Australian media giants Fairfax and Nine to merge
The new media giant to be known only as Nine
Publisher Fairfax Media and Nine Entertainment announced plans to merge Thursday, creating an integrated Australian media giant across television, online video streaming, print, and digital.
Under the deal, Nine will effectively be the dominant partner, with its shareholders owning 51.1 per cent of the combined entity and Fairfax shareholders owning the rest.
The new company will include Nine’s free-to-air television network, Fairfax’s radio interests and mastheads – including The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age in Melbourne – and a suite of digital assets.
It will be called Nine, with Fairfax ceasing to exist, drawing the curtain on a venerable brand that has been an Australian staple for more than 170 years.
It is the first deal under a controversial new media ownership law passed in Australia last September which removed restrictions – in place to protect diversity – that prevented companies from owning newspapers, radio and television stations in the same city.
Major players in the market had long pressed for change, arguing the rules were outdated and did not account for digital media platforms and new publishers like Google and Facebook and video streaming giants such as Netflix.