnight. In an email to Pacific staff, CEO Ian Meikle said the move came Òwithout any warningÓ. ÒSince then our chairman, our directors and the management group have wrestled with the question of buying or selling,Ó Meikle wrote. ÒIn the end the price and economic climate prevailed and selling became our only practical option.Ó Peter Yates, chief executive officer of ACP parent PBL, said: ÒThis acquisition delivers ACP full operational control to substantially improve the performance of TV Week and reinstate it as AustraliaÕs foremost magazine guide to television.Ó TV Week gives PBL a high circulating magazine in a content area tailor-made for integration with its other media properties. It has a circulation in excess of 265,000 (July to December 2002 ABC Audit report) and a readership of 1,116,000 (Roy Morgan Readership December 2001). ÒThe strategic acquisition by PBL to own TV Week outright will also realise several cross promotional synergies with PBLÕs Nine Network and Ninemsn media properties,Ó said Yates, Òincluding a stronger cross-selling and promotion of the TV Week Logies Awards between the magazine and the Nine Network, which has nationally broadcast the awards event for several years.Ó
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