KEY POINTS:
The new owner of CanWest MediaWorks, Ironbridge Capital, is looking at closer ties with MSN New Zealand to get a bigger piece of the online advertising market.
Ironbridge, a private equity firm, is taking over TV3, C4 and half the country's radio stations and is insisting it is looking at more revenue rather than cutting costs.
There will be a lot of interest in TV3's relationship with MSN New Zealand, which is half-owned by James Packer's Publishing and Broadcasting Ltd.
At the moment MSN New Zealand visitors who want to see TV3's video content get referred to tv3.co.nz - which is okay for TV3 but not so great for MSN.
If MSN proposals go ahead, TV3 content will be available directly on a new " third party" website under the MSN brand.
The broadcaster's relationship to MSN solely as " content provider" is likely to change if that goes ahead but it is not clear whether it could take up any equity in MSN New Zealand.
TV3 has set up a division of about 11 people to oversee its website in an operation headed by its financial controller, Peter Crossan.
It would be surprising if Ironbridge and TV3 were involved and there were no direct links to advertising revenue.
The new head of MSN, Liz Fraser, confirmed that there were talks to have TV3 content on a website identified with the MSN brand.
Newspaper publishers Fairfax and APN are already well established with stuff.co.nz and nzherald.co.nz.
But Ironbridge will be aware of growing alliances between broadcasters and online media.
The Australian Seven Network owns half of Yahoo7! which has taken over the joint venture for the Telecom website.
James Packer's Nine Network tied with MSN to form Australia's ninemsn.com.au, which owns MSN in this country.
TVNZ, which gave up its online player nzoom three years ago, has resumed its internet drive with new initiatives such as tvnzondemand.co.nz.
Fraser, by the way, is no stranger to the TV world. Her last job was as marketing director at TV One during the controversial era when it lost a large part of its market share.
Same but different
Ironbridge is expected to announce today that it has secured commitments from chief executive Brent Impey and other key management.
Impey - and probably others - will have secured some equity in the new company, which is expected to trade under the same name, MediaWorks - minus the CanWest.
Securing management was essential as Ironbridge has no background in media and would be vulnerable to a poaching raid otherwise.
Down-rent TV3?
Maybe online will provide some of the new revenue streams Ironbridge alluded to when it took over CanWest MediaWorks.
What else could the private equity firm do?
Impey fought hard to ensure that when New Zealand radio and TV assets were sold they stayed together.
Asked if it wanted both radio and TV, Ironbridge said that was not an issue - they were sold as one lot.
A dual radio and TV operation makes sense. They are complementary. TV gets its biggest audiences at night and in the winter, radio in the morning and in summer. So it is unlikely Ironbridge would flick them on.
Radio relies on local ad markets, while TV is focused on national advertising through agencies.
For television the only issue is whether Ironbridge will continue with the same business plan at TV3 - which is to spend comparatively large amounts on programming with extensive taxpayer subsidies, making inroads into TVNZ's market share.
The other option - often threatened in the past by CanWest when its subsidies have been in danger - is to use low-cost programming. It would lose market share, but done right profits might stay up.
That option also appears unlikely as it would reverse the past 15 years of growth and Impey might be expected to advise against it.
The only time it would be viable would be if CanWest was outbid by Sky TV for the rights to its programming output deal with the Fox organisation.
Sky has a lot of money to outspend TV3 when those rights come up for grabs. Neither Sky nor TV3 will talk about when that is due to happen. But when it does, the future of TV3 will be up for grabs.
Amazing expanding agency
Ogilvy New Zealand is moving in on the Wellington advertising market, buying boutique ad agency Persuasion and renaming it Ogilvy.
Persuasion owner Julie Powell will stay on but the company is to be run by Aussie import Livia Esterhazy, who is moving from Sydney. The latest of several agency buy-ups, the Persuasion purchase ends 10 years in which the Ogilvy brand name has been absent from the Wellington ad market.
In the golden era of Saatchi & Saatchi, Wellington in the late 1980s and early 1990s was at the very centre of the advertising business for New Zealand.
As corporate clients have drifted north, the Wellington ad business has become focused on government clients, which has been fine under Labour because it has spent a lot on advertising to get its policies and programmes implemented. Y & R Advertising maintains an office in the capital but Ogilvy's arrival indicates competition is heating up.
Big, bigger, biggest
Ogilvy was formed after the merger of Greg Partington's Advertising Works Ogilvy with Scar's Singleton Ogilvy & Mather.
Persuasion is the latest of several purchases by Ogilvy and by Australian publicly listed firm STW Communications. STW owns 65 per cent.
Under Partington's leadership, Ogilvy has bought high-profile creative-based agency Meares Taine and Auckland agency Metromedia.
Meanwhile STW - which owns part of JWT Advertising - last year merged its Red Rocks agency with Frank and bought another boutique agency, Assignment.
Partington agrees that the agency has been through a period of growth and does not rule out more agency buy-ups in the future.
As Advertising Works, Partington's business was known as a retail agency focusing on retailer clients. But Partington says that in two years the agency has gone from 100 per cent retail to 30 per cent without the loss of clients, "which indicates how much bigger we are now".
Partington has been active in pitching for new work, including a joint bid with JWT for the Vodafone business that went to Colenso BBDO.
The agency is expanding aggressively but Partington says he will pitch for new business only if he thinks he has a 75 per cent chance.
DDB'S loving it
Sydney-based DDB Australia and New Zealand boss Marty O'Halloran have played down changes at the Auckland agency, including the decision to put Sandy Moore in charge of the group in New Zealand.
The Business Herald reported last week that Moore had replaced Sharon Henderson. But O'Halloran stressed that Henderson would still be managing director of the DDB agency, which is still the biggest of the 10 divisions that make up the group.
O'Halloran also insisted there had been no difficulties between DDB and its biggest client, McDonald's restaurants, which has been enjoying greater success in Australia than it has had here.
Meanwhile, DDB has appointed Sydney-based ad creative Paul Hankinson as creative group head to be responsible for the McDonald's account. He will join new McDonald's account director Mike Watkins - who recently moved from Meares Taine.
