Update: The time is 3.33pm. Official announcements...
"MediaCorp and SPH sign deal to merge mass market TV and free newspaper
By Walter Fernandez, Channel NewsAsia"- CNA, 17 September 2004, 1415 hrs
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The time is 1.12pm. Grapevine stuff on a major change in Singapore's media scene:
From Sammyboy forums:
TeoKongTao says: Hot off the press, literally. Just came back from drinks with some journalists and fellow agency folks from Press Club.
Major announcement in media industry that will return us to the good old days of monopoly and squeezing blood from advertisers.
Mediacorp will buy SPH Mediaworks' assets on the cheap. Channel i and u staff have been asked to prepare for worst outcome. Some of the senior staff who have positioned thmselves properly have already materialised their exit strategy. Due diligence done, three months to completion of deal.
Streats is closing down, but SPH will buy significant but not majority stake in Mediacorp Press Ltd which is the owner of Today newspaper. Today will continue to operate but with different management. Senior editors and reporters who defected from SPH to join Today at high salaries will be the first to be retrenched. Printing and distribution contracts to be cancelled by year end.
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Spot Check says: SPH stock suspended pending announcement. Volume very high, third top gainer, something is brewing.
According to market talk, SPH will make announcement to exit broadcasting. SPH will buy 40% of Today from Mediacorp, who will keep stake for three to six months, and then there will be many unemployed journalists.
If you are agency guy, you will notice the journalists very nice to you today, because all sweating.
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asylumaniac says: 1122 [Dow Jones] SPH (T39) +2.3% at $4.52 before asking for trade halt,
pending announcement but gives no details; publisher also planning to
call press conference at 5pm. At moment, market rife with talk of
consolidation in media industry, saying SPH may buy stake in MediaCorp
Press, or Today newspaper after MediaCorp took control of freesheet by
buying out SingTel (T46), SMRT (S53) recently; some also say SPH may
unload loss-making TV stations in exchange. So far, SPH not commenting
on talks, while MediaCorp''s internal memo stresses commitment to print
business.
SINGAPORE (Dow Jones)--In a move that will consolidate Singapore''s
media industry, Singapore Press Holdings Ltd. (T39.SG) is set to take a
stake in rival MediaCorp Pte. Ltd.''s free daily newspaper, a source
close to the talks said Friday.
SPH, the country''s biggest publisher, Friday suspended share trading
ahead of an expected announcement. A press briefing is expected at 5
p.m. local time, or 0900 GMT, another source said.
The move will be the biggest shake-up in Singapore''s media industry,
four years after the government opened up the sector to more domestic
competition.
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asylumaniac says: DJ Singapore Press Hldgs To Take Newspaper Stake -Source -2- (2004-09-17
03:46:00)
Staff at the two companies said they have been told the company will
take a 40% stake in the Today newspaper. SPH will build the stake over
four months.
MediaCorp Wednesday said it had bought the remaining shares it didn''t
already own in the newspaper from Singapore Telecommunications Ltd.
(T48.SG), giving MediaCorp full control of the 300,000-a-day circulation
daily newspaper.
The move was seen as a precursor to MediaCorp closing down the
unprofitable newspaper, speculation that MediaCorp Thursday denied.
SPH dominates the print media industry with 14 titles - including its
own free daily, Streats, and about 90% of the newspaper advertising
market. MediaCorp., meanwhile, dominates the free-to-air broadcast media
with five channels.
Staff at both companies also said SPH will shut down Streats, close one
television channel and transfer the other channel to MediaCorp by the
end of the year. SPH declined to comment.
MediaCorp hasn''t disclosed the extent of losses at Today but expects
the newspaper to break even during this financial year ended March 31,
2005.
Analysts say the core problem in Singapore''s saturated media industry
isn''t the newspaper business but free-to-air television broadcasting,
where both SPH and MediaCorp are suffering from cut-price advertising
rates.
MediaCorp not only faces competition from SPH''s two channels but also
from the 54 pay-television channels offered by cable operator StarHub
Pte. Ltd. (STB.YY).
MediaCorp in August blamed "destructive competition" in the mainstream
TV market for losses at its popular Channel 5 and Channel 8 operations,
but didn''t provide loss figures.
SPH in July said its broadcast unit swung into the red with pretax
losses for the nine months ended May 31 of S$39.67 million
(US$1=S$1.6899), compared with S$157 million in pretax profit in the
year-earlier period.
