Ten Network collapses as billionaire backers walk away from a $200M loan guarantee

Network Ten was Australia's third commercial television network, a 50-year-old broadcaster once known as the Simpsons network. In the 2000s it pursued a youth strategy and enjoyed success with Big Brother, Australian Idol and Neighbours. But when multi-channelling was introduced to free-to-air television, Ten lost its hold over the 16-to-30 demographic and began to falter, entering a period of constant management changes and mass redundancies. Canadian media company CanWest owned half of the network until it sold its stake in 2009.

The losses mounted. Ten posted a $157M full-year loss in 2016 and announced a $232M half-year loss in April 2017. Its survival was pinned on $200M in debt financing, guaranteed by billionaire shareholders Lachlan Murdoch, Bruce Gordon and James Packer, that was due to expire in December 2017.

In June 2017 the guarantors withdrew their support. Ten entered voluntary administration under KordaMentha, and the Commonwealth Bank appointed receivers PPB Advisory over the $200M debt, which was no longer guaranteed. CBS, Ten's largest creditor, submitted a claim of $843M it said it was owed for programming rights. Ten owed secured creditors $129M and had accumulated losses of $1.3B; each of the three guarantors claimed $11M in fees.

On 28 August 2017 CBS agreed to buy Ten out of administration for about $123M, refinancing its debt — including guarantor fees of about $33M owed to Packer, Murdoch and Gordon — and delisting the network. Shareholders received nothing. At the creditors' meeting on 19 September, creditors voted by value and by number to accept CBS's deed of company arrangement, which paid unsecured creditors just over $40M; the rival Gordon–Murdoch bid offering unsecured creditors $55M lost.