Nine Entertainment (registered as Nine Entertainment Co. Pty Ltd) is an Australian publicly listed media company with holdings in radio and television broadcasting, newspaper publications and digital media. It uses Nine as its corporate branding and also prefers this usage to be used for the parent company. The entity is largely a successor to the former

Publishing and Broadcasting Limited Publishing and Broadcasting Limited (PBL) was one of Australia's largest corporations. With interests primarily in media and gambling, for the entirety of its existence it was largely controlled by the Packer family. History Predecessors PB ...

(PBL), which was established by the Packer family. The Packers officially ended their involvement with the company in 2008 and its name was changed to Nine in 2010. The company merged with

Fairfax Media Fairfax Media was a media company in Australia and New Zealand, with investments in newspaper, magazines, radio and digital properties. The company was founded by John Fairfax as John Fairfax and Sons, who purchased ''The Sydney Morning Herald' ...

in December 2018, expanding its brands and investments across television, video on demand, print, digital, radio and real estate classifieds. Nine's assets include the Nine Network, Nine Radio; major newspaper mastheads such as ''

The Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper ...

'', ''

The Age ''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territory ...

'' and ''

The Australian Financial Review ''The Australian Financial Review'' (abbreviated to the ''AFR'') is an Australian business-focused, compact daily newspaper covering the current business and economic affairs of Australia and the world. The newspaper is based in Sydney, New Sou ...

''; digital properties such as nine.com.au, 9Honey, Pedestrian;

video-on-demand Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos without a traditional video playback device and the constraints of a typical static broadcasting schedule. In the 20th century, broadcasting in the form of ...

platform Stan; and a majority investment in real estate web portal Domain Group.

History

The company was a successor of the long-established Australian media group Australian Consolidated Press (ACP), created by Sir Frank Packer, whose Channel 9 was Australia's first commercial TV network. Kerry Packer inherited the company after his father's death in 1974. ACP was combined with the Nine Network in 1994 as Publishing and Broadcasting Ltd (PBL).

PBL Media

Under a split of PBL into two companies, after Kerry Packer's death in 2005, PBL Media, formerly held by PBL, was transferred to Consolidated Media Holdings (CMH). PBL Media was established in October 2006, when PBL transferred its media interests, including the ACP Magazines, Nine Network, and

ninemsn Nine.com.au (formerly Ninemsn) is an Australian news and current events website, owned by ASX-listed company, Nine Entertainment Co. It was originally established as a 50:50 joint venture between Microsoft and PBL Media (now Nine Entertainmen ...

, to the new business - a joint venture between PBL and CVC Asia Pacific. The recapitalisation was announced on 18 October 2006. In June 2007, PBL announced that it would sell a further 25% to CVC Capital Partners for $515 million. In September 2007, it was announced that the transaction was to go ahead at the increased purchase price of approximately $526 million. On 27 October 2008, James Packer and CMH representatives, such as Alexander, resigned from the board of PBL Media, effectively ending financial backing and future associations with the company. James Packer later sold his media interests.

Nine Entertainment

From 2 December 2010, PBL Media rebranded as Nine Entertainment Company In December 2011 former McDonald's Australia chief executive Peter Bush was appointed chairman following the resignation of Tim Parker. In February 2013 David Haslingden, previously President and Chief Operating Officer of Fox Networks Group, was appointed to the Board as an independent non-executive director and chairman. In December 2013, Nine Entertainment listed on the ASX, trading as . Vendors included Apollo Global Management, Oaktree Capital and Goldman Sachs who took over from CVC in a refinancing deal in October 2012. In 2014, Nine Entertainment Co founded online streaming company Stan with Fairfax Media, investing $50 million into the joint venture. On 16 April 2015 Nine Entertainment Co announced the sale of its Nine Live business to Affinity Equity Partners for $640 million to reduce debt and fund an ongoing capital management program. In October 2015

WIN Corporation WIN Corporation is a private Australian media company, that owns assets including the WIN Television network, Crawford Productions and several local radio stations. The company is based in Wollongong, New South Wales. History Founding The WIN b ...

purchased a 14% stake in Nine Entertainment Co. from investment fund operator Apollo.

Hugh Marks (2015–2020)

In November 2015, Hugh Marks was appointed as CEO. He replaced

David Gyngell David Liam Barr Gyngell (born 1966), an Australian businessman, was the former Chief Executive Officer of Nine Entertainment Co. which owns a string of businesses including the Nine Network and Nine Radio. Gyngell was the CEO of the Nine Networ ...

, who remained on the board. In February 2016, Peter Costello was appointed chairman. In March 2016, Nine Entertainment Co purchased a 9.9% stake in

Southern Cross Media Group Southern Cross Media Group (formerly Macquarie Media Group) is one of Australia's major media companies, as the parent company of Southern Cross Austereo. Its headquarters are in South Melbourne. History On 3 July 2007 Southern Cross Broadca ...

from the Macquarie Group. On 29 April 2016, Nine Entertainment Co. ended a 27-year affiliation agreement with WIN Corporation, instead partnering with

Southern Cross Austereo Southern Cross Media Group Limited, doing business as Southern Cross Austereo, is an Australian media company which operates broadcast radio and television stations. It is the largest radio broadcaster in Australia, operating 86 radio stati ...

in parts of regional Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria, after securing a 50% revenue sharing deal with Southern Cross, which is higher than its existing 39% deal with WIN. Nine sold its stake in the business in September. On 26 July 2018, Nine Entertainment Co. and Fairfax Media announced they agreed on terms for a merger between the two companies to become Australia's largest media company. As a result of the merger, Nine shareholders own 51.1 percent of the combined entity and Fairfax shareholders own 48.9 percent. After the merger between Nine Entertainment Co and Fairfax Media in December 2018, WIN Corporation's stake was diluted to 7.76% but later increased to 15.24% in January 2018. In September 2018, it was announced that WIN Corporation's overall economic interest had grown to 25%. On 25 May 2020, Nine Entertainment sold their New Zealand subsidiary Stuff, which had been acquired during the purchase of Fairfax in December 2018, to Stuff's chief executive

Sinead Boucher Sinead Marie Boucher (née O'Hanlon; born 26 June 1970) is a New Zealand journalist and chief executive of Stuff Ltd. On 31 May 2020 she became the owner of Stuff Ltd. Early life and family Born in 1970 to Sean and Mary O'Hanlon, Boucher moved w ...

for NZ$1. The transaction is due to be completed by 31 May and marks the return of Stuff into New Zealand ownership. As part of the agreement, Nine will benefit from all proceeds of the sale of wholesale broadband business Stuff Fibre to telecommunications company Vocus Group, and ownership of Stuff's

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by metr ...

printing press. In November 2020, Hugh Marks resigned from the Nine Network after revealing he was in a relationship with a former colleague. Nine Entertainment relocated from Willoughby, where it had been based for 64 years, to new offices at 1 Denison Street, in North Sydney in December 2020.

Mike Sneesby (2021–present)

In March 2021, Nine Entertainment announced the appointment of Mike Sneesby as Chief Executive Officer, effective 1 April 2021, following Hugh Marks resignation. On 12 March 2021, Nine announced that it would be returning its regional affiliation back to

WIN Television WIN Television is an Australian television network owned by WIN Corporation that is based in Wollongong, New South Wales. WIN commenced transmissions on 18 March 1962 as a single television station covering the Wollongong region. The WIN Netw ...

, ending its 5 year affiliation with SCA. As part of the deal, WIN will pay Nine 50% of advertising revenue and provide airtime to Nine's assets across the networks television and radio network. The affiliation switch was reversed on 1 July 2021. Upon the switch, WIN's unique branding was phased out in favour of Nine's metro branding with the WIN branding retained for local idents, promos, community announcements and sponsor billboards. However, ''

WIN News ''WIN News'' is a local television news service in parts of regional Australia, produced by WIN Television. 12 regional bulletins and news update services are presented from WIN's headquarters in Wollongong, and until 2021 included production ...

'' remains under its unique name and format. It was announced on 15 September 2021, that WIN's advertising department would be merged into Nine's advertising team with Nine's advertising platform ''9Galaxy'' extending into regional areas from July 2022. This will mean advertisers in regional areas can book advertising directly with Nine for the first time instead of booking with WIN.

Assets

Television

* Nine Network, an Australian commercial free-to-air television primary channel ** Sydney,

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Queensland, and the third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of approximately 2.6 million. Brisbane lies at the centre of the South ...

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth i ...

, Darwin, Northern New South Wales and Gold Coast *

9HD 9HD is an Australian television channel owned by Nine Entertainment, originally launched on 17 March 2008 featuring unique "breakaway" programming until 2009 and a high-definition simulcast of the Nine Network from 2009 to 2010 and again s ...

is an Australian free-to-air HD digital television multichannel using the primary channel simulcast *

9Gem 9Gem is an Australian free-to-air digital television multichannel, launched by the Nine Network in September 2010. The channel provides general entertainment and movie programming, from which the original name "GEM" is derived. History Nine N ...

is an Australian free-to-air digital television multichannel suitable for sport and entertainment *

9Go! 9Go! is an Australian free-to-air digital television multichannel, which was launched by the Nine Network on 9 August 2009, replacing Nine Guide. It is a youthful channel that offers a mix of comedy, reality, general entertainment, movies, ani ...

is an Australian free-to-air digital television multichannel aimed at 14- to 39-year-olds. *

9Life 9Life is an Australian free-to-air digital television multichannel owned by Nine Entertainment. The channel airs mostly foreign lifestyle and reality programs, with the channel having a licensing agreement with Discovery Inc. (previously Scripp ...

is an Australian free-to-air digital television multichannel featuring reality and lifestyle programs *

9Rush 9Rush is an Australian free-to-air digital television multichannel, launched by the Nine Network on 5 April 2020. The channel is a joint venture with Warner Bros. Discovery Networks Asia-Pacific Pte. Ltd (which also supplies its programming) ...

is an Australian free-to-air digital television multichannel aimed at a 25- to 54-year-old male audience. (joint venture with

Warner Bros. Discovery Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. (WBD) is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at 230 Park Avenue South in New York City. It was formed after the spin-off of WarnerMedia by AT&T, and its merger with Di ...

) * 10 Darwin (50% joint venture with Southern Cross Austereo,

Network 10 Network 10 (commonly known as Ten Network, Channel 10 or simply 10) is an Australian commercial television network owned by Ten Network Holdings, a division of the Paramount Networks UK & Australia subsidiary of Paramount Global. One of five ...

affiliate) * 9Now a video on demand, catch-up TV service which carries the main and multichannels of the Nine Network

Radio

News. Talk. Sport.

Music

The following stations are run under a lease agreement by Ace Radio.

Digital & Print

News

* 9News.com.au, a news portal * '' Australian Financial Review'', a

newspaper A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as p ...

and subscription news website * ''

Brisbane Times Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Queensland, and the third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of approximately 2.6 million. Brisbane lies at the centre of the South ...

'', a subscription news website * Nine.com.au, a web portal * ''

'', a newspaper and subscription news website * ''

WAtoday WAtoday is an online newspaper, focusing its coverage on Perth and Western Australia. It was established on 10 June 2008, and is owned by Fairfax Digital (now Nine Publishing, under Nine Entertainment Co). The company employs ten journalists i ...

'', a subscription news website

Lifestyle

* 9Entertainment * 9Honey, a women's network * Australian Financial Review Magazine * BOSS * CarAdvice.com, automotive reviews and news * Drive * Essential Baby * Essential Kids * Executive Style * Future Women * Good Food * Good Weekend * Life & Leisure ** Life & Leisure Luxury ** Life & Leisure - Sophisticated Traveller * Wide World of Sports, online services of Nine's sports brand *

Pedestrian Group Pedestrian, formerly PEDESTRIAN.TV, is a youth digital news and entertainment website based in Sydney, Australia, which has existed since 2005. It is owned by Pedestrian Group, a company created by Nine Entertainment in 2018 after buying out P ...

(majority stake), a digital media enterprise including the former Allure Media

Other businesses

* 9Saver * 9Voyager, an advertisement buying platform * Domain Group (59.2%) * Stan, an Australian online streaming service.

Former assets

* ACP Magazines, a magazine publisher operating in Australia,

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an are ...

and the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. Sold to the

Bauer Media Group Heinrich Bauer Publishing (german: Heinrich Bauer Verlag KG), trading as Bauer Media Group, is a German multimedia conglomerate headquartered in Hamburg. It operates worldwide and owns more than 600 magazines, over 400 digital products and 50 r ...

in 2012. *

Australian Community Media Australian Community Media (ACM) is a media company in Australia responsible for over 160 regional publications. Its mastheads include the ''Canberra Times'', ''Newcastle Herald'', '' The Examiner'', '' The Border Mail'', '' The Courier'' and ...

, a newspaper publisher. Sold to Antony Catalano and Thorney Investment Group in 2019 * Cudo, a group buying site launched as a joint venture with

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washin ...

Sold to Deals.com.au in 2013 * Fairfax Events and Entertainment, an events and entertainment company. Sold to Ironman group in 2019 * Find a Babysitter, a babysitter website was sold to its co-founders, Delia Timms and Jeff Bonnes, in 2021. * RSVP, an online dating service was sold by Nine to its managers David Heysen and Daniel Haigh in 2021. * Stuff Ltd, a New Zealand publisher and digital company. Sold to

in May 2020. * Sydney Super Dome, an entertainment and sporting complex located in Sydney. Sold to

Affinity Equity Partners Affinity Equity Partners is one of the largest dedicated Asian private equity firms and focuses on leveraged buyout and growth capital transactions. Affinity operates as a Pan-Asian firm focusing on investment opportunities in Korea, Southeast A ...

in 2015 * Ticketek, an event ticketing company operating in Australia and New Zealand. Sold to Affinity Equity Partners in 2015. *

Sky News Australia Sky News Australia is an Australian news channel owned by News Corp Australia. Originally launched on 19 February 1996, it broadcasts rolling news coverage throughout the day, while its prime time lineup is dedicated to opinion-based programs f ...

(33%), an Australian 24-hour cable news channel (joint venture with BSkyB and Seven West Media). Sold to News Corp Australia in December 2016. *

(9.9%), a radio and regional television media company. Divested in 2016. * Weatherzone (75%), a weather information provider. Sold to DTN in 2019.Nine announces Weatherzone sale to DTN
Media Week

References

External links

* {{S&P/ASX 200 2013 initial public offerings Companies based in Sydney Companies listed on the Australian Securities Exchange CVC Capital Partners companies Mass media companies of Australia Television broadcasting companies of Australia Australian companies established in 2006 Mass media companies established in 2006 de:Publishing and Broadcasting#PBL Media