PUBLISHING AND BROADCASTING LIMITED

'Publishing and Broadcasting Limited', or 'PBL', is one of Australia's major media companies. It is headquartered in Sydney, Australia. Australia's richest man, James Packer, son of the late Kerry Packer, is its majority shareholder, through his company Consolidated Press Holdings Ltd.

Contents

Businesses

PBL Media

PBL Enterprises

Other

Former Interests

History

References

External links

Businesses

PBL Media

:''See PBL Media''

★ Australian Consolidated Press

★ carsales.com.au (41% stake)

★ Ninemsn (50% stake)

★ Sky News Australia (33% stake)

★ Nine Network

★
★ TCN-9 Sydney

★
★ GTV-9 Melbourne

★
★ QTQ-9 Brisbane

★
★ NTD-8 Darwin

★ NBN Television

★ Acer Arena (100% stake)

★ Ticketek (100% stake)

PBL Enterprises

★ Foxtel (25% stake)

★ Seek (25% stake)

★ Premier Media Group (50% stake)

★ Hoyts (50% stake)

Other

★ Crown Casino, Melbourne

★ Burswood Entertainment Complex, Perth

Former Interests

★ 50% interest in Prime Television in New Zealand - Sold in 2006 to Sky Network Television

★ Stake in EMTV, Papua New Guinea

History

Australian Consolidated Press (ACP) was established in 1933. It acquired a broadcasting license in Sydney when television began in Australia in the 1950s. Its television station, TCN-9 Sydney was the first station in Australia to go to air, launched 1956, by an announcement from Bruce Gyngell "Good evening, and welcome to television".
In 1960, it purchased GTV-9 Melbourne to form the first television network in Australia, the National Television Network - later to become The Nine Network.
In 1987, Kerry Packer sold the Nine Network to Alan Bond, who then expanded the network to include QTQ-9 Brisbane and STW-9 Perth. Packer later bought the network back for half of what he sold it for in 1990.
Publishing and Broadcasting Limited was formed in 1994, from the merger of The Nine Network Australia and Australian Consolidated Press.
During the late 1990's PBL lost millions on a venture called Nine India. Its most tangible form was a branded block on two of the channels operated by Doordarshan. It planned to become a major player in Indian television, but by early in the next decade, the concept was dropped.
In 1999, Crown Limited was merged into PBL, and the online division of PBL, ecorp was floated on the ASX. ecorp was later privatised and delisted from the Stock Exchange.
In 2002, PBL entered a deal with Prime Television, giving it an effective 50% stake in Prime NZ.
In 2004, PBL purchased the Burswood Casino in Perth, and an 50% stake in Hoyts Cinemas, along with West Australian Newspapers. Hoyts was previously owned by the Packer private company; Conslidated Press Holdings Ltd. It also sold Papua New Guinea's only television network, EM-TV to Fiji Television.
On October 18 2006, James Packer announced the sell-off of 50% of PBL's media interests for A$4.5 billion to focus on its gambling business. The sell-off includes Nine Network and its 50 per cent interest in NineMSN.
PBL is currently involved in two casino projects in Macau: the $260 million Crown Macau, scheduled for completion in 2006-07, and the $1.4 billion City of Dreams. The projects are joint ventures with Melco, a Macau company. In March 2006, PBL announced that it had spent US$900 million (A$1.2 billion) to purchase a casino sub-concession from Wynn Resorts that would give the Melco-PBL joint venture the right to conduct casino operations. PBL's commitment to these ventures is the biggest investment by an Australian company in the PRC to date ^[1].
In May 2007, PBL announced that it would split into two companies, Crown and Consolidated Media Holdings ^[2].

References

1. Macau Brief - January 2007
2. PBL announces split into separate listed gaming and media companies

External links

★ Publishing and Broadcasting Limited

★ Australian Consolidated Press

★ Profile of Kerry Packer's interests