The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) is currently investigating the proposed acquisition of APN News & Media Limited (APN)'s Australian Regional Media division (ARM) by News Corporation (News) – with the aim of establishing what if any the impact of the proposed acquisition will have on on competition, and whether it will: lower the quality of content, especially local news content; reduce the choices available to readers for local news content; increase newspaper prices and/or increase the price of advertising, especially in newspapers in Queensland and northern New South Wales.
As to lowering the quality of content, especially local news content or reducing the choices available to readers for local news content – well that horse was out the stable door in a flash once Murdoch had acquired the largest single shareholding in APN News & Media.
This will be the extent of News Corp’s print and online stable once the ACCC signs off on this $36.6 million sale:
The
acquirer – News Corporation
News
Corporation (News) is a global diversified media and information services
company with businesses in news and information services, digital real estate
services, book publishing, digital education and, through its investment in
Foxtel Management Pty Limited, subscription television.
In Australia, News, through various indirect,
wholly owned subsidiaries, publishes a number of state, regional and community
newspapers as well as The Australian.
It
also publishes various websites associated with its newspapers as well as
news.com.au. News publishes the following paid print newspapers in Queensland
and northern NSW:
·
The Courier Mail, published daily Monday to Saturday, while the Sunday Mail is
published on Sunday
·
Gold Coast Bulletin, published daily Monday to Saturday
·
Townsville Bulletin, published daily Monday to Saturday
·
Cairns Post, published daily Monday to Saturday (published as the Weekend Post
on Saturdays)
News
also publishes the following community newspapers:
· through Quest Community Newspapers,
13 free community newspapers circulating in various parts of greater Brisbane
as well as Brisbane News, a glossy free magazine distributed to inner city
Brisbane. The 13 free community newspapers are:
o
Albert and Logan News o Caboolture Herald o Pine Rivers Press/North Lakes Times
o
Redcliffe & Bayside Herald
o
City North News o North-West News
o
Northside Chronicle
o
Westside News
o
South-West News/Springfield News
o
City South News
o
South East Advertiser o Southern Star
o
Wynnum Herald
· through Sun Community Newspapers, the
free newspaper The Gold Coast Sun, in four localised editions:
o
Gold Coast Sun Upper North
o
Gold Coast Sun North o Gold Coast Sun Central
o
Gold Coast Sun Tweed / Southern 4
· a number of small community
publications circulating in Cairns and surrounds including The Tablelands
Advertiser, The Tablelander, Innisfail Advocate and the Port Douglas &
Mossman Gazette
· the Bowen Independent, a paid
newspaper published twice a week, and a number of other small community
publications in Townsville and surrounds including The Herbert River Express,
The Northern Miner and The Burdekin Advocate. News also publishes the Weekly
Times, a paid newspaper distributed predominantly in rural Victoria and the
Riverina region. A small number of copies are also distributed in Queensland
and NSW.
News
also publishes or has an interest in a range of online publications including
the following:
·
News.com.au
·
Carsguide.com.au (48.95% interest)
·
Realestate.com.au (majority interest)
·
Careerone.com.au (25% interest)
News, through a wholly-owned
subsidiary, also has a 14.99% interest in APN......
The
target business – ARM
The
target business – ARM The ARM business comprises:
· 12 paid daily, 14 paid non-daily and
32 free non-daily, community newspapers circulating in various parts of
south-east and regional Queensland and northern NSW
· 14 specialist print newspapers
including 'seniors', 'agriculture' and 'big rigs' titles · 4 specialist business-to-business
magazines for the education and health care sectors
· 60 websites including masthead
websites, websites for the specialist print newspaper titles, other websites
not linked to a print title and classifieds website finda.com.au
· printing facilities located in
Yandina, Warwick and Rockhampton in Queensland. A full list of ARM’s print
publications is set out below:
North Queensland (Mackay
region)
·
Daily Mercury
·
The Midweek 5
·
Whitsunday Times
·
Whitsunday Coast Guardian Central Queensland
·
The Morning Bulletin
·
The Observer
·
Capricorn Coast Mirror
·
Central Telegraph
·
Central Queensland News Wide Bay Burnett
·
NewsMail
·
Fraser Coast Chronicle
·
The Gympie Times
·
Guardian
·
Isis Town & Country
·
Central & North Burnett Times
·
Hervey Bay Observer
·
The Maryborough Herald
·
Cooloola Advertiser
·
Hervey Bay Independent
South-East Queensland -
Sunshine Coast
·
Sunshine Coast Daily
·
Sunshine Coast Sunday
·
Noosa News
·
Coolum & North Shore News
·
Maroochy Weekly
·
Kawana Weekly
·
Caloundra Weekly
·
Nambour Weekly
·
Buderim Chronicle South-East Queensland (Greater Brisbane and Ipswich)
·
Caboolture News
·
Bribie Weekly
·
The Logan Reporter
·
The Satellite
·
Bayside Northern Suburbs Star
·
The Queensland Times
·
The Ipswich Advertiser South-West Queensland
·
Warwick Daily News
·
The Chronicle
·
Stanthorpe Border Post
·
Dalby Herald
·
Gatton, Lockyer and Brisbane Valley Star
·
Laidley Plainland Leader
·
South Burnett Times
·
Southern Downs Weekly 6
·
Balonne Beacon
·
The Western Star
·
Western Times
·
Chinchilla News and Murilla Advertiser
Northern NSW (Gold
Coast, Tweed and northern NSW)
·
Tweed Daily News
·
Tweed Daily News – Community Edition
·
The Northern Star
·
The Daily Examiner
·
The Woolgoolga Advertiser
·
Byron Shire News
·
Ballina Shire Advocate
·
Lismore Echo
·
The Richmond River Express Examiner
·
Coastal Views
·
The Coffs Coast Advocate
Specialist publications
·
Surat Basin News
·
Rural Weekly (five editions, including a Northern Territory edition)
·
Big Rigs
·
CQ Industry
·
Style Magazine
·
Seniors Newspaper (eight different editions distributed in South-East
Queensland and NSW)
·
APN Educational Media publications (business-to-business publisher of Education
Review, Nursing Review, Aged Care Insite and Campus Review
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