Southern Cross Austereo

Southern Cross Media logo used until July 2011

The company owned several regional radio stations, as a result of takeovers of stations formerly owned by DMG Radio Australia and RG Capital Radio Network.[3] The company also owned the stations forming the Southern Cross Television and Southern Cross Ten networks around regional Australia and Tasmania, which hold varying affiliations with the Seven Network and Network Ten.[4]

In December 2009, MMG security holders voted in favour of a conversion from a triple-stapled structure to a single ASX-listed company. MMG was renamed Southern Cross Media Group with former RG Capital Radio CEO Rhys Holleran as the Chief Executive Officer.[5]

Austereo Group logo used until July 2011

The company was founded by Paul Thompson, and when commercial FM broadcasting was introduced into Australia it acquired the licence for metropolitan Adelaide, South Australia; SAFM commenced transmission in late 1980. The next station to join the network was FOX FM in Melbourne, Victoria in 1986, eventually to be followed by 2Day FM in Sydney, New South Wales and 4BK in Brisbane, Queensland for which the company was successful in converting to the FM band in 1990. Austereo also purchased AM radio station 6IX in Perth, Western Australia with the intention of converting the station to FM. 6IX, which had been re-launched by Austereo as The Eagle 1080 AM, was consequently sold off after being outbid for either of the two new FM licences by rivals 6KY and 6PM, which Austereo now own.

The mid-1990s saw a monopolistic arrangement take place whereby Village Roadshow purchased the Hoyts owned Triple M network, and Triple M in turn merged with Austereo to form a single umbrella company. [6][7][8] The merger was part of a single deal that was unpopular due to the fierce rivalry between the two radio networks, and the fact that Village Roadshow and Hoyts were also direct competitors in the film industry.[9]

In March 2011, Southern Cross Media launched an A$714 million takeover bid of national radio broadcaster, the Austereo Group.[10] On 6 April 2011 shareholders of the Austereo Group accepted the takeover bid, giving SCM a more than 90% share in the company.[11] Southern Cross Media and Austereo merged in July 2011 to form Southern Cross Austereo.[12]

On 23 August 2012, Guy Dobson (director of metro radio) was announced as Chief Officer of Content for the Southern Cross Austereo network, working across radio and television.[13]

• Southern Cross Seven, sole affiliates of the Seven Network. These stations primarily brand themselves as "Channel Seven", following the Seven Network's generic branding.
• Southern Cross Nine, sole affiliates of Nine Network. These stations brand themselves only as "Channel Nine", following the Nine Network's generic branding.

The format of each station is defined by one of two common formats:

• Hit Network – plays adult hit music from the 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, 2010s and today targeted at those aged between 25 and 54 years old using various Hit Network brands in metropolitan areas[14]
• Triple M Network – talkback and rock music format targeted at adults over 39, mainly on the AM and heritage FM stations

Agreements were reached between Southern Cross Austereo, DMG and Prime Television to ensure that existing brand names owned by DMG Radio in regional markets could continue to be used by both Southern Cross Austereo and Prime.

Southern Cross Austereo produces its own networked programming across both brands, which include:

Some of its stations picked up the Continuous Call Team when Broadcast Operations Group could not resolve broadcast rights issues with 2GB and the National Rugby League. The most notable was Triple M Newcastle, who also picked up rights to cover games of the Newcastle Knights.

SCA produces regional television news services for its stations affiliated with the Seven Network. Full evening news programs air in Tasmania and the Spencer Gulf and Broken Hill region with short updates airing in remote Central and Eastern Australia and Darwin.

1. Translators for 2BDR on 90.1 MHz in Omeo and 96.5 MHz in Corryong. There is also a translator for 2AAY in Corryong on 95.7 MHz.
2. Translators on 100.7 MHz (2PQQ) and 102.3 MHz (2ROX) in Port Macquarie.

1. Re-transmitter at 97.9 MHz FM in Traralgon.

1. 6TZ also re-transmitted via 1134 kHz AM in Collie (6CI, now listed by ACMA under 6TZ),[15] and 756 kHz AM in Busselton and the Margaret River region.

• BDN – Nine Network affiliate, Broken Hill¹
• BKN – Southern Cross Television, Broken Hill¹
• CTC – Southern Cross Nine Southern New South Wales/ACT
• SCN – Southern Cross Ten Broken Hill¹

• Central Digital Television (CDT) – Ten Central (jointly owned with Imparja Television Pty Ltd)²
• DTD – Ten Darwin (jointly owner with the Nine Network)²
• QQQ – Southern Cross Television Central Australia
• TND – Southern Cross Television Darwin

• IDQ – Ten Central Mount Isa (jointly owned with Imparja Television Pty Ltd)²
• ITQ – Southern Cross Television Mount Isa
• TNQ – Southern Cross Nine Queensland

• GDS – Nine Network affiliate, Spencer Gulf¹
• GTS – Southern Cross Television, Spencer Gulf¹
• SGS – Southern Cross Ten, Spencer Gulf¹

• GLV/BCV – Southern Cross Nine Victoria

• TDT – Tasmanian Digital Television (jointly owned with WIN Television)²
• TNT – Southern Cross Television Tasmania

1. Southern Cross has a monopoly on commercial television in this market. The services other than GTS and BKN are retransmissions from Adelaide with local advertising.
2. This station was launched as a digital-only service, co-owned by the two existing commercial broadcasters in the market.

Southern Cross Austereo broadcasts a number of digital only radio stations, including:

• Santa Radio (seasonal), first launched for Christmas 2020, billed as a partnership between SCA and North Pole communications playing festive songs picked by Santa and his elves
• Buddha Hits, "pop, electronica and acoustic vibes with a café music feel"[16]
• Easy 80s Hits, up-tempo, sing-along format of mainstream 1980 hits
• Urban hits, hip-hop and RnB
• Dance hits, dance tunes
• Oldskool 90s Hits, pop nostalgia, focused around the 1990s
• Little Fox, kids' music and overnight lullabies
• SoundCloud Radio, up and coming and independent artists, in partnership with SoundCloud
• Triple M 90s, 1990s rock music
• Triple M Classic Rock, late 1960s and 1970s
• Triple M Hard 'N' Heavy, metal and hard rock
• Triple M Country, country music from the 1990s to now
• Triple M Soft Rock, soft rock

They also own and operate the PodcastOne application and hold the rights to all of its podcasts.