Southern Cross Austereo (SCA) has announced it has withdrawn from discussions with WIN Corporation to sell its northern NSW television assets and acquire WIN’s Wollongong radio station, i98FM.
The radio network opened negotiations with WIN earlier this month over the TV and radio assets.
SCA currently broadcasts Network Ten’s programming in the northern NSW television licence area under a five-year affiliation agreement, which ends on 30 June 2021.
WIN already broadcasts Ten programming in several regional TV licence areas, including regional Victoria, southern NSW and regional Queensland.
The proposed transaction would have enabled WIN to sell advertising for Ten programming in the four aggregated regional markets on the eastern seaboard.
SCA and the Nine Network have a program supply agreement whereby SCA broadcasts Nine programming in regional Victoria, southern NSW (including Wollongong) and southern Queensland.
SCA also provides national sales services for Nine’s NBN channel in northern NSW.
The radio network currently has 68 regional stations, but does not currently operate a radio station in the Wollongong licence area.
