Seven West Media

Seven West Media

Company type	Public
Traded as	ASX: SWM
Industry	Media
Predecessor	West Australian Newspapers Holdings Limited
Founded	1992
Headquarters	Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Key people	Kerry Stokes, Chairman David Leckie, CEO
Products	Television Radio Newspapers Magazines Websites
Owner	Seven Group Holdings 29.6% Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. 12.6%
Website	Seven West Media Ltd.

Seven West Media Limited is an ASX-listed media empire (ASX: SWM) and is Australia’s largest diversified media business, formed by the sale of Seven Media Group to West Australian Newspapers Holdings Limited (WAN). It has a leading presence in broadcast television, radio, newspaper publishing, magazine publishing and online.

Seven Group Holdings Ltd (SGH), a company controlled by Australian Capital Equity (ACE), is Seven West Media’s largest shareholder with 33% of Seven West Media shares and $250m Seven West Media Convertible Preference Shares(CPS).

Seven West Media owns two of Australia’s iconic media assets: Australia’s largest commercial television network (by audience and advertising market share) Seven Network; and The West Australian, the leading metropolitan newspaper in Western Australia.

It also owns the second largest publisher of magazines in Australia, Pacific Magazines, and 21 West Australian regional newspapers, nine regional radio licences, a specialist publishing business and WAN’s digital division.

Seven West Media is also creating a significant presence in online and new communications technologies, such as through its 50% interest in Yahoo!7, one of Australia and New Zealand’s leading online platforms, with global and local content across online, mobile and IPTV. On 21 February 2011, Seven Media Group announced its intention to merge with West Australian Newspapers Holdings Limited (WAN). WAN purchased Seven Media Group from Seven Group Holdings and partner Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., and announced the new company would be known as "Seven West Media".

On 11 April 2011, Seven West Media was created through the acquisition of Seven Media Group by West Australian Newspapers Holdings Limited (WAN) as approved by WAN shareholders.

Assets

• Seven Network
• The West Australian
• Pacific Magazines
• Yahoo!7 (50% stake)
• Community Newspaper Group
• Quokka
• WA Regional Newspapers
• The West
• Wjobs
• bloo
• Sky News Australia (33% stake)
• 67% of Hybrid Television Services exclusive licensee of TiVo in Australia and NZ from 2008 [1]

See also the newspaper and radio interests of West Australian Newspapers Holdings Limited.

West Australian Newspapers Holding Ltd

In addition to The West, West Australian Newspapers Holdings Limited owns a number of other media outlets.

• 23 regional newspapers and magazines
• 4 business directories across the State
• the Streetsmart and Travellers Atlas street directories
• the quarterly Vita and Habitat & Lifestyle magazines
• The Quokka, a classified-advertising weekly
• Two commercial printing plants
• a regional radio network in the State's north

In September 2007, WAN sold a 50% interest in the Hoyts Cinemas Group.

Key People

Chairman of Seven West Media is Kerry Stokes AC, who is also chairman of Seven Group Holdings, David Leckie is Group Chief Executive Officer of Seven West Media, with the others in the executive team being Tim Worner, CEO of Seven Network Television, Chris Wharton, Chief Executive Officer, WAN/WA Media; Nick Chan, CEO of Pacific Magazines; Kurt Burnette, Chief Sales and Digital Officer; Peter Lewis, Chief Financial Officer; Rohan Lund, CEO of Yahoo7!; Bruce McWilliam, Commercial Director; and Peter Bryant, Chief Financial Officer WAN.

History

The West Australian was owned by the publicly-listed company West Australian Newspapers Ltd from the 1920s. In 1969, the Melbourne based The Herald and Weekly Times Ltd bought WAN and published the paper until 1987, when Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation acquired HWT. News sold WAN to Robert Holmes à Court's Bell Group in 1987 The following year Alan Bond, through Bond Corporation, gained control of Bell Group and hence the paper. This ownership structure only survived for a few years until the collapse of Bond Corporation. A newly formed company, West Australian Newspapers Holdings, then purchased the paper from the receivers before being floated in an oversubscribed $185 million public offering. Kerry Stokes acquired 14.9% through Seven Network and he became Chairman of West Australian Newspapers in 2009. Kerry Stokes appointed Chris Wharton as CEO of West Australian Newspapers and Brett McCarthy as Editor.

Seven Media Group

Seven Network (commonly known as Channel 7 or simply Seven) dates back to 4 November 1956, when the first stations on the VHF7 frequency were established in Melbourne and Sydney. The Seven Network is one of five main free-to-air networks in Australia.

Since 2007, the Seven Network has been the highest rating television network in Australia, ahead of the Nine Network, Network Ten, ABC and SBS. In 2011 the Seven network won all 40 out of 40 weeks of the ratings season for total viewers. Seven is the first to do this since the introduction of the OZtam ratings system in 2001. It is currently the second largest network in the country in terms of population reach.

History of Seven Media Group

The Seven Network began as a group of independent stations in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth. HSV-7 Melbourne, licensed to The Herald and Weekly Times Ltd (owners of two local papers at the time, The Herald and The Sun), was the first station in the country to use the VHF7 frequency. It launched on 4 November 1956, soon joined on 2 December by Amalgamated Television Services ATN-7 in Sydney.

TVW-7 Perth began broadcasting almost two years later, on 16 October 1959, as the city's first commercial station. It was licensed to TVW Limited, a subsidiary of West Australian Newspapers, publisher of The West Australian. BTQ-7 followed on 1 November, signing on as Brisbane's second commercial television station.

ADS-7 in Adelaide launched on 24 Oct 1959 as the final capital city VHF7 station. The station later swapped frequencies with SAS-10, however, with the latter becoming SAS-7

Perth-based businessman Robert Holmes à Court, through his business the Bell Group, bought TVW-7 from its original owners, West Australian Newspapers in 1982. The Herald and Weekly Times, owner of HSV-7 and ADS-7, was sold to Rupert Murdoch in December 1986. Murdoch's company, News Limited, sold off HSV to Fairfax soon afterwards, for $320 million. Fairfax went on to axe a number of locally-produced shows in favour of networked content from its Sydney counterpart, ATN-7 (also owned by Fairfax at the time).

In 1987 forced Fairfax sold off its stations to Qintex Ltd., owned by businessman Christopher Skase. Qintex had previously bought, and subsequently sold off, stations in Brisbane and regional Queensland before taking control of the network. The next year, another new logo was introduced along with evening soap Home and Away and a relaunched Seven National News, now known as Seven News. The network expanded in 1988 when Skase bought out TVW for $130 million.

A failed $1.5 billion bid for MGM Studios in the same year sent Qintex into receivership. Christopher Skase fled Australia in 1990 in order to escape extradition. The business' assets were bundled together by receivers and made into a new company, the Seven Network Limited, in 1991.

The network was re-listed as a public company on the stock exchange in 1993 with News Limited holding 14.9% and Telstra holding 10%. In 1995 Stokes acquired 19.9% of the public company and was elected Chairman. Shortly after it aquired Sunshine Television, a Seven Network affiliate in regional Queensland, Sunshine Television's regional stations effectively became a part of the Seven Network, identical in appearance and programming to the rest of the business' stations. Seven Queensland won the annual audience ratings for the first time in 1998.

Now 68% owned by Kerry Stokes, Seven Network is a network of commercial free-to-air television stations in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Adelaide, as well as regional Queensland & Perth. The platform, as well as a 33 per cent stake in Sky News Australia, now reaches 98 per cent of Australians. Seven has also established a major magazine publishing business, Pacific Magazines, which now accounts for more than 20 per cent of all magazines sold in Australia.

The year 2000 saw Seven as the host broadcaster for Sydney Olympics, with the relaunch of the Network with an updated logo and a new promotional campaign. In 2003, Stokes appointed David Leckie to CEO of Seven and Peter Meakin as Head of News and Current Affairs. In January 2006, the Seven Network, Pacific Magazine and online portal Yahoo! Australia and New Zealand combined in a joint venture to form Yahoo!7, representing all three companies' online assets.

This venture is now Australia's most popular internet portal and the joint venture is driving a range of online and IPTV businesses. Seven is building and acquiring a range of broadband businesses, including wireless broadband group Unwired, VOIP operator Engin and has become the Australian licensee for TiVo, due to be launched in 2008. The group has also established a strategic 20 per cent shareholding in West Australian Newspapers Ltd.

In 2006, Seven Network and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co (KKR) created a new joint venture, Seven Media Group, a multi-faceted media company combining a presence in broadcast television, magazine and online applications.

Seven HD was officially announced on 15 September 2007, with the Seven Media Group announcing their intention to start a high definition multichannel, that was initially expected to launch in December 2007.

By the end of 2007, the Seven Network had proven itself to become the most watched network in the country, dominating morning and prime time slots which continues today.

Pacific Magazines

Not to be confused with Pacific Magazine.

Pacific Magazine is a magazine publisher operating in Australia and New Zealand, owned by Seven Media Group. It has it roots in the Southdown Press, the publishers of New Idea and long owned by the Murdoch family. When News Limited acquired the Herald and Weekly Times in 1987, the Australasian and Argus titles (Australasian Post, Home Beautiful, Your Garden) were added.

Rupert Murdoch spun off his Australian magazine holdings in 1991 into a new company, Pacific Magazines and Printing (PMP). Seven Media Group acquired Pacific Magazines in 2002, leaving PMP as solely a printing business. Two years later, Seven bought Murdoch Magazines, a former corporate sibling in News Limited, from Matt Handbury.

Publications

• Better Homes and Gardens, a monthly home/lifestyle magazine.
• Bride to Be, a bridal magazine
• Diabetic Living, a bi-monthly lifestyle magazine aimed at people suffering from diabetes.
• Family Circle, a bi-annual women's magazine aimed at mothers.
• Famous, a weekly celebrity tabloid magazine.
• Girlfriend, a monthly magazine for teenage girls.
• Home Beautiful, a monthly home decorating magazine.
• K-Zone, a monthly children's magazine dealing with toys, gaming, anime, sport and entertainment.
• Marie Claire, a monthly women's fashion magazine.
• Men's Health, a monthly men's lifestyle magazine.
• Monument, a bi-monthly architecture and design magazine.
• New Idea, a weekly women's magazine.
• Practical Parenting, a monthly parenting magazine.
• That's Life!, a weekly lifestyle magazine.
• Total Girl, a monthly magazine for preteen girls.
• TV Hits, a monthly entertainment magazine for teenagers.
• InStyle, a monthly fashion, lifestyle and entertainment magazine.
• Who, a weekly celebrity magazine, sister to the United States weekly People.
• Women's Health, a monthly women's lifestyle magazine.
• Your Garden, a quarterly gardening magazine.