CBS-owned Network 10 has returned serve to rival Seven West Media (SWM) after successfully appealing the sale of a transmission tower it jointly owns for $1.
After 10 went into administration last year (prior to CBS rescuing it), a clause in a contract was triggered which allowed Seven and/or Nine (the other joint owners of TX Australia) to purchase the TV network’s 33.3 per cent stake in tower, according to The Sydney Morning Herald.
However, none of the networks could agree on a purchase price for 10’s share of the broadcast tower, which is used across the five mainland state capitals.
Consulting giant PwC then proposed a number of different valuations for TXA, ranging from $1 to $40 million.
This prompted SWM commercial director Bruce McWilliam to send a letter to TXA chairman Paul Mullen offering to buy half of 10’s share of the company for 50 cents if Nine decided to buy the other half, or purchase all of it for $1 if Nine wasn’t keen.
The networks ended up in the Supreme Court of NSW over the matter, and the ruling was in favour of Seven and Nine, despite the CBS-owned network’s best efforts to stop that from happening.
Anyway, 10 appealed the court decision and won on Friday, so now a new valuation will have to take place.
In the meantime, 10 general counsel Stuart Thomas wrote a cheeky letter (which you can read here courtesy of The Age) to McWilliam with his $1 coin attached, telling him to “spend it wisely!”
SWM declined to comment on the letter from Thomas when contacted by B&T.
