Buyers circling Kiwi TV network MediaWorks

Newshub broadcasters Samantha Hayes and Mike McRoberts. Photo / File

The Herald understands that as many as six parties have expressed interest in the MediaWorks TV arm since it was put on the market in October.

Despite this interest, the future of the business remains uncertain, with the broadcaster still unable to lock down a sales agreement.

A MediaWorks spokesperson wouldn't comment on the interested parties, but did confirm the "process is still ongoing".

MediaWorks, owned by equity fund Oaktree and billboard company QMS, last year appointed investment bank UBS to manage the sales process.

"We've had a lot of interest and UBS is doing a lot of work to hopefully reach a successful conclusion. We will update when we are able to," the spokesperson said.

No organisation has been linked with MediaWorks more consistently than Australian broadcaster Seven West-Media, whose CEO last year alluded to a potential move even before the company was put on the market.

At a staff meeting last year, Seven chief executive James Warburton is understood to have spitballed an idea that would see Australian and US content syndicated across this side of the ditch.

The Australian newspaper, however, reported near the end of last year that it could prove difficult for Warburton to justify the purchase to Seven shareholders and that a sale seemed "doubtful".

Other Australian broadcasters rumoured to a be casting a cursory glance at the business include CBS, NBC Universal and Nine Entertainment, but it's still unclear how much appetite these organisations have to take on the loss-making television arm of the business.

NBC Universal has collaborated with MediaWorks on the launch and broadcast of reality channel Bravo TV, while Nine Entertainment currently owns Stuff.

The Herald has contacted Seven, Nine and NBC Universal for comment.

Australian broadcasters have been tipped as likeliest suitors on account of their ability to reduce costs by syndicating their content across both sides at the ditch.

However, taking on the MediaWorks TV arm will be risky business.

Last year, a banking analyst estimated that the MediaWorks television arm was losing as much as $10-15 million a year in earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (ebitda).

Based on those figures, MediaWorks will be hoping to get a deal across the line or risk burning through the $26m cash injection earned from the sale of its Auckland headquarters.

If anything, the relatively simple sale of the building viewed alongside the uncertainty plaguing the TV business provides a stark reminder that static edifices remain the best way to make money in Auckland.