SelecTV offline, leaving a trail of debt

By Nicole Hasham
Updated November 5 2012 - 11:39pm, first published February 2 2011 - 10:37am

The pay television arm of Wollongong-based WIN Corporation has collapsed after several years of trading unprofitably, leaving a multimillion-dollar debt trail.Satellite-based broadcaster SelecTV, headed by Andrew Gordon, son of WIN Corp owner Bruce Gordon, went into voluntary administration last week.WIN Corp seized control of SelecTV in 2006 in a $46.9 million takeover bid and has reportedly sunk more than $10 million into the business.Industry sources last year estimated it was losing $1 million a month.The Sydney-based company was billed as a niche, low-cost pay TV option targeted at people aged over 50. Its largely ethnic service broadcast in English, Greek, Spanish and Italian, until all but the Greek subscriber audiences were sold to other pay TV operators in successive sales late last year.The Mercury understands SelecTV's largest creditors include satellite company Intelsat Asia and data centre Equinix, who are believed to be owed millions.Neither business responded to requests for comment.One installation serviceman, who did not wish to be named, said he was owed around $600,000."I'm shattered. No-one can take that big a hit, as a small business operator it will affect my future livelihood," he said.Administrator Gayle Dickerson of Grant Thornton said it was too early to determine the likely return to creditors, but the installer believes he could be offered as little as 5¢ in the dollar. He questioned why WIN Corporation could not step in to clear SelecTV's debts.WIN Corp is the largest regional television broadcaster in Australia. The latest BRW Rich List estimates Bruce Gordon's fortune at $1.65 billion.In August, Fairfax Media reported the Bermuda-based media tycoon had "run out of patience" with the ailing business, offloading its English-language subscribers to other pay TV operators.Two months earlier, SelecTV chief executive Jim Blomfield said the company had been experiencing "a very slow time" over the previous year, due to weaker consumer confidence, growing demand for internet TV and a marketing campaign promoting the free-to-air networks' digital channels.At the time, the service had 45,000 subscribers - well below the 80,000 required to break even. Media analyst Greg Fraser said SelecTV had consistently struggled to attract subscribers in the face of stiff competition from Austar and Foxtel."It started out as an ethnic TV service and it never got beyond that … even in a pool the size of Australia it was probably still not enough people to make that service viable," he said.SelecTV's lack of substantive sport programming likely contributed to its downfall in a sports-driven pay TV environment, Mr Fraser said.A creditors meeting will be held in Sydney on Monday. SelecTV and WIN Corporation did not respond to requests for comment.

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