Publishing and Broadcasting Limited
Publishing and Broadcasting Limited
Main page
1809295

Publishing and Broadcasting Limited

logo
Community Hub0 subscribers
What are your thoughts?
Be the first to start a discussion here.
Be the first to start a discussion here.
Publishing and Broadcasting Limited

Publishing and Broadcasting Limited (PBL) was one of Australia's largest corporations. With interests primarily in media and gambling, for the entirety of its existence it was largely controlled by the Packer family.

PBL originated with Australian Consolidated Press (ACP), established by media magnate Frank Packer, who inherited the media interests of his father Robert Packer, who died in 1934. In 1936, Packer merged with E.G. Theodore's Sydney Newspapers and Associated Newspapers to form Australian Consolidated Press. Frank Packer was chairman of ACP from 1936 until his death in 1974, when control of the company passed to his younger son Kerry Packer.

ACP was granted a broadcasting license in Sydney when television began in Australia in the 1950s. Its television station, TCN-9 in Sydney was the first station in Australia to go to air, launched 1956, by an announcement from Bruce Gyngell "Good evening, and welcome to television".

In 1960, it purchased GTV-9 Melbourne to form the first television network in Australia, the National Television Network, later to become the National Nine Network.

In 1987, Kerry Packer sold the Nine Network to Alan Bond for $1 billion, who then expanded the network to include QTQ-9 Brisbane and STW-9 Perth. Packer later bought the network back for half of what he sold it for in 1990.

Publishing and Broadcasting Limited was formed in 1994 as a holding company for Nine Network and Australian Consolidated Press. PBL registered Nine Films and Television, an in-house film and television production arm, in August of that year.

In the late 1990s PBL lost millions on a venture called Nine India. Its most tangible form was a branded block on two of the channels operated by Doordarshan. It planned to become a major player in Indian television, but by early in the next decade, the concept was dropped.

In 1999, Crown Casino and Entertainment Complex was bought by PBL, and the online division of PBL, ecorp was floated on the ASX. ecorp was later privatised and delisted from the Stock Exchange.

See all
User Avatar
No comments yet.