Ten’s CEO John Mcalpine attributes the fall in net profit to A$17.8million ($9.1m/B10.1m) to costs associated with the Olympic Games, the high costs of digital technology, the downturn in advertising and last December’s A$189m ($96.9/B107.2m) investment (for a 60 percent stake) in Eye Corp, the outdoor advertising group.
Mcalpine expects rating winners Australian Football League (AFL) and Big Brother to underpin further growth from revenues, which rose 19 percent to A$664.5m ($340.6m/B377m).
AFL will move, for the first time next year, from its long-term home at Channel Seven to Channels Nine and Ten, which will televise AFL matches on Saturdays and all finals for the next five years.
