NOVA Entertainment is an Australian entertainment company that operates commercial radio networks (and associated digital brands) in metropolitan and regional areas of

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. NOVA Entertainment is owned by

Lachlan Murdoch Lachlan Keith Murdoch (; born 8 September 1971) is a British and Australian businessman and mass media heir. He is the son of the media Business magnate, tycoon Rupert Murdoch. He is the executive chairman of Nova Entertainment, chairman of N ...

's Illyria Pty Ltd which purchased the remaining 50% it did not own from

Daily Mail and General Trust Daily Mail and General Trust (DMGT) is a British multinational media conglomerate, the owner of the '' Daily Mail'' and several other titles. The 4th Viscount Rothermere is the chair and controlling shareholder of the company. The head office ...

in September 2012.

History

Nova Entertainment was formed in early 1996 under the name DMG Radio Australia, followed later in the year with the A$46M acquisition of 85% of the Broadcast Media group of regional stations. This was shortly followed by

FIVEaa FIVEAA (pronounced ''Five Double A'') is Adelaide's only commercial talkback radio station. The station has a range of programs including news, sports, current affairs, social issues, football calls, gardening, lifestyle, cars, travel and healt ...

on 26 September 1996. The founding chairman and CEO were Charlie Cox and

Paul Thompson Paul Thompson may refer to: Education *Paul Thompson (professor) (born 1951), British management professor at the University of Strathclyde *Paul B. Thompson (philosopher) (born 1951), American philosopher at Michigan State University *Paul H. Tho ...

respectively. In September 2004, DMG Radio Australia sold most of its regional radio stations to

Macquarie Bank Macquarie Group Limited (), more commonly known as Macquarie Bank, is an Australian multinational investment banking and financial services group headquartered in Sydney and listed on the ASX (). Macquarie's investment banking division is Au ...

, keeping only Hot 91 Sunshine Coast (later sold in early 2005) and Star 104.5 in

Gosford Gosford is a waterfront city at the northern end of Brisbane Water on the Central Coast in the state of New South Wales, Australia. The Gosford Waterfront is known for its boating and scenic views on the shores of Brisbane Water. Gosford is ...

. On Monday 21 May 2012, after poor ratings, 91.5 FM Melbourne and 95.3 FM Sydney were rebranded again to

Smoothfm smoothfm is an Australian commercial radio network owned and operated by Nova Entertainment. From original launch in 2012, The format was focused on providing 'more music and less talk' along with an eclectic easy-listening playlist, usually f ...

with a new smooth, easy listening format to aim for women aged 35+. In December 2013, DMG Radio Australia launched a 24-hour Australian pay television music channel, Smooth available via

Foxtel NXE Australia Pty Ltd, trading as the Foxtel Group, is an Australian pay television company that operates cable television, direct-broadcast satellite, direct broadcast satellite television, and IPTV streaming services. It was formed in April ...

satellite and cable services. The pay television music channel extends from the

smoothfm smoothfm is an Australian commercial radio network owned and operated by Nova Entertainment. From original launch in 2012, The format was focused on providing 'more music and less talk' along with an eclectic easy-listening playlist, usually f ...

radio brand. It was shut down on 30 June 2020. In February 2014, DMG Radio Australia rebranded under the name Nova Entertainment to reflect the company's increasingly diversified interests in radio and the media and entertainment industries. The new company name has been developed to encapsulate both the pride and heritage of the company’s original and successful FM launch brand, Nova, with its recent evolution into the broader media and entertainment space.

Current operations

Radio

NOVA Entertainment owns two national radio networks and numerous independent radio stations with a presence across Australia through terrestrial, digital and online. All stations can be streamed online or via the Nova, Smooth, FIVEAA or Star Player apps.

NOVA

The Nova Network is a commercial radio network with an adult contemporary format. All network stations are owned and operated by NOVA Entertainment (with Perth being a JV with ARN) and each FM station has its own local Breakfast show with daytime, drive and night shifts networked across all stations.

smoothfm

smoothfm is a commercial radio network originally launched in 2012 as a rebrand of the Classic Rock network. Since 14 February 2020 the network's primary format is Hot-Adult Contemporary providing feel good and dance music.

Non-network radio

In addition to its network-based assets, NOVA also operates the following radio stations. NOVA Entertainment also rebroadcasts

News News is information about current events. This may be provided through many different Media (communication), media: word of mouth, printing, Mail, postal systems, broadcasting, Telecommunications, electronic communication, or through the te ...

-owned British station

talkSPORT Talksport (styled as talkSPORT) is a sports radio station in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, owned by News Broadcasting. Its content includes live coverage of sporting events, interviews with the leading names in sport and entertai ...

locally via its website and NOVA Player app.

Other

*novafm.com.au, online news, music & lifestyle portal *smooth.com.au, online news, music & lifestyle portal *fiveaa.com.au, online news portal *star1045.com.au, online news, music & lifestyle portal

Former operations

Foxtel Smooth

Foxtel Smooth was an 18-hour

pay television Pay television, also known as subscription television, premium television or, when referring to an individual service, a premium channel, refers to Subscription business model, subscription-based television services, usually provided by multichan ...

music channel (time-shared with

Foxtel Arts Foxtel Arts was a subscription television arts channel available in Australia on the Foxtel platform. History Foxtel Arts replaced the SBS owned arts channel Studio, and became the third iteration of a dedicated arts channel on Foxtel in si ...

) available via

satellite and cable services. It launched on 3 December 2013, dedicated to

easy listening Easy listening (including mood music) is a popular music genre and radio format that was most popular during the 1950s to the 1970s. It is related to middle of the road (MOR) music and encompasses instrumental recordings of standards, hit s ...

adult contemporary music Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the 1980s to the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, sou ...

. The channel ceased broadcasting on 30 June 2020.

GOAT

GOAT was a pop culture, news and entertainment website aimed at a millennial audience. It has been dormant since 2018.

References

External links

NOVA Entertainment
{{National radio networks in Australia Daily Mail and General Trust Australian radio networks Contemporary hit radio stations in Australia Mass media companies established in 1996