Sky News Australia, owned a third each by Nine, Seven and Sky of
London, lobbied hard to get a foot in the door and force an open tender
for the Asia Pacific service this year. It succeeded. This meant that
the ABC was forced to put in a tender to retain the business, which it
did, successfully – as revealed this week.

Sam Chisholm will be disappointed by the decision, says a media insider. “Much of the pressure for the expansion of Sky came
from Sam Chisholm, CEO of Nine but chairman of Sky news.”

The fact that the ABC won the tender is “a sign that the Federal Government’s
antipathy towards the ABC is relaxing and ABC people say that the current
review of its finances is going well, with the ABC’s triennial funding proposal
likely to get a better than previous thought reception from the Howard
Government,” says the media insider.

The review, which was ordered by Media and
Communications Minister Senator Helen Coonan, has to be completed and delivered
to the government by the end of January.