Media mergers may find a smoother path through regulatory approvals after the chairman of the competition regulator admitted technology is breaking down the divisions between media platforms, impacting competition.

Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) chairman Rod Sims told The Australian Financial Review that the watchdog was preparing for a rush of media related merger activity as the Government considers relaxing the laws regarding how far a single entity can 'reach' in a market.

The comments come in light of increased speculation that Southern Cross Media and Nine Entertainment Co have been in talks about a merger worth in excess of $4 billion.

Sims told the AFR while the ACCC will continue to assess proposals based on the "here and now", technology is becoming a factor in allowing the regulator to broaden the definitions of a market.

Currently the reach provisions of the Broadcasting Services Act 1992 allows for the population serviced by television licences held by a single company to exceed 75 per cent of the country's population, restrictions also exist on the number of platforms (newspapers, radio, television) a company can operate in any single market.

The paper reports that Senator Stephen Conroy could bring forward his proposal to reform these restrictions to the federal cabinet as early as Monday.

Southern Cross Austereo (SCA) has agreed to terms to sell Sea FM and Mix FM on Queensland's Sunshine Coast to Eon Broadcasting for $17.75 million.

SCA was found to be in breach of the Broadcasting Act 1992 by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) in March 2011 after Southern Cross Media's acquisition of Austereo resulted in the company holding more then the allowed number of licences in the licence areas of Brisbane and Nambour.

SCA chief executive Rhys Holleran paid tribute to the management team at both stations, saying the company would work with Eon to ensure a smooth transition.

"We sincerely thank all the staff at the Sunshine Coast radio station for their contribution to our group," said Holleran in a statement. Radio Today reports that Holleran also met personally with staff on the Sunshine Coast this morning to announce the deal.

Eon Broadcasting is 90 per cent owned by listed investment fund Oceania Capital Partners, while the remaining 10 per cent is owned by a company associated with the promoter Glenn Wheatley, who was also one of the original directors of the first FM radio station launched in Australia, EON FM Melbourne in 1981, which later became Triple M Melbourne.

Wheatley, who will provide a consulting service to the company said in a statement today he is proud to be associated with the stations.

The deal is expected to be completed by the end of the month.

News Corporation

The announcement comes as underwriters appointed by News Corp started the sell-off process to institutional and retail investors over the weekend, which is expected to net the company in the order of NZ$815 million.

President of News Corporation, Chase Carey, said that any commercial arrangements that exist between the two are unlikely to change.

"Sky is a world class subscription television business and has been an outstanding investment for News Corporation. We and Sky have always enjoyed an excellent, arms-length working relationship and we expect this to continue unaffected by the sale. In particular, we do not anticipate any change to current arrangements regarding access to content and collaboration on technology."

Speculation that News Corp would sell out started in November after another long-term investor Todd Communications sold their 11 per cent stake in the company.

As well as holding a near-monopoly on subscription television in New Zealand, Sky also owns free-to-air channel Prime Television.

Southern Cross Media has publicly watered down suggestions that it's close to a $4 billion tie-up with Nine Entertainment Co, amid reports of a board meeting over the weekend to discuss its options.

The announcement to the ASX this morning, which responded to media speculation about a potential deal, said the company is yet to make a decision despite reviewing a number of options in relation to strategic direction in light of its affiliate agreement with the Ten Network expiring later this year.

It comes as The Australian reports this morning that the board of Southern Cross Media held an emergency board meeting over the weekend to discuss the matter, while the communications minister Stephen Conroy spent the weekend canvassing support for the relaxation of the reach rule.

The newspaper reports that Senator Conroy could put the proposed changes to cabinet within the next few weeks.

Harvey joined Nine in 1975 after time with The Guardian and American magazine Newsweek, spending much of his time based in the network's Canberra bureau before moving on to join 60 Minutes.

Nine CEO David Gyngell paid tribute to Harvey in a statement, saying that it was one of the saddest days for the network, “Peter Harvey – Harves as he is known to everyone – is and will remain an indelible part of Nine.”

Harvey was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in October after falling ill on an Italian holiday and has spent much of the last week in hospital 'gravely ill'.

The Sydney Morning Herald and The Weekend Australian have reported that Southern Cross Media Group have been in merger discussions with Nine Entertainment Co, a move that would create a media company worth in excess of $4 billion and result in the biggest change in regional television broadcasting since aggregation.

The move could be made possible under what is believed to be imminent changes to the rules controlling the percentage of the population one media company can reach by the Gillard Government, such a change has the potential to trigger significant change in the industry allowing the metropolitan networks acquire their regional affiliates.

The Weekend Australian reports that Southern Cross Media and Nine have struck an agreement to proceed on the proviso that the rules are changed.

Such a deal is expected to cause a shakeup in the affiliation of regional broadcasters with Southern Cross Media's regional television affiliation agreement with the under performing Channel Ten expires later this year, while Nine's agreement with the WIN Corporation has expired and is on a month-to-month arrangement with both parties are believed to be currently in renewal talks.

WIN could be a big loser under such a deal, not only do they operate Nine's largest affiliate network they also own Nine's metro stations in Adelaide and Perth, any change may force WIN to switch allegiances to Ten, a company with a signficant investment from WIN boss Bruce Gordon or go it alone.

Meanwhile, it emerged this week that Seven Group boss Kerry Stokes acquired a $40 million stake in Ten at the end of 2012, the second time Stokes has been listed on the Ten share register since 2011. Stokes has not revealed the reason for the investment, however The Australian Financial Review has theorised that it may be an attempt to unnerve chairman Lachlan Murdoch.  Any change to the reach rules is expected to see Seven increase it's 11 percent investment in regional affiliate Prime Media Group.

Boland had announced in February that he was leaving Channel Seven after 14 years with the network, much of that time spent as executive producer of Sunrise and more recently as exectuive producer of Weekend Sunrise as well as managing Seven's social media strategy.

Boland announced the move last night via Twitter:

Really looking forward to joining Team Ten.Bring it on. #newhome

— Adam Boland (@postboxadam) February 28, 2013

Boland in a statement from Ten said that he was excited about the new opportunity, saying that “Frankly, the decision to join them was a no-brainer for me. I know it’s a place where I can have some real fun.”

New Ten CEO Hamish McLennan welcomed Boland to the network, saying the signing was a committment to attracting the best talent to the ailing network: “We are very excited about hiring Adam, who is one of the best television news executives in Australia"

It had been long speculated that Boland would follow former Ten CEO James Warburton to the network from Seven and had been previously tipped to be a contender for the chief programming job at Ten after the departure of David Mott last year.

Despite axing Breakfast last year, Ten have previously not ruled out a further attempt to compete against their commercial rivals in the competitive breakfast show timeslot.

A survey was very recently released on the popular survey site "MySurvey" which asked respondents about their television viewing habits. Although this may seem innocent enough, the survey contained questions in regard to news and current affairs. There were many hints in the questions asked that suggested that Seven was behind the survey.

In the survey respondents were asked to rate a selection of TV personalities which only included Sydney based presenters (from only Seven and Nine). This list of presenters interestingly included Helen Kapalos who is Melbourne based, she was the only presenter based in Melbourne to appear on the list.

The climax of suspicion of Seven being behind the survey has risen due to a question (pictured) asks respondents "What programming would you prefer to watch between 6 and 7pm?". The answers included the current "half an hour of news followed by half an hour of current affairs" and  "An hour of news (No current affairs)" and "A mix of News and Current Affairs across the hour".

A survey question asking respondents about their preference of news and current affairs between 6-7pm.

This suggests that whoever is behind the survey is rethinking their 6-7pm lineup. Most would agree that at this point in time only Seven would be worried about there 6-7pm lineup due to the ratings of Today Tonight compared to its rival A Current Affair since its relaunch a couple of weeks ago.

So is the fate of Today Tonight in the survey respondents' hands? Time will tell.

Ron Wilson on Ten's ill-fated Breakfast (Image: Ten Network)

Ten has a problem. Nobody is watching it. I mean nobody. 269,000 for a show at 7:30 is embarrassing, and it’s not even March yet. If this is the best content Ten has to start the year of, just imagine what a shocker 2013 will be for them by the end of it.

So why is nobody watching Ten? The better question is why would anybody watch Ten? It has shown the door to some of its most familiar faces in the news division. Ron Wilson, over 25 years service - gone. Bill Woods – gone, Helen Kapalos – gone. The warehouse clear out that occurred late last year of its news division was swift and brutal. Deciding to go from double headers to solo anchors for its five o’clock news seemed like a great idea to the bean counters, but to viewer it made little sense.

Why tamper with the one thing Ten has been getting right? While it was hosing down fires all over the place, from Breakfast to The Circle and George Negus, the five o’clock news kept steaming ahead, a few blips here and there, but it remained a performer Ten could be proud of. Why then was it the major target of cost cutting?

It made little sense, and in the years to come it will continue to hurt the network. When Mal Walden, the icon of Melbourne news, retires, it is expected Stephen Quartermain will take over. While Stephen is no doubt qualified for the position, will he be able to command the respect and loyalty that Mal does? I doubt it.

At least with Helen Kapalos and the rest of the team, it wouldn’t have felt like such a loss, now Mal is the five o’clock news, and when Mal goes, so does the bulletin.

Paying for two anchors in most cities wasn’t draining Ten of its resources. What was draining was the continuing mistakes being made at the executive level, from bungled hires to wrong format choices and missed opportunities.

The Voice is an example of a successful format that Ten missed out on (Image: Nine Network)

Ten could have had The Voice, it didn’t. It could have brought back Big Brother, it didn’t. It could have kept Masterchef as a star performer, but it let it bleed viewers through airing too many editions a year and watering it down each time it did so.

It misread its audience with its so-called ‘news revolution’. Expanding news coverage isn’t a bad idea; indeed I would suggest increasing news output is a must for Ten to rebuild an audience and regain respect for its news service. However going the route of hard news from a network not known for it was always a massive risk, and one that was bound not to work. George Negus' show was good, it just wasn’t in the right time or place. More local news, with more attention to detail and more relevant stories, and features could have worked, given half a chance. Indeed it is something Ten may finally realise when it works out airing The Simpsons repeats on a major network, in the multichannel universe of 2013, is not going to work. However having gutted its newsroom, any proposition of news expansion is a long way off it would seem, which is a shame. Ten News at Five was once respected and revered. Now it is a shell of its former self.

In the process of the ‘news revolution’ the network shunted Neighbours off to Eleven, with the hope that Eleven could boost the networks overall share. What it did instead was cannibalise Ten’s core audience and make it seem irrelevant, not irreverent.

Eleven is what Ten used to be, but what now is Ten trying to be? A slightly older variation on Eleven, with a mishmash of old skewing and young skewing programming thrown over the schedule haphazardly? It doesn’t have a clear point of view anymore; it doesn’t have a focus on what audience it is trying to appeal to. The 16-39 audience is now overly catered for with digital channels, so now who is Ten supposed to be catering for?

Unless Ten can focus in on who its audience is, and what they want to see, they will continue to be lost.

Ten could start fresh; rebrand itself with a core audience in mind. Relaunch its news service as one that is backed by the network with funding adequate to its needs. It could invest in quality local programming, like it has been doing with Puberty Blues, Mr and Mrs Murder and Offspring, and expand its slate of must watch, top notch local drama. It could expand its offerings into local comedy, which is being largely ignored by the other networks. There is a reason Kath & Kim was one of the largest hits of the last decade; Australians love to laugh.

It could launch a new look, with a focused marketing strategy, one that promotes new and returning programming smartly, and not just promoting the same one or two shows continuously to no effect. It could focus Eleven on an audience that isn’t mirroring Ten’s own, and make sure the main network is always the most important; perhaps Neighbours has a place on Ten, maybe not. Either way, they can’t treat Eleven as an equal to Ten. It must always be considered an important part of the Ten Network, but not more so than the channel that lives a number beneath.

It needs to address the major issue with its schedule, inconsistency and lack of product. Relying on a few shows a year isn’t working, especially when Seven and Nine have copied from your own playbook. Big shiny floor reality shows aren’t Ten’s bread and butter anymore. It’s time to move on and find your own thing to lead with again.

A promotion from 2011's disappointing 'news evolution' (Image: Spy Archive / Ten Network)

The early evenings remain a problem. It’s the same problem that led to the failure of 2011's ‘news evolution’; everyone switches off after the news. The Project wasn’t cutting it at 6:00, but neither is The Simpsons. Were any of the previous shows? Not really, but giving a show a short run without much promotion or assistance isn’t going to work either - nor is giving up and just airing The Simpsons for eternity, especially with its dreadful figures.

The news at Ten must be reconsidered, and it may be time to reinvest and revitalise the schedule with an expanded slate of local news in the early evening. It will take more than a year to make a dent, but in the long run it is the only conceivable way I can see Ten doing any business in that time period. It’s going to be painful and slow, but the alternative is giving up and making it even harder to achieve any sort of success during primetime.

As Seven News is realising, the lead-in matters, and Ten’s primetime lead-in is extremely weak.

So who is responsible for all these missteps at the network? As announced on Friday, James Warburton is out as CEO after less than 14 months, and Hamish McLennan is in come 18 March. Hopefully under this new leadership, necessary changes can be made to help right the ship, and return Ten to a competitive position.

In saying this, I don’t think Warburton was solely responsible for the news cuts; that is the board at work as well, the same board that has now dumped him for McLennan. It will not only take a CEO with vision, but also a board willing to invest, and not just cut back for the sake of an immediate benefit to the balance sheet. Whether or not this board is capable of that is questionable.

Hopefully Ten finds its way soon. Our industry is small, and the people who work in it are good, and deserve better. As viewers, we deserve three competitive networks, that are all doing as well as they can in a competitive environment, all producing quality local content that entertains, inspires and informs - otherwise we all end up being losers.

Ten Adelaide's Jane Reilly (Image: Network Ten)

Ten News at Five Adelaide weather veteran Jane Reilly has announced she will leave the Ten Network to focus on a radio career.

Reilly, who has worked on Adelaide television for 37 years, said that the decision came "earlier in the year," as she had accepted the role as co-host of the FIVEaa breakfast show alongside Keith Conlon.

"[It has been] a very hard decision to make, as I absolutely love working for Network Ten and I have many loyal fans, who I know will be surprised by this announcement," Reilly said.

She added that she had been working in radio since the beginning of the year, and had decided that it was the direction she wanted to take, according Adelaide Now.

Reilly also said that she will continue to be a part of the Ten family almost like a "volunteer ambassador" and she was very "grateful" that management were supportive of her decision.

"Reilly had an amazing career in television and was a much-loved institution within Adelaide media," said Ten Adelaide general manager Frank Filosi.

"We wish her all the success with her new career and look forward to continuing our close relationship with Jane in the future," he added.

Reilly's absence will be filled by reporter Kate Freebairn when Reilly finishes with Ten in April.

Jane Reilly's departure comes after a rough 2012 for Ten with management not renewing contracts of many presenters.

The board of Ten Network Holdings has sacked chief executive James Warburton with immediate effect, replacing him with News Corporation executive vice president Hamish McLennan.

Warburton was poached by Ten in 2011 from rival network Seven, but was only able to take up the position with Ten in January last year after serving the non-compete clauses of his Seven contract.

Previously thought of as the successor to Seven's David Leckie, Warburton was appointed chief executive after Ten sacked former boss Grant Blackley, who due to poor ratings and financial results, lost the board's confidence.

Ten has been unable to successfully arrest a fall in the network's ratings under Warburton, despite the replacement of former chief programming officer David Mott with Beverley McGarvey last year.

Ten chairman Lachlan Murdoch thanked Warburton for his "hard work and contribution during what has been a difficult period for the company".

McLennan said in a statement released by Ten that he looks forward to leading the network during a "period of creative renewal and financial growth".

Ten's executive general manager and ex-ad man Russel Howcroft will be acting chief executive until McLennan begins on 18 March.

Regional news - an endangered species?

The whole idea of regional television equalisation, better known as aggregation, was to provide regional viewers a choice equal to that of their metro cousins. Metro viewers had always had a choice in local news and content, and one would, in all good faith, assume that the same would apply in regional areas, augmenting the metro news on relay.

The opponents to Bob Hawke's vote-grabbing strategy warned that local content would suffer from a variety of factors, including financial and network pressures. While it was promising for a while, nearly 25 years later, the naysayers were proven right.

Today's announcement by WIN Television that its news bulletins in the South East and Riverland regions of South Australia would cease production immediately should be ringing alarm bells similar to those run back in 2001 when Prime Television and Southern Cross Broadcasting axed bulletins in North Queensland, Canberra, Wollongong and Newcastle. This decision left two major cities with only one commercial news bulletin, although to the ABC's and Seven Queensland's credit, they have produced local bulletins for Canberra and North Queensland since then.

The big difference is that there is no other local bulletins left standing in the South East and Riverland. WIN News was their local TV news, dating back to the days when they were known as SES-8 and RTS-5A respectively. As the sole commercial television operator, they had a unique position in the community. Aside from having a license to print money, to quote Lord Thomson. They were entrusted to do the right thing by said community, to provide local content and coverage on issues that affected them.

WIN have since destroyed any trust that community must have had in them. Sadly, it has been slowly being eroded through decisions such as the merger of both bulletins earlier in the decade, followed by the shifting of production to sister station NWS-9 in Adelaide. And now that community has had the ultimate insult thrown at its face.

These stations are now little more than relays of the Adelaide stations, all controlled by one company, with local ads and the obligatory local PSA inserted for good measure. Local radio is mixed, depending on where you live. That leaves local newspapers, and who knows how long they'll survive for. And the ABC's local radio stations.

This now sets a dangerous precedent. How long before their neighbours to the west, Southern Cross GTS/BKN, axe their bulletin? WIN had to reinstate their weekend bulletins in Tasmania, but what's not to say they'll do it again, and with their other stations for much the same reason? As long as they do what Southern Cross do, they'll comply with lackluster regulations. Nine are in the mood for cost cutting, where does that leave Nine Darwin and NBN in Northern NSW? Do they dare risk a public backlash in order to recover lost millions?

Should the ABC be tasked to provide regional television news as part of its charter? On one hand, it would sound like a natural extension of its local radio network - reporters on the ground, increasingly multi-skilled. On the other - how would you fund it? Would commercial television operators be happy with putting up with a government-funded competitor? Would you, as taxpayers, be happy with any potential increases in taxes to fund it? To be fair, not everyone lives in a country area, but also, not everyone gets all the ABC radio services easily compared to metro areas.

The other way around it is to force the hand of the toothless tiger, otherwise known as ACMA, into yet another inquiry, just like in 2001, looking at the adequateness of regional content. But look at what that gave us. Pointless rip-and-read two minute updates and endless music based clip shows. Hardly relevant.

Any new inquiry must result in meaningful results. No more ready acceptance of the cheap and shoddy content that barely passes muster. If the metro networks want to expand their ownership across all of Australia, then any new legislation should include a strengthening of local content rules.

An ideal solution for the 3-station markets would be a "2 out of 3" requirement - two stations must produce local news in all markets of substance, with the assistance of their metro owners to ensure that viewers have the choice of television news. The other station would still have to produce some local content, but some flexibility would be permitted, as long as it is relevant to that market - not all markets. Points could be awarded dependent just how local it is - locally relevant and/or locally produced. And make the licenses time-limited. Award them for a 10 year period, with a community led review half-way through, allowing for any shortfalls to be made up.

Otherwise, a simpler solution would be for the newly enlarged networks to pay out their requirements, and pay an increased license fee which would go direct to the ABC, who would take up the role and produce their own regional news bulletins.

It shouldn't be this way. People in Newcastle and Wollongong should have more choice in 2013 then they did in 1962 when NBN and WIN started operations. The same applies to the whole of Victoria as well. You'd wish our television networks took the same approach to local news that the Americans do, as fellow columnist Mike Beckham reported on recently.

As for WIN itself, maybe Nine chief David Gyngell needs to look long and hard about its relationship with the company following this decision. Nine has been the main news network in regional Australia, thanks largely to the efforts of WIN and NBN in expanding their news services since aggregation. No other operator comes close to matching that reach. But WIN's actions in recent years need some review. Increased shareholdings in rival Ten Network and Prime Media Group, along with a joint venture with the ABC should be ringing alarm bells in the Nine bunker.

Network instability is not something anyone in the television business should be putting up with. It was along these lines that Adelaide saw a swap in network affiliations between then ADS-7 and SAS-10 in 1987. Gyngell needs to look long and hard at whether or not having someone like WIN is good for them in the long term. It breeds of disloyalty - something a resurgent network does not need.

Maybe this decision might be the one that breaks the camel's back. Regardless, it sets a dark precedent for regional media users that, unless legislative action is taken, will see the dramatic lessening of local coverage in areas where online may never fully fill the gap that existing operators leave.