KEY POINTS:
As indicated by Herald media reporter John Drinnan in this column last Friday, Brent Harman, who was chief executive of TVNZ in the 1990s, is to join the board of MediaWorks' owner HT Media, with a view to becoming chairman.
HT Media is a subsidiary of Australian private equity company Ironbridge Capital.
In recent weeks it launched a second bid for MediaWorks, gaining acceptances taking its ownership above the 90 per cent threshold for compulsory acquisition of all remaining shares.
Announcing today that it had invited Mr Harman on to its board, HT Media said present chairman Kerry McIntosh intended to step down from the position once the buy-out of MediaWorks was completed. He would remain on the board.
Originally trained as a journalist, Mr Harman began his management career at Radio New Zealand in 1980.
In 1985 he was appointed general manager of 1ZB in Auckland in 1985 where he was responsible for the launch of the Newstalk ZB format, now networked throughout New Zealand, HT Media said.
He was appointed executive director of TVNZ's two networks in 1989 and CEO of TVNZ in 1991.
In 1995, Mr Harman was recruited by British satellite and cable programming company Flextech.
In 1999 it merged with Telewest, at which point Mr Harman was appointed as managing director of content and new media of the wider group and an executive director of Telewest.
He then went to Sydney, heading Prime Television, HT Media said.
He was now a self employed consultant and company director.
Mr Harman said MediaWorks was an impressive and in many ways unique company operating as it did across television, radio and on-line.
As well as TV3, MediaWorks owns and operates the C4 television network, national radio brands such as Radio Live, The Edge and The Rock, and local radio stations.
- NZPA
