Mediaboss Marketing

News Corpwill not be allowed to buy an Australian television network other than the Ten Network, even if media-ownership laws are changed, industry executives believe.

Despite strong opposition from media competitors, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission approved Lachlan Murdoch's failed plan to buy the Ten Network.

Receivers PPB Advisory and administrator Korda Mentha surprised the market by agreeing to sell Ten toUS media giant CBS on Monday.

If Mr Murdoch or his family company, News Corp, wanted to buy a different television network instead they would be unlikely to get ACCC approval, industry sources said.

A source close to News Corp denied it was interested in buying the Nine Entertainment Co, which doesn't have a single large shareholder that could block the sale of the company.

Seven West Media, which owns the Seven network, is controlled by West Australian entrepreneur Kerry Stokes, who has shown no interest in selling his top-ranked television stations.

ACCC chairman Rod Sims declined to comment Tuesday but last week said Mr Murdoch was cleared to buy Ten because an alliance with News Corp's media outlets, which include most of Foxtel, Sky News and many newspapers, wouldn't have a big impact on how much news is produced.

Unlike Seven and Nine, the Ten Network doesn't have a high-rated evening news broadcast or well-read online news site, Mr Sims said.

"It might have been a different result if this had been about Channel Nine or Seven, which have a strong online presence and a much stronger evening news," he said on ABC radio.

"This decision doesn't mean let her rip. One can't draw a conclusion that similar transactions will be treated in the same way."

Even though Mr Murdoch, who is News Corp's co-chairman, planned to buy the Ten network in a personal capacity with billionaire Bruce Gordon, sources said plans were well advanced at News Corp to integrate some of Ten's operations before Monday's surprise decision to sell the company to CBS.

Sky News would have produced Ten's evening news, they said, and Fox Sports would have helped produce Ten's sports coverage. The two companies already share the broadcast rights for rugby, supercars and soccer.

Ten and Foxtel use the same company to sell advertising, Multi Channel Network. Given News Corp is likely to see a CBS-owned Ten as a direct competitor, it is unclear if that arrangement will continue.

Taking control of a commercial television network would have locked in a customer for 21st Century Fox, a television and movie company controlled by the Murdoch family, and allowed it share existing costs such as studios, offices and salespeople.

Media-ownership rules don't allow News Corp to own an Australian television network, apart from Foxtel, although Mr Murdoch had worked out a structure using options that would have allowed him to get around the law, which the Coalition government is trying to change, sources said.

News Corp and Fairfax Media, publisher of The Australian Financial Review, have both been campaigning for a change to the law.

Opponents, including the Labor Party and Greens, fear liberalisation would give more power to News Corp, which owns about two-thirds of Australia's newspapers by circulation.

News Corp's publications had a history of giving Ten positive coverage while Mr Murdoch was a shareholder and chairman.

That seemed to change on Monday when The Australian website published an article about the network headlined "Same sex marriage: Network Ten admits doctoring controversial footage".

More:
News Corp doesn't have a second television option - The Australian Financial Review