Poaching Sandra Levy from the ABC is a big gamble by Nine CEO Sam Chisholm. It’s a sign that he’ll be around at Nine for sometime to come and whoever takes the CEO role will inherit a management team and structure created by Chisholm.

Why is the appointment of Levy a gamble? Because the last appointment Chisholm made at Nine was in the dying days of the Bond Media ownership in around 1989-90 when he produced a deal to outsource the Nine Network’s drama to the Kennedy Miller organisation. That didn’t have much time to start because Bond Media collapsed, the deal was too expensive and when Kerry Packer took back control of Nine, costs were cut and the Kennedy Miller contract (or what was left of it) was a cost saving.

Not that Nine escaped any payment: rumour has it that the Kennedy Miller group was paid several million dollars in compensation to go away.
Throughout the 90s Nine commissioned drama via the programmers, such as John Stephens and then with people like Michael Healy and Les Sampson involved. Posie Graeme Evans was brought in to Nine in the late 90s to take charge of drama and she has had moderate success: McLeod’s Daughters is her big success. The current series version of The Alice telemovie (a big success last year) is a disappointment to Nine.

How long Posie stays at Nine in the wake of news of the appointment, is the fascinating question at Nine. As one insider says “there’s not enough room at Nine on the third floor for two Queens of Drama when Levy arrives.”

Sandra Levy ostensibly reports to Nine’s chief programmer, Michael Healy, and I reckon there’s a rat in this part of the announcement. When Sam Chisholm poached Tony Ritchie from Seven in May to return to the Sydney newsroom of Nine, he came back in under then news boss, Max Uechtritz, but reported to Chisholm.

Uechtritz was ousted in the last week of June by Chisholm and left Nine on July 1. Sam Chisholm reports to John Alexander, the PBL CEO, but in all respects has a free hand at Nine, Foxtel, Premier Media, Sky News and Prime New Zealand. With Levy reporting to Michael Healy, is Chisholm really saying that he won’t have an input into the decisions that his highest profile signing will be making, in consultation with his chief programmer? Not on your Nelly!

So the question now at Nine is how long before Sandra Levy grabs both the development and programming roles and unifies the position. Because that’s effectively what the head of ABC TV does: the occupant commissions, programs, handles development decisions, personnel and promotion and look. There’s a tribe of reporting EPs and executives to carry out the orders and put up ideas, but the decision in the end was Levy’s (with some board consultation).

On the face of it she’s gone to a significantly lesser job: a job she could do standing on her head. The example of Max Uechtritz and his fate at Nine, are not a good omen for Levy but she is a different person. The Packers and PBL CEO, John Alexander would have signed off on this appointment, so Levy has a lot of backing. She will get what she wants.