SYDNEY — Australia's Ten Network offered tycoons James Packer and Lachlan Murdoch board seats Monday and said it planned to appoint a new chairman after a major share raid which looks set to shake up the country's TV industry.
Packer has casino interests in Australia and Macau but another of his companies, Consolidated Media Holdings, also holds a 25 percent stake in pay-TV provider Foxtel and 50 percent of the Fox Sports cable network.
News Corp owns the remaining 50 percent of Fox Sports and also holds 25 percent of Foxtel.
The CPH raid is now before Australia's anti-trust watchdog. Ten currently runs a dedicated sports network on its second channel, One HD, providing the only direct competition to Packer and Murdoch's subscriber-only Fox Sports.
Analysts say Packer intends to scrap Ten's One HD and adopt a low-cost model targeted at a younger audience. Ten last month announced annual profits of 150 million Australian dollars thanks to a rebound in advertising revenue.
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