The media moguls Lachlan Murdoch and Bruce Gordon have lost their battle to halt a crucial creditor’s meeting to decide the fate of Network Ten, clearing the way for it to be sold to the US network CBS.

Unless the administrators and creditors voluntarily agree to postpone the meeting, or there is an appeal and injunction later on Monday, the fate of Australia’s third commercial TV network is likely to be determined on Tuesday.

Justice Ashley Black of the New South Wales supreme court dismissed the case brought by investment companies associated with Murdoch and Gordon, saying he was not satisfied they had made out their case that the creditors’ meeting should be halted.

Nor did he accept their argument that CBS, the largest creditor, should be barred from voting at the meeting.



The Murdoch-Gordon interests announced a new increased bid on Friday – after the court case – but the 11th hour bid may have come too late.

They will now need to convince the administrators and creditors to reconsider the enhanced offer at Tuesday’s creditor’s meeting. This will depend on whether the creditors are willing to allow it to go forward at this late stage in the process.



The administrators, KordaMentha, have recommended the CBS bid to creditors as the superior offer in two reports. But that was before the Murdoch-Gordon group increased its offer to a $55m pool for unsecured creditors, significantly more than the $35m originally offered and more than the $32m offered by CBS.

The changes in the media ownership laws, which passed through federal parliament last week have also removed the legal impediments to the Murdoch-Gordon bid.

But the question now will be be whether creditors – which include staff and CBS – are willing to delay the process further for two former shareholders who were in charge of the network as it drifted into receivership.

As Black noted in his judgement, it is the creditors, not the administrators who decide to accept a scheme of arrangement. He also noted that the creditors could vote to adjourn the meeting.



CBS remains in the box seat because KordaMentha are recommending its offer, CBS is now able to vote at the meeting and the staff of Ten, also creditors, are understood to be favouring the CBS bid as the best way to get a resolution to the ailing network’s problems.



Black said it would be unfair to prevent a major creditor from voting at the meeting as it would dissuade creditors from putting forward schemes of arrangement to rescue companies.

It was widely expected that Murdoch and Gordon would end up with control of Ten. But they were surprised by a bid from CBS, which is owed $348m in program royalties.

20th Century Fox also joined the action in a bid to protect its programming contracts with Ten.

The creditors’ meeting is scheduled for Tuesday.