emc has been great for the pies,afl and footy australia wide
however,if ever there was a case of a job for the boys then this surely must be it!
i can't believe that an organisation as large as pbl with it's vast resources at hand and could search potentially australia if not global wide and has ended up with giving the nod to someone in their own backyard
prior to starting work on monday 13/2/06 emc might well want to consider coming up to speed on corp laws 3.1 particularly in light of last nights ACA @6.30pm
personally i think he's doomed to fail for the following reasons: 1-ratings are down 2-advertisng rev trending down 3-nine just lost the afl rights 4-lack of any real new pograms coming on stream 5-business credentials nd corporte affairs knowledge need to be questioned 6-too well connected 7-previous offers on nines footy show have been questionable in structure and luke warm 8-running a listed company is far different to running an afl club-not only are the numbers at nine greater but so too is the level of risk,discloure and performance demanded by fund mangers
rather than up root and leave 'the place to be' and potentially risk failing in a high profile role emc might better have targeted the top job @ afl, in 5 years time he would have been well qualified
Is Eddie ready for Nine's top job? Reporter: Emma Alberici
KERRY O'BRIEN: Nick Grimm with that report. It was very much a left-field appointment, and many media analysts are asking whether he's up to it, but television personality and sports administrator Eddie McGuire is exuding great confidence as he prepares to take up one of the most challenging jobs in Australian TV - chief executive of the Nine Network. Mr McGuire - or 'Eddie everywhere' as he's often called - is a proven success on air and as president of the Collingwood Football Club. But whether his winning ways can translate to the boardroom of a publicly-listed company is now a question exercising the media industry and the marketplace. Channel Nine now makes up less than a third of the Packer family-controlled Publishing and Broadcasting Limited, but it's a significant part of the PBL business, with its links to the pay TV, publishing and Internet sides of the company. Eddie McGuire takes the helm of Nine at a difficult time. Its share of the $2.8 billion capital city advertising market is in decline and its audience share is dropping. Finance Editor Emma Alberici reports.
EDDIE MCGUIRE: I'd like to just take a moment though to welcome everybody to the Nine Network's exclusive coverage tonight from Crown Casino, the home of Kerry Packer, of course, and 'TV Week'.
EMMA ALBERICI, FINANCE EDITOR: For the past decade he's been the face of Channel Nine and earned himself the title of 'Eddie everywhere' with his other high-profile commitments.
EDDIE MCGUIRE: On November 6, 1999, Natasha, vote yes for our Republic.
EMMA ALBERICI: Eddie McGuire led the Republican movement in Melbourne, and for seven years has been President of the venerable Collingwood Football Club.
EDDIE MCGUIRE, COMMENTATING: As Ottens comes in and puts in another. The Tigers are on fire at the MCG.
MARK FERGUSON, TV NEWS PRESENTER: Good evening, TV's $1 million question has been officially answered. Eddie McGuire is the new boss of the Nine Network.
EMMA ALBERICI: Now Channel Nine's owner Publishing and Broadcasting Limited, is taking its one of its biggest ever punts in handing the network's reins to one of the biggest stars in its stable.
MATT WILLIAMS, PERPETUAL INVESTMENTS: Our initial reaction is that it's an interesting choice. I mean, Eddie certainly has TV in his blood. Whether he can actually run a TV station remains to be seen.
EDDIE MCGUIRE: Alright, let's get Burt on the line.
BURT: Hello, Burt speaking.
EDDIE MCGUIRE: Hello Burt, how are you?
EMMA ALBERICHI: To borrow a phrase from the quiz show that's made Eddie McGuire a household name throughout the country, in the end it would seem James Packer has again chosen to "dial a friend". David Gyngell, the last chief executive of Channel Nine was another mate. He lasted just on 12 months.
STEVE ALLEN, MEDIA CONSULTANT: All of the funds that come in to a commercial network come in from advertisers. So knowing how they think about ratings and revenue and who gets that revenue are terribly important and you'd have to say that both Dave Gyngell and Eddie McGuire are pretty short in most of those areas.
EDDIE MCGUIRE: The people here at Channel Nine have made Channel Nine number one and will continue to make Channel Nine number one. So, it's not as if I'm coming in starting from scratch. I'll bring what I think are my skills to the table and I'll hope to lead and develop. I think one of the key roles as a chief executive officer is to be a leader.
TV AD FOR 'WHO WANTS TO BE A MILLIONAIRE: Are you all pumped up?
EMMA ALBERICI: He not only wanted to be a millionaire, the combination of his on-air roles and the chairmanship of the Collingwood Football Club has realised the dream. According to BRW magazine his 2005 earnings were $3.5 million. Those who know him say what Eddie McGuire lacks in management experience, he makes up for in intelligence and drive.
STEVE PRICE, RADIO 2UE: He's one of those people who is a brilliant networker. He'll walk into a room and he's got this sort of radar where he'll zoom in on the person he thinks in that room that could perhaps benefit either him or his Football Club or his TV show.
PATRICK SMITH, 'THE AUSTRALIAN': What he was able to do at Collingwood was turn around a club that was going absolutely nowhere at 100 miles an hour and he turned it around very quickly and he turned it around with imagination, with negotiating skills with an eye for a deal, and with the ability to draw people to his club that were going to turn it round with him.
EMMA ALBERICI: Patrick Smith's sports column in tomorrow's 'Australian' newspaper will focus on Eddie McGuire's accomplishments as head of the Collingwood Football Club. But there is some debate to be had about the nexus between running a sports club and managing a publicly-listed media company.
PATRICK SMITH: As President he would have been intricately involved in turning around Collingwood. They probably were turning over $14 million, $15 million in 1999 when Eddie took over. They are now a $40, $45 million business.
EMMA ALBERICI: A statement from PBL today confirms that Eddie McGuire will stay on as president of Collingwood but will give up his roles as host of 'Who Wants to be a Millionaire?' and the 'Footy Show'. Hosting next month's Commonwealth Games must also be in doubt. It might seem counterproductive to take one of the network's most successful talents - someone who's lifted the ratings - off the air and fling them into an unfamiliar role. But as they say, desperate times call for desperate measures. Do you think they'll win the ratings this year?
STEVEN ALLEN: 2006? We think, our judgment right now would be no, they will just lose the ratings.
EMMA ALBERICI: The announcement of Eddie McGuire's ascension to the Nine throne came after the stock market closed today, but with rumours rife about the appointment, the PBL share price is down 2%. Fund manager Matt Williams oversees Perpetual's investment in PBL. The company is the second largest shareholder behind the Packer family. How tight is the race between Seven and Nine likely to be this year, and why?
MATT WILLIAMS: This is going to be a very tough race this year and, in fact, it wouldn't surprise us if Channel 7 takes the lead in terms of ratings this year due to the fact that it's got some better shows out of the US and it's really lifted its game in terms of news and current affair whilst Channel Nine has probably lost its way a little bit in that regard.
STEVE PRICE: Just on Eddie McGuire, I've known Eddie for 15 years. He will slide into that new job with ease. His ambition ultimately is to be the PM. So it's not a bad stop on the way, is it?
EMMA ALBERICI: Radio talkback host Steve Price was also once ubiquitous in Melbourne. He knows only too well the challenges of a high-profile move to Sydney, where personalities and programs have worked in one market, they haven't always translated to the other.
STEVE PRICE: I don't think that Eddie understands that, you know, we see him as the host of 'Who Wants to be a Millionaire?' and that's all he's known as really in Sydney.
EMMA ALBERICI: Eddie McGuire's last attempt to run a company probably doesn't feature on his resume. He set up an Internet business with Steve Vizard based on selling the online rights of five Melbourne football clubs. It was wound up last year after racking up losses of around $250,000 over five years. He joins the executive ranks of Channel Nine at the network's most challenging time in more than a decade. When the ratings year ended in November, Nine's share of viewers had fallen to its lowest point since people meters were first introduced in 1991. It also lost the national number one spot in the key news and current affairs timeslot of 6 to 7pm for the first time since 1975.
EDDIE MCGUIRE: What enthuses, gives me enthusiasm is that we're in a fight up against a real foe and probably for the first time in years has Channel Nine been challenged not only by Channel 7, but by the whole new media, I mean its a whole new world of media out there that free-to-air is being challenged right around the world. We have to think smart, we have to be relevant, we have to be quick on our feet and that's what Channel Nine is going to be about.
PBL Price at posting:
0.0¢ Sentiment: None Disclosure: Not Held
