...just a little side issue for the tipping game Timmy... we do have bets on when Channel 10 finish up so this article could be of some relevance methinks!... I find it to be hilarious that it comes down to the employees of Channel 10 that have the final decision in the end lol!... from this website below... cheers.
http://www.smh.com.au/business/medi...e-battle-for-network-ten-20170918-gyjmx0.html
Court stacks the odds against Murdoch/Gordon in the battle for Network Ten
The key to the future ownership of Network Ten sits in the hands of a bunch of its journalists, admin staff, television personalities, producers and operations technicians.
These staff will either vote in favour of US giant CBS's bid getting over the line or to adjourn Tuesday's creditors meeting in order that they can consider a rival offer from Lachlan Murdoch and Bruce Gordon.
By number the 750-strong staff are the crucial group and hold the balance on the show of hands required at the meeting. The largest creditor by value - the other measure that matters in a vote - is CBS which will clearly vote in favour of its own bid.
The last ditch legal attempt from Gordon's private company, WIN, to limit CBS's voting power and challenge the Ten Creditors Report as deficient was thrown out by the Supreme Court on Monday, paving the way for the creditors meeting to go ahead.
And from what is understood of the proxies from the staff, they will be overwhelmingly in favour of CBS.
While Murdoch and Gordon have improved their offer, their new bid announced on Friday and the CBS deal both involve fully paying staff entitlements - thus the staff shouldn't be swayed either way. Both proposals are promising no job cuts.
There are some smaller creditors - both in size or in number but they don't have the votes to overturn CBS or the staff.
Internally the staff were also less than impressed by the fact that under the Murdoch/Gordon proposal some of Ten's property leases would be broken and in Sydney for example the newsroom would move out north to Sky Television's studios at Macquarie Park.
Thus we could see a situation on Tuesday where creditors vote in favour to endorse what is in theory an inferior outcome across all creditors.
There will undoubtedly be some discussion and questions to administrators, KordaMentha about the details of the new Murdoch/Gordon proposal.
One can expect the second largest creditor 21st Century Fox - a Murdoch family-controlled company, to be pushing hard for an adjournment.
But ultimately the creditors get to vote - not the administrators.
It's too early to say that the battle is over. The fat lady is only just warming up.
There will be an opportunity for aggrieved creditors to have their say when the deal goes for to the court to be rubber stamped.
It remains to be seen whether Murdoch and Gordon will be able to find other legal avenues to torpedo the CBS deal - assuming creditors vote in favour of it on Tuesday.
In Monday's court decision the judge made it clear that it was not within his scope of to consider an alternative offer. He was merely assessing whether CBS could vote and whether the creditor's report contained the all the relevant information that was required.
He decided yes to both.
"It will be a matter for creditors at that meeting to determine whether that meeting should be adjourned by reason of, inter alia, any recent commercial developments, or for any other reason," Justice Ashley Black concluded.
Justice Black said the question for the court was "not, and should not be, which of any competing commercial proposals put by interested parties would be most advantageous to the creditors of the Ten Group companies" including employees and shareholders.
"That is a matter properly left for their decision," he said.
The main stakeholders in this game that would be in favour of the Murdoch/Gordon deal would be the Ten shareholders who stand to see some value preserved for their equity.
But they don't get a vote. And ironically they can blame the two billionaires for this because they effectively forced Ten into administration.
Had the Murdoch/Gordon duo bid for Ten while it was a listed and solvent company they could have held most of the cards given they were large shareholders.
It is a strategy that has monumentally backfired. They appear not to have entertained the fact that CBS - which is already a part owner of Ten's Eleven Channel - would have come in as an alternate bidder.
Murdoch and Gordon also miscalculated the difficulty in getting the changes in media ownership laws through the parliament - launching their bid too early.
In doing so the billionaires may have lost the Ten prize and the opportunity to restore the network to profit absent the onerous programming contracts and the government licensing fees.
At the very least they appear to be now in an inferior position. But it's too early to say that the battle is over.
The fat lady is only just warming up.
http://www.smh.com.au/business/medi...e-battle-for-network-ten-20170918-gyjmx0.html
Court stacks the odds against Murdoch/Gordon in the battle for Network Ten
The key to the future ownership of Network Ten sits in the hands of a bunch of its journalists, admin staff, television personalities, producers and operations technicians.
These staff will either vote in favour of US giant CBS's bid getting over the line or to adjourn Tuesday's creditors meeting in order that they can consider a rival offer from Lachlan Murdoch and Bruce Gordon.
By number the 750-strong staff are the crucial group and hold the balance on the show of hands required at the meeting. The largest creditor by value - the other measure that matters in a vote - is CBS which will clearly vote in favour of its own bid.
The last ditch legal attempt from Gordon's private company, WIN, to limit CBS's voting power and challenge the Ten Creditors Report as deficient was thrown out by the Supreme Court on Monday, paving the way for the creditors meeting to go ahead.
And from what is understood of the proxies from the staff, they will be overwhelmingly in favour of CBS.
While Murdoch and Gordon have improved their offer, their new bid announced on Friday and the CBS deal both involve fully paying staff entitlements - thus the staff shouldn't be swayed either way. Both proposals are promising no job cuts.
There are some smaller creditors - both in size or in number but they don't have the votes to overturn CBS or the staff.
Internally the staff were also less than impressed by the fact that under the Murdoch/Gordon proposal some of Ten's property leases would be broken and in Sydney for example the newsroom would move out north to Sky Television's studios at Macquarie Park.
Thus we could see a situation on Tuesday where creditors vote in favour to endorse what is in theory an inferior outcome across all creditors.
There will undoubtedly be some discussion and questions to administrators, KordaMentha about the details of the new Murdoch/Gordon proposal.
One can expect the second largest creditor 21st Century Fox - a Murdoch family-controlled company, to be pushing hard for an adjournment.
But ultimately the creditors get to vote - not the administrators.
It's too early to say that the battle is over. The fat lady is only just warming up.
There will be an opportunity for aggrieved creditors to have their say when the deal goes for to the court to be rubber stamped.
It remains to be seen whether Murdoch and Gordon will be able to find other legal avenues to torpedo the CBS deal - assuming creditors vote in favour of it on Tuesday.
In Monday's court decision the judge made it clear that it was not within his scope of to consider an alternative offer. He was merely assessing whether CBS could vote and whether the creditor's report contained the all the relevant information that was required.
He decided yes to both.
"It will be a matter for creditors at that meeting to determine whether that meeting should be adjourned by reason of, inter alia, any recent commercial developments, or for any other reason," Justice Ashley Black concluded.
Justice Black said the question for the court was "not, and should not be, which of any competing commercial proposals put by interested parties would be most advantageous to the creditors of the Ten Group companies" including employees and shareholders.
"That is a matter properly left for their decision," he said.
The main stakeholders in this game that would be in favour of the Murdoch/Gordon deal would be the Ten shareholders who stand to see some value preserved for their equity.
But they don't get a vote. And ironically they can blame the two billionaires for this because they effectively forced Ten into administration.
Had the Murdoch/Gordon duo bid for Ten while it was a listed and solvent company they could have held most of the cards given they were large shareholders.
It is a strategy that has monumentally backfired. They appear not to have entertained the fact that CBS - which is already a part owner of Ten's Eleven Channel - would have come in as an alternate bidder.
Murdoch and Gordon also miscalculated the difficulty in getting the changes in media ownership laws through the parliament - launching their bid too early.
In doing so the billionaires may have lost the Ten prize and the opportunity to restore the network to profit absent the onerous programming contracts and the government licensing fees.
At the very least they appear to be now in an inferior position. But it's too early to say that the battle is over.
The fat lady is only just warming up.
