Prime Media Group

Prime Media Group Limited (formerly Prime Television Limited) was an Australian-based media corporation that formerly owned regional television network Prime7 in eastern Australia and GWN7 in regional Western Australia. It also owned ishop TV, a datacasting channel, co-owned by Brand Developers and two joint ventures with the WIN Corporation, Mildura Digital Television, and West Digital Television, and also owned a network of radio stations in Queensland from 2005 until 2013, when they were sold to Grant Broadcasters.

Prime Media Group head office and Australian Securities Exchange registered office were located in Watson, Canberra. A secondary corporate office was located at Jones Bay Wharf, Pyrmont, Sydney (which was also the Seven Network's head office).

Prime7 had sales offices located in each regional sub-market. There were also regional sales offices at the Seven Network's metropolitan offices/studios in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth.

Prime7's national broadcast facility was located in Canberra, with playout facilities (as of 2021) shared with hybrid-funded broadcaster SBS Television at a facility operated by

History

Foundation of Prime

Prime Television began in 1970, when mineral explorer Altarama Minerals was incorporated and listed on the Australian Securities Exchange. Following its movement into the automotive industry, the business changed its name to Altarama in 1973.

Paul Ramsay gained control of Altarama in 1985, subsequently renaming it once again to Ramcorp. As part of a diversification into television, advertising, and healthcare, Ramcorp appointed Allan Hoy as founding media CEO who spearheaded the purchase of regional television stations RVN-2 Wagga Wagga, AMV-4 Albury, CWN-6 Dubbo, CBN-8 Orange, ECN-8 Taree and NEN-9 Tamworth in 1987.[3][4] Soon after, the stations began to be known collectively as the Prime Television Network.[5] In August 1991 Ramcorp was renamed Prime Television.

Aggregation and expansion

In the lead-up to television aggregation, Ramcorp signed a 10-year programming affiliation agreement with the Seven Network – the start of a close relationship between the two networks. In 1991 the business changed its name to Prime Television Limited, reflecting its new nature as a television broadcaster in regional Victoria and New South Wales.

Throughout the early 1990s, Ramcorp had incurred significant debts as a result of loans taken out throughout the 1980s in order to expand the company – Ramcorp's healthcare and media interests in Australia and the United States failed to turn a profit, resulting in falling share prices for the business. By 1993, Prime Television made a $7.4 million profit following accumulated losses of $47 million between 1989 and 1991, as well as a further $200 million expanding Prime Television's audience reach to 17 per cent, as part of aggregation.[6][7][8]

Prime expanded into Western Australia when it purchased the Golden West Network from Seven Network owner Kerry Stokes in 1996.[6]

Acquisition by Seven West Media

Seven made two attempts to purchase Prime. In December 2019, its first acquisition attempt failed after Prime shareholders Bruce Gordon and Anthony Catalano voted down, despite majority of shareholders voting in favour of the transaction;[23] on 1 November 2021, Seven made its second attempt for $121.9 million.[24][25] On 23 December 2021, majority of Prime's shareholders voted in favour of the takeover which took effect on 31 December 2021.[26][27][28]

former names	Ramcorp Prime Television
industry	Media
foundation	1986
founder	Paul Ramsay
defunct	December 31, 2021
fate	Acquired by Seven West Media
location city	Canberra
location country	Australia
key people	Ian Audsley (CEO)
products	Television
revenue	$179 million
revenue year	2021
operating income	$37 million
income year	2021
net income	$20 million
net income year	2021
subsid	Prime7 GWN7 Mildura Digital Television (50%) West Digital Television (50%) ishop TV (50%)
homepage	www.primemedia.com.au

History

Foundation of Prime

Aggregation and expansion

Acquisition by Seven West Media

Assets

Television

iPrime

External links

References