Seven West Media chief executive Tim Worner is hopeful of improved market conditions in December but says the broader ad market remains short and unpredictable.
The Seven Network’s key “tentpole” programs, such as My Kitchen Rules, were experiencing strong early demand from advertisers, Mr Worner told Seven West’s annual general meeting on Wednesday.
“In the shorter term, a number of macroeconomic indicators appear to be improving and we are hopeful we may see a stronger December,” Mr Worner said.
“Outside those major events the market is still short.”
Seven West chairman Kerry Stokes told shareholders the company had great confidence in free-to-air television’s future.
“We think, as a platform, it’s got lots more opportunity, we are just in more difficult times,” he said.
Seven West also owns Pacific Magazines, Yahoo!7 and the West Australian newspaper.
Under shareholder questioning, Mr Stokes defended the performance of the West Australian, saying the newspaper business, which recorded a 13 per cent fall in revenue to $303 million in 2012/13, had suffered the industry-wide effects of a soft advertising market.
However the billionaire proprietor also criticised online competitors for not paying tax in Australia.
“We are one of the few media companies in Australia to pay tax,” Mr Stokes said.
“Last year your company paid $100 million in tax and if, like some other media companies, we didn’t have to pay that tax we could certainly pay a much better dividend to our shareholders.
“We compete in an area where those who compete with us, including Google and other operators, don’t pay tax.”
The meeting was held in Sydney for the first time, with Mr Stokes commenting that it had attracted about one-fifth of the number of shareholders that regularly attended the company’s Perth meetings.
Shareholders voted to approve an increase in the pay pool for directors from $1.5 million to $1.9 million, due to the increased size of the board.
John Alexander, the former executive chairman of James Packer’s Consolidated Media Holdings who was appointed to the board in May, was re-elected as a director, as was Peter Gammell and former CEO Don Voelte.
After the meeting Mr Worner told reporters Seven would not incur new costs with its Hybrid Broadband Broadcast Television internet on-demand TV service, scheduled for launch by May 2014.
“The cost of establishing that service is just normal capex,” he said.
“Where there will be an additional cost, if we take that option, is actually acquiring content for such a service.
“At this point we plan to start with the content that we already own.
Seven West Media shares dropped three cents to $2.27.
