Landmarks
This chronology is indicative only. It covers -
- beginnings (1955)
- the Qintex era (1984)
- collapse (1989)
- waning independence (1991)
- Stokes (1997)
Context is provided by the broader communications and media timeline on this site.
Beginnings
1853 Hardy Bros founded
1955 Fairfax subsidiary Amalgamated Television Services gains commercial television licence
1956 H&WT launches HSV-7 commercial television station in Melbourne
1956 GTV-9 Melbourne launched by General Television (consortium of The Argus, Syme, Hoyts, Greater Union)
1957 Fairfax-controlled television station ATN-7 goes live in Sydney (initial affiliation with GTV9 Melbourne)
1959 BTQ-7 (Brisbane) launched
1959 TVW-7 (Perth) launched
1960 Packer buys 62% of GTV-9 for £3.76m
1962 CTC-7 (Canberra) launched
1963 coaxial cable links Sydney and Melbourne
1963 HSV-7 and ATN-7 alliance as Australian Television Network (ATN)
1964 Ansett Transport Industries (ATI) buys 49.9% of TVQ-0 Brisbane
1965 SAS-10 (Adelaide) launched
1968 Christopher Skase works as clerk as JB Were & Son brokers
1969 Kirk Kerkorkian buys MGM
1970 ATI buys rest of TVQ-0
1970 Skase becomes finance writer at Sun News-Pictorial
1974 forms Takeovers, Equities & Management Securities (TEAM)
1977 Skase gains 34% and control of Qintex
1978 Qintex sells Launceston store, buys 40% of Lustre Jewellery
1978 Skase buys further 8% of Qintex
1978 Fairfax acquires full ownership of Macquarie Broadcasting Holdings radio group
1979 Qintex buys Hardy Bros for $4.5m, sells stake in Victorian Broadcasting Network
1979 Murdoch makes unsuccessful bid for H&WT
1979 Murdoch gains 50% of ATI and control of ATV-10 Melbourne
1979 AUSSAT established
1980 Kerry Stokes buys CTC-7 (Canberra) from Fairfax
1980 ATI sells TVQ-0 to Ampol Petroleum and Broadcasting Station 2SM
1980 Qintex buys rest of Lustre and 6% of VBN
1981 buys 20% of PML property trust
1982 pays $4.6m for 51% of Pastoral & Industrial Holdings (inc 19% stake in Telecasters North Queensland) and 5% of Mackay and Mt Isa Television
1982 buys 7% of car dealer Nettlefolds
1982 makes unsuccessful bid for Qld retailer Rothwells (later fringe merchant bank associated with Bond)
1983 pay-tv operator Broadcast & Communications (Broadcom) established
The Qintex era
1984 Australian Broadcasting Tribunal forces Qintex to reduce Telecasters NQ stake to 5%
1984 Qintex buys 48% of Wilkinson, Day & Grimes (WDG) timber company
1984 Qintex (through WDG) buys TVQ-0 Brisbane from Ampol for $34m
1984 Qintex buys Broadcasting Station 2SM
1986 Skase forms Qintex America
1986 Qintex America buys 41% of Hal Roach Studios for $33m, with 49% of Colorisation Inc
1986 Qintex launches Sheraton Mirage resort
1986 sells TVQ-0 to Darling Downs Television
1986 News sells stake in Network Ten Holdings to Westfield Capital Corporation subsidiary Northern Star for $840m
1986 Northern Star buys NEW Perth, CTC-7 Canberra and ADS-7 Adelaide
1986 Kirk Kerkorian sells MGM to Turner, buys back studio
1986 Murdoch gains control of H&WT for $1.8bn
1987 Murdoch sells HSV-7 Melbourne to Fairfax for $320m
1987 Fairfax sells Melbourne, Brisbane and Sydney 7 stations to Qintex for $780m
1987 SAS-10 becomes SAS-7 (swaps networks from Ten to Seven)
1987 Northern Star buys TVQ-0 Brisbane from Darling Downs Television, establishes TEN tv network
1987 Qintex buys 40% of Princeville Development Corporation (resort in Kauai, Hawaii) for US$57m
1987 sells Princeville Airlines
1987 Stokes and Jack Bendat sell Golden West regional tv network to TEN
1987 Qintex launches 110 foot $6m yacht
1988 Qintex buys further 53% of Princeville for US$59m
1988 Lowy sells Golden West network to Stokes
1988 Qintex opens Mirage Port Douglas resort
1988 buys 38% of Seaworld Property Trust for $51m
1988 buys SAS (Adelaide) and TVW (Perth) from Bell for $130m
1989 makes US$1.2bn (later US$1.5bn) bid for MGM-United Artists
1989 sells 49.9% of three Mirage resorts to Mitsui & Co and Nippon Shinpan for $433m
1989 sells Seaworld stake for $73m
1989 Steve Vizard and Andrew Knight form Artist Services production house
Collapse
1989 Qintex goes into receivership
1989 Stokes buys Canberra Times from Packer for $110m (inc loan from News)
1989 Steve Cosser buys control of TEN Network (inc 20% stake in three main stations) from Westfield Capital for $22m. Curran Capital Television buys other stations
1990 Westpac bank puts receivers into TEN network
1990 51% of three Mirage resorts bought by Nippon Shinpan
1990 Skase leaves Australia, successfully fights extradition proceedings
1990 Kerkorian sells MGM to Giancarlo Parretti
1990 Packer regains control of Nine network for around $250m
1991 collapse of Qintex and Tricontinental precipitates $3.15bn rescue of State Bank of Victoria
Waning independence
1991 Seven network assets incorporated separately
1992 Asper's CanWest buys control of Ten network for $245m using complicated ownership structure
1992 banks take over MGM
1993 pay-tv operator Australis lists on stock exchange
1993 Seven listed on stock exchange
1994 Seven network joins then withdraws from Optus Vision cable-tv partnership with Nine network and Optus
1995 Kerry Stokes takes 20% stake in Seven Network
1995 Murdoch's News and Telstra launch Foxtel pay-tv joint venture
1995 Packer sells Fairfax stake to News, News takes stake in Nine
1996 Australian Competition & Consumer Competition blocks merger between Foxtel and ailing Australis
1996 Kerkorian and Seven buy MGM from Credit Lyonnais
1996 Golden West network sold to Prime
1997 Optus buys out Optus Vision partners
1997 Seven buys Australia Television (Asian pay-tv channel) from ABC
Stokes
1997 News sells its 15% stake in Seven for $245m
1998 Australis goes into receivership
1998 TDN-34 (Darwin) launched
1998 Packer gains 25% stake in Foxtel
1998 Seven sells MGM stake for US$389m
1998 Stokes sells Canberra Times to Rural Press for $160m
2000 Seven invests $83m in 3BG joint venture tv production company with Universal Studios
2000 forms Red Heart joint venture tv production house (inc Artist Services) with Granada
2000 Granada increases Seven stake to 10.4%
2000 Colonial Stadium (later rebadged as Telstra Dome) opens
2001 Skase dies in exile in Spain
2001 Seven buys 50% of Pacific Publications, PMP's Australian and New Zealand magazine arm
2001 Red Heart joint venture unwound
2002 Seven buys 50% of Glenn Wheatley's Talentworks promotion business
2003 Seven buys PMP's remaining stake in Pacific Publications, sells 13.9% stake in PMP for $30m
2003 Pacific Publications gains long-term licence to publish Family Circle magazine in Australia and New Zealand
2004 Stokes increases stake in Nylex to 17.45%
2004 Seven sells AOL|7 stake to Primus
2004 Pacific Publications buys Murdoch Magazines from Handbury family for $77m
2005 PMP buys printing assets of Rodney Times Media Group for NZ$12m ($11m)
2006 ITV sells its 11.6% stake in Seven Network for £87m
2006 Seven buys 14.9% of WAN for $343m