Prime Media Group Limited (formerly Prime Television Limited) was an

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

n-based media corporation that formerly owned regional television network

Prime7 Prime7, formerly Prime Television and other names, was an Australian Television broadcasting in Australia, television network. Prime Television launched on 17 March 1962 as ''CBN (Australian TV station), CBN-8'' in Orange, New South Wales, Ora ...

in eastern Australia and

GWN7 Seven Regional WA is an Australian Television broadcasting in Australia, television network serving all of Western Australia outside metropolitan Perth. It launched on 10 March 1967 as BTW-3 in Bunbury, Western Australia, Bunbury, and became k ...

in regional

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

. It also owned

ishop TV ishop TV was an Australian free-to-air home shopping, teleshopping channel and associated advertorial datacasting service that was launched on 30 April 2013 which was co-operated by Seven West Media and Brand Developers. Launching officially ...

, a

datacasting Datacasting (data broadcasting) is the transmission of data over a wide area using radio waves. It typically refers to supplemental information sent by television stations alongside digital terrestrial television (DTT) signals. However, datacas ...

channel, co-owned by Brand Developers and two joint ventures with the

WIN Corporation WIN Corporation is a private Australian media company, that owns assets including the WIN Television network, Crawford Productions and several local radio stations. The company is based in Wollongong, New South Wales. History Founding The WIN b ...

Mildura Digital Television Mildura ( ) is a regional city in north-west Victoria, Australia. Located on the Victorian side of the Murray River, Mildura had a population of 34,565 at the 2021 census. When nearby Wentworth, Irymple, Nichols Point, Merbein and Red Cl ...

, and

West Digital Television West Digital Television is an Australian digital television network jointly owned by Seven West Media and WIN Corporation. It broadcasts free-to-air on a number of digital terrestrial transmitters in regional and remote areas of Western Aust ...

, and also owned a network of radio stations in

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

from 2005 until 2013, when they were sold to

Grant Broadcasters Grant Broadcasters is an Australian regional radio network. Founded in 1942, by 2019 it owned 53 radio stations. In 2022, it sold 46 to Here, There & Everywhere (company), Here, There & Everywhere, retaining shareholdings in seven in Canberra, G ...

. Prime Media Group head office and

Australian Securities Exchange Australian Securities Exchange Ltd (ASX) is an Australian public company that operates Australia's primary Exchange (organized market), securities exchange, the Australian Securities Exchange (sometimes referred to outside of Australia as, or c ...

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 Seven Network (stylised 7Network, and commonly known as Channel Seven or simply Seven) is an Australian commercial free-to-air Television broadcasting in Australia, television network. It is owned by Seven West Media, Seven West Media Limited, ...

'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 Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

and

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

. Prime7's national broadcast facility was located in

Canberra Canberra ( ; ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the Federation of Australia, federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's list of cities in Australia, largest in ...

, with playout facilities (as of 2021) shared with hybrid-funded broadcaster

SBS Television The Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) is an Australian hybrid-funded public service broadcaster. About 80 percent of funding for the company is derived from tax revenue. SBS operates six TV channels ( SBS, SBS Viceland, SBS World Movies, SBS ...

at a facility operated by

Telstra Telstra Group Limited is an Australian telecommunications company that builds and operates telecommunications networks and markets related products and services. It is a member of the S&P/ASX 20 stock index, and is Australia's largest telecomm ...

. Prime Media Group Limited was renamed PRT Company Limited on 3 January 2022.

History

Foundation of Prime

Prime Television began in 1970, when mineral explorer Altarama Minerals was incorporated and listed on the

. Following its movement into the automotive industry, the business changed its name to Altarama in 1973.

Paul Ramsay Paul Joseph Ramsay (5 January 1936 – 1 May 2014) was an Australian businessman and philanthropist. Biography Born in Sydney, he grew up in Burradoo in the Southern Highlands, New South Wales. In 1964, Ramsay founded one of the first pri ...

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 Wagga Wagga (; informally called Wagga) is a major regional city in the Riverina region of New South Wales, Australia. Straddling the Murrumbidgee River, with an urban population of more than 57,003 as of 2021, it is an important agricultural, m ...

, AMV-4

Albury Albury (; ) is a major regional city that is located in the Murray River, Murray region of New South Wales, Australia. It is part of the twin city of Albury–Wodonga, Albury-Wodonga and is located on the Hume Highway and the northern side of ...

CWN-6 CBN is an Australian television station licensed to, and serving the regions surrounding Orange, Dubbo and central and southern New South Wales. History Origins CBN-8 Orange commenced broadcasting on 17 March 1962, licensed to ''Country Broa ...

Dubbo Dubbo (; ) is a city in the Orana (New South Wales), Orana Region of New South Wales, Australia. It is the largest population centre in the Orana region, with a population of 43,516 at June 2021. The city is located at the intersection of the ...

CBN-8 CBN is an Australian television station licensed to, and serving the regions surrounding Orange, Dubbo and central and southern New South Wales. History Origins CBN-8 Orange commenced broadcasting on 17 March 1962, licensed to ''Country Broa ...

Orange Orange most often refers to: *Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis'' ** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower ** Orange juice *Orange (colour), the color of an orange fruit, occurs between red and yellow in the vi ...

, ECN-8

Taree Taree () is a city on the Mid North Coast, New South Wales, Australia. It and nearby Cundletown were settled in 1831 by William Wynter. Since then it has grown to a population of 26,381, and commands a significant agricultural district. Situ ...

and NEN-9 Tamworth in 1987. Soon after, the stations began to be known collectively as the Prime Television Network. 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

– 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 Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

and

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

. 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. Prime expanded into

when it purchased the

Golden West Network Seven Regional WA is an Australian television network serving all of Western Australia outside metropolitan Perth. It launched on 10 March 1967 as BTW-3 in Bunbury, and became known as the Golden West Network (GWN, and later GWN7) in 1979. It ...

from Seven Network owner

Kerry Stokes Kerry Matthew Stokes (born John Patrick Alford on 13 September 1940) is an Australian businessman. He holds business interests in industries including electronic and print media, property, mining and construction equipment. He is most widely k ...

in 1996. At the time, GWN was the monopoly commercial television network in the regional Western Australia license area, however

WIN Television WIN Television is an Australian television broadcasting, Australian television network owned and operated by WIN Corporation that is based in Wollongong, New South Wales. WIN commenced transmissions on 18 March 1962 as a single television stat ...

, Prime's competitor in parts of New South Wales and Victoria was granted a license by the

Australian Broadcasting Authority The Australian Broadcasting Authority was an Australian government agency whose main roles were to regulate broadcasting, radio communications and telecommunications. The Authority took over the functions of the Australian Broadcasting Tribunal ...

a year later in 1997. In the same year, Prime Television expanded internationally with the purchase of the Canal 9 television network in Argentina. Prime paid A$224 million for the network, later renamed

Azul Televisión Channel 9, known by its brand name El Nueve (stylized as elnueve) is an Argentine free-to-air television network based in Buenos Aires with programming centred on general entertainment. History Origins and first Romay ownership After the fall of ...

in 1999, before selling half of its share to local media group

Torneos y Competencias Torneos y Competencias S.A. (abbreviated TyC, also referred as Torneos) is an Argentine sports communications firm created by businessman Carlos Ávila, associated with Jose Santoro, and Héctor Dayan. It is an important force in the world of Arge ...

for an undisclosed amount. Azul Televisión performed below expectations, largely due to a global economic crisis, and the Argentine network did not make a profit. Prime Television pulled out of Argentina in 2001, selling its stake for A$108 million. The network expanded further into New Zealand, with

Prime Television New Zealand Sky Open (formerly known as Prime) is a New Zealand free-to-air television network. It airs a varied mix of programming, largely imported from Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States. It was originally owned by Prime Televisio ...

on 30 August 1998. In 2002, Prime New Zealand entered into a

joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acce ...

with Australian company

Publishing & Broadcasting Limited Publishing and Broadcasting Limited (PBL) was one of Australia's largest corporations. With interests primarily in media and gambling, for the entirety of its existence it was largely controlled by the Packer family. History Predecessors PB ...

, owners of the

Nine Network Nine Network (stylised 9Network, and commonly known as Channel Nine or simply Nine) is an Australian commercial free-to-air television network. It is owned by parent company Nine Entertainment and is one of the five main free-to-air television ...

. Under the agreement, Prime Television was given access to Nine Network programs, expertise and money. In return, PBL was given the option to acquire 50% of Prime Television New Zealand in 2008. As a result, Prime Television New Zealand's ratings and profits increased significantly. Sky Television purchased Prime NZ for

NZ$ The New Zealand dollar (; currency sign, sign: $; ISO 4217, code: NZD) is the official currency and legal tender of New Zealand, the Cook Islands, Niue, the Ross Dependency, Tokelau, and a British territory, the Pitcairn Islands. Within New Zeal ...

30 million in November 2005. In late 2005, the company announced its expansion into regional Queensland radio with the acquisition of stations in Cairns, Townsville, Mackay, Rockhampton, and Gladstone from

Macquarie Media Group Southern Cross Media Group (formerly Macquarie Media Group) is one of Australia's major media companies, as the parent company of Southern Cross Austereo. Its headquarters are in South Melbourne. History On 3 July 2007 Southern Cross Broadcast ...

(now

Southern Cross Austereo Southern Cross Media Group Limited, Trade name, doing business as Southern Cross Austereo, is an Australian media company which operates broadcast radio and Terrestrial television, television stations. It is the largest radio broadcaster in Au ...

). Prime chairman Paul Ramsay described the purchase as "a very good fit" which positioned its existing media for "future growth opportunities". On 1 August 2007, Prime purchased

Zinc 96.1 Zinc 96.1 (ACMA callsign: 4NNN) is an adult contemporary-formatted commercial radio station based in Maroochydore, Queensland and broadcasting to the Sunshine Coast, owned by ARN. History Zinc was first launched in 1997 as ''The Heat 96.1'' b ...

and Hot 91.1 Sunshine Coast, from Rob Gamble, for $33.5 million. The company was renamed to Prime Media Group Ltd on 5 December 2007 in recognition of the company's expanded interests. But Prime's expansion into radio would ultimately be deemed a failure. In 2013, Prime's radio stations were sold to Grant Broadcasters for $50 million less than the original acquisition price. For the

2007 Australian federal election The 2007 Australian federal election was held in Australia on 24 November 2007. All 150 seats in the Australian House of Representatives, House of Representatives and 40 of the seats in the 76-member Australian Senate, Senate were up for electi ...

, Prime's online division iPrime launched Federalelection.com.au, produced from

Prime Television Prime7, formerly Prime Television and other names, was an Australian television network. Prime Television launched on 17 March 1962 as '' CBN-8'' in Orange, and later expanded to cover regional New South Wales, Victoria and the Australian Ca ...

's Canberra headquarters in partnership with

Roy Morgan Roy Morgan, formerly known as Roy Morgan Research, is an independent Australian social and political market research and public opinion statistics company headquartered in Melbourne, Victoria. It operates nationally as Roy Morgan and internatio ...

. The

purchased 14.9% of Prime Media Group and rumours emerge of an increased stake. In 2009,

Lachlan Murdoch Lachlan Keith Murdoch (; born 8 September 1971) is a British and Australian businessman and mass media heir. He is the son of the media Business magnate, tycoon Rupert Murdoch. He is the executive chairman of Nova Entertainment, chairman of N ...

purchased an 8% stake. Murdoch was forced to resign as a director of Prime Media Group, in 2010, because of cross-ownership rules related to the company owning

91.1 Hot FM 91.1 Hot FM (call sign 4MCY) is a radio station based in Maroochydore on Queensland's Sunshine Coast. It is owned by the Australian Radio Network and airs a contemporary hit radio format. History The station began broadcasting on 27 October 200 ...

on the

Sunshine Coast, Queensland The Sunshine Coast is a peri-urbanisation, peri-urban region in South East Queensland, Australia. In 1967, it was defined as "the area contained in the

ormer Abalone ( or ; via Spanish , from Rumsen ''aulón'') is a common name for any small to very large marine gastropod mollusc in the family Haliotidae, which once contained six genera but now contains only one genus, ''Haliotis''. Other commo ...

Shires of Shire of Landsborough, Landsborough, Shire of Maroochy, Maroochy and Shire ...

, despite being a member of the Prime board at the time.

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; on 1 November 2021, Seven made its second attempt for $121.9 million. On 23 December 2021, majority of Prime's shareholders voted in favour of the takeover which took effect on 31 December 2021.

Assets

Television

(50% share with

) *

(50% share with WIN Corporation)

iPrime

iPrime was an Australian

internet portal A web portal is a specially designed website that brings information from diverse sources, like emails, online forums and search engines, together in a uniform way. Usually, each information source gets its dedicated area on the page for displayin ...

produced by Prime Media Group. The portal was deployed across regions in which

and

currently broadcast television transmissions, which include the

Australian Capital Territory The Australian Capital Territory (ACT), known as the Federal Capital Territory until 1938, is an internal States and territories of Australia, territory of Australia. Canberra, the capital city of Australia, is situated within the territory, an ...

, regional

and regional

References

External links

Company website
{{Prime Media Group, state=collapsed Companies based in Canberra Companies formerly listed on the Australian Securities Exchange Seven Network Defunct broadcasting companies of Australia Television broadcasting companies of Australia Australian companies established in 1986 Australian companies disestablished in 2021 Mass media companies established in 1986 Mass media companies disestablished in 2021 2021 mergers and acquisitions