Editing Kerry Packer (section)

==Media interests==

===The "Packer Empire"===
The Packer family has long been involved in media. Packer's grandfather [[Robert Clyde Packer]] owned two Sydney newspapers while his father, Sir Frank Packer, was one of Australia's first media moguls, and Kerry's son, James, was executive chairman of PBL, before resigning in 2008. Sir Frank wanted Kerry to experience work in the newspaper industry from the ground up, so Packer started in the loading dock of the Sydney newspaper ''[[The Daily Telegraph (Sydney)|The Telegraph]]'', loading papers. He was not originally destined for the role, but in the early 1970s Kerry took the place of the designated successor, his older brother, Clyde, after Clyde fell out with their father, quit PBL and moved to America. Kerry took over the running of PBL in 1974, on the death of his father.

===The CBC Disaster===
During the 1980s, Packer owned radio stations 2UE and 3AK. He decided to link both stations to form the ill-fated Commonwealth Broadcasting Corporation. With both stations networked, breakfast came from Melbourne's 3AK and everything else from Sydney's 2UE. The format lasted six months in 1986.

===Alan Bond media buyback===
In 1987, Packer made a fortune at the expense of disgraced tycoon [[Alan Bond (businessman)|Alan Bond]]. He reportedly sold Bond the [[Nine Network]] at the record price of {{A$|1.05&nbsp;billion}} in 1987, and then bought it back three years later for a mere A$250&nbsp;million, when Bond's empire was collapsing. Packer later quipped, "You only get one Alan Bond in your lifetime, and I've had mine".<ref name="Age-obit">{{cite news |work=[[The Age]] |date=28 December 2005 |page=7 |title=Kerry Francis Bullmore Packer 1937–2005 |url=http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2005/12/27/1135445572500.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1 |access-date=27 April 2011 |location=Melbourne}}</ref> Packer was then able to reinvest the proceeds in a 25% share in the [[Foxtel]] [[pay TV]] consortium.

After the sale to Bond, Packer said that he had regretted the decision to sell Nine and wished he had not gone through with the transaction. At the 2006 PBL [[Annual General Meeting|AGM]], Kerry's son, James, told of the true complexities of the deal. Kerry Packer received A$800&nbsp;million in cash, with A$250&nbsp;million left in Bond Media as [[subordinated debt]]. As Bond went under, Packer converted the subordinated debt into a 37% stake in Bond Media. About A$500&nbsp;million of debt remained in Bond Media. Packer received $800&nbsp;million in cash before receiving a free 37% equity stake that put a debt-included value of A$500&nbsp;million on the Nine Network, which by then included Channel Nine in Brisbane.<ref>{{cite news |first=Stephen |last=Mayne |author-link=Stephen Mayne |title=Packer explodes Alan Bond myth |date=27 October 2006 |access-date=27 October 2006 |work=[[Crikey]] |publisher=Private Media Pty Ltd |url=http://www.crikey.com.au/Business/20061027-Packer-explodes-a-myth-media-refuses-to-report.html |url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061108223656/http://www.crikey.com.au/Business/20061027-Packer-explodes-a-myth-media-refuses-to-report.html |archive-date=8 November 2006}}</ref>

===Hands-on business approach===
Packer sometimes took a direct interest in the editorial content of his papers, although he was far less interventionist than the notoriously hands-on [[Rupert Murdoch]]. Packer also occasionally interfered directly in the programming of his TV stations; in 1992, he called his Sydney station, [[TCN-9]], and ordered its personnel to "Get that shit off the air!", referring to ''[[Australia's Naughtiest Home Videos]]'' hosted by [[Doug Mulray]], which was cut during its [[List of television series cancelled after one episode|first and only airing]] on national television. (It has since aired in its entirety.) He is also said to have often manipulated broadcasts of cricket himself, to ensure that the end of a cricket match was broadcast, despite previously set television broadcast schedules.

===Government inquiry and legal challenges===
Packer faced a 1991 Australian government inquiry into the print media industry with some reluctance, but great humour. When asked to state his full name and the capacity in which he appeared, he replied: "Kerry Francis Bullmore Packer. I have appeared here reluctantly." Packer fronted the inquiry over allegations that he had some secret control over the content of the [[Fairfax Media|Fairfax]] papers (an organisation that Packer had wished to purchase for some time, but was restricted from by cross-ownership laws). During the inquiry, he repeatedly berated the politicians conducting it, and the government. When asked about his company's tax-minimisation schemes, he replied: "Of course I am minimising my tax. And if anybody in this country doesn't minimise their tax, they want their heads read, because as a government, I can tell you you're not spending it that well that we should be donating extra!"

At the time of his death, the Nine Network was the jewel in the PBL crown. Although it had a tough year in 2005 against rival [[Seven Network]] (which was aided largely by US TV hits such as ''[[Desperate Housewives]]'' and ''[[Lost (2004 TV series)|Lost]]''), Nine still finished the year as the number-one network.