Nine Radio sold, Nova’s Fitzy, Wippa, Kate Ritchie go to drive, Tim and Rikki to mornings, Joel Creasey rumour

Nova Entertainment and Nine Radio have both announced two of the industry’s worst-kept secrets, as two shows are pulled from their time slots and a new owner is announced.

For months, there has been intense speculation that Nova’s Sydney breakfast show, Fitzy and Wippa with Kate Ritchie, would be pulled from the AM slot. On Friday, that move was finally confirmed with a move that shunts another program from its shift.

Nova’s national drive show Rikki Lee, Tim and Joel will be no more, with Tim Blackwell and Lee moved to Sydney breakfast, while Fitzy and Wippa with Kate Ritchie will move to the afternoon slot.

Creasey, who has been a hit in the drive slot since his radio debut and on Nova’s Perth breakfast show for months now, is rumoured to be getting his own national radio show, with an announcement expected later on Friday.

The announcement comes as another major radio shake-up was finally confirmed.

Nine Radio, which has stations including Sydney’s 2GB, Melbourne’s 3AW, Brisbane’s 4BC and Perth’s 6PR, has been sold off for $56 million.

Billionaire publican Arthur Laundy has been confirmed as the network’s new owner.

The two shake-ups follow a landmark merger of Seven West Media and Southern Cross Austereo, the owner of this publication, which established Australia’s largest media company in January, bringing together the news and radio brands.

On the Nova move, the network’s group programming director, Brendan Taylor, told Radio Today that now was the “right moment” to make changes.

“Ricki-Lee, Tim & Joel have been a consistent number one show in their time slot, and now is the right moment for a new sound for Sydney,” he said.

“Ricki-Lee and Tim are perfectly positioned to bring something exciting to Sydney Breakfast.”

As for the drive shake-up, Mr Taylor said the move would allow the network to bring “magic” to Nova’s afternoon slot.

“They’ve delivered excellent results together and this move to Drive allows us to share their magic with all of Australia.”

Nine gains tax breaks in strategic shift

Nine’s chief executive Matt Stanton said the deal to dump its radio assets aligns with the group’s strategy to grow digital sales as a percentage of total revenues.

Nine’s announcement also outlined that the radio deal will allow the business to claim major tax breaks worth up to $178 million. This is because it will be able to offset the capital losses from the sale of the radio assets against its monster $254 million capital gains tax bill from the sale of its 60 per cent stake in property website Domain in 2025.

In a bigger strategic move, Nine also said it would reinvest some of its Domain windfall to buy outdoor advertising business QMS Ltd from Quadrant Private Equity for $850 million.

As a result of the tax benefits, it said its net investments will be around $601 million for a QMS business forecast to generate EBITDA (operating income) of $105 million in 2026.

Mr Stanton also talked up the potential of QMS as complementary to its existing businesses, with consistent revenue growth over the past few years.

“The acquisition of the high-growth digital outdoor media company, QMS, further diversifies Nine’s revenue streams and adds scale to our advertiser and agency relationships,” said Mr Stanton.

“The QMS network will provide Nine with a branded platform to support key national news and sporting moments and serve as a public utility for governments at all levels in times of emergency or community need.”

It added that the deal flurry is expected to be accretive for earnings per share in the low double-digits in financial year 2026, after adjusting for the benefit of anticipated cost savings.

However, Nine also warned investors that its dividends in financial years 2026 and 2027 are now expected to be unfranked as a result of the tax losses being recognised through the deals.

The company will hand down its results for the six months ending December 31 on February 24. Shares traded up 4 per cent to $1.14 on Friday afternoon.