Taylor back at Nine as Packer refuses Prime NZ buyout Maria Nguyen
Prime Television NZ CEO Chris Taylor is returning to Australia next month to head up Prime’s Queensland unit after two years at the helm of the network’s troubled New Zealand operations, which is being sold off to Sky Network Television.
Last month Prime Television Australia announced that it had struck a deal, subject to government clearance, to sell its New Zealand operations to Auckland-based pay TV operator Sky Network (partially owned by the Commonwealth Bank of Australia) for NZ$30.26m.
Prime New Zealand is a joint venture between Kerry Packer’s Publishing & Broadcasting Limited and Prime Australia, and its sale to pay TV operator Sky followed PBL’s decision not to buy the other 51% stake in Prime New Zealand.
Sky has made no secret of wanting to compete in the free-to-air television space and previously approached CanWest (which owns Network 10 in Australia) about buying its C4 station in New Zealand.
Sky’s purchase of Prime would allow it to supplement its pay TV subscription revenue with greater advertising revenue, which currently only makes up about 6% of the New Zealand market’s total TV advertising spend.
The sale of Prime NZ will see its CEO Chris Taylor move back to Australia as managing director of Prime’s QTQ-9 Brisbane.
Taylor, who was once thought to be considered for the top job at Channel Nine after David Gyngell resigned as CEO earlier this year, started his career at Channel Nine in sales and was later promoted to national sales director before scoring the top gig at Prime New Zealand. (His father, Lynton, is also a senior executive at Nine and a long-time friend of Kerry Packer).
During Taylor’s rein at Prime NZ, the 32 year old took on the established television players, poaching big names stars, lifting profits and cutting losses. However, his aggressive and ambitious tactics generated envy and controversy with rival TVNZ’s head of news Bill Ralston once launching an extraordinary attack on Taylor in the media.
“If I were him, I’d be shooting myself. Id be pouring petrol over myself and throwing myself off Auckland’s tallest building,” Ralston had said.
The controversy even drew in New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark who told the networks boys to “grow up”.
Taylor will leave Prime New Zealand on December 9 and take up his Brisbane role on December 12.
