Advent of Kerry Stokes
The network was re-listed as a public company on the Australian Securities Exchange in 1993.[12] In 1995, Stokes acquired 19.9% of the public company and was elected chairman. He asked Alan Jackson to be its CEO for a number of years in the late 1990s.[13] Shortly after it acquired Sunshine Television, a Seven Network affiliate in regional Queensland, Sunshine Television's regional stations effectively became a part of the Seven Network, identical in appearance and programming to the rest of the business' stations. Seven Queensland won the annual audience ratings for the first time in 1998.[14]
The year 2000 saw Seven as the host broadcaster for the Sydney Olympics. The network adopted a new logo. In 2003, Stokes appointed David Leckie as CEO of Seven and Peter Meakin as Head of News and Current Affairs. In January 2006, the Seven Network, Pacific Magazine and online portal Yahoo Australia and New Zealand combined in a joint venture to form Yahoo!7, representing all three companies' online assets.[15] This venture is now Australia's most popular internet portal and the joint venture is driving a range of online and IPTV businesses. Seven is building and acquiring a range of broadband businesses, including wireless broadband group Unwired, VOIP operator Engin and has become the Australian licensee for TiVo,[16] due to be launched in 2008. The group has also established a strategic 20 per cent shareholding in West Australian Newspapers.
Since 2007, the Seven Network has been the highest rating television network in Australia, ahead of the Nine Network, Network 10, ABC and SBS.[17] In 2011, the Seven Network won all 40 out of 40 weeks of the ratings season for total viewers.[18] Seven is the first to do this since the introduction of the OZtam ratings system in 2001.[19] As of 2014 it was the second largest network in the country in terms of population reach.[20]
68% owned by Kerry Stokes (as of 2014), Seven Network is a network of commercial free-to-air television stations in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Adelaide, as well as regional Queensland and Perth.[21] The platform, as well as a 33 per cent stake in Sky News Australia, now reaches 98 per cent of Australians. Seven has also established a major magazine publishing business, Pacific Magazines which, as of 2014, accounted for more than 20 per cent of magazines sold in Australia.
In 2006, Seven Network and KKR[22] created a new joint venture, Seven Media Group, a multi-faceted media company combining a presence in broadcast television, magazine and online applications.
7HD was officially announced on 15 September 2007, with the Seven Media Group announcing its intention to start a high definition multichannel.[23] By the end of 2007, the Seven Network had become the most watched network in the country, dominating morning and prime time slots.[24]
