Ten’s creditors agreed earlier today (Tuesday) for the Australian commercial broadcaster to be acquired by the US network CBS for Aus$209.7m (€140m/$168m).
The creditors voted in favour of the CBS option after the network increased its offer by Aus$8.6m late on Monday following a counter-offer from Lachlan Murdoch and his business partner, Bruce Gordon.
Murdoch and Gordon’s investment vehicles, Illyria and Birketu, submitted the offer of Aus$55m to Ten’s administrator, KordaMentha, after the Australian Senate passed changes to media laws that would have previously blocked a takeover of Ten by the duo. However, Gordon’s appeal over the proposed takeover was rejected yesterday by the country’s Supreme Court, which said that there was insufficient information about the joint bid.
CBS last month agreed a deal to acquire embattled Ten, which entered into voluntary administration in June. Ten is one of the main sports broadcasters in Australia and in addition to its core linear channel, CBS is set to acquire digital terrestrial television channel Eleven, in which it already has a 33-per-cent stake, the DTT channel One and Ten’s digital platform, TenPlay.
“The industry is generally excited about having a Aus$27bn big brother looking after channel Ten,” administrator Mark Korda told reporters.
CBS, which is owed more than half of Ten’s Aus$609.1m debt, will now take control of Ten once regulatory approval is confirmed.
Ten’s last major sports-rights deal came in June as it acquired rights to the A-League, the top tier of domestic football, as well as matches played by the men’s national team.