A major streaming-linked network is running the ruler over the struggling Network Ten, withUS insiders admitting to ChannelNews that owner Paramount Skydance is open to a sale of the free to air broadcaster as the Company moves to slash costs globally ahead of its proposed merger with Warner Bros Discovery.

Paramount has already offloaded multiple TV networks around the world  during the past 12 months and since the merger of Paramount and Skydance closed on 7 August 2025, and observers claim Ten is shaping up as the next asset out the door.

If a merger with a streaming network is successful, the move would hand the streaming network the ability to bid for both free to air and streamed sports rights in Australia.

An alternative option under discussion is that the two parties strike an agreement to operate together in bidding for sports rights.

Hundreds Of Jobs Set To Go

Earlier this week The Australian newspaper claimed that Ten is poised to slash hundreds of jobs across its national news, current affairs and sales divisions as the embattled broadcaster’s top bosses scramble to cut costs.

News Corp also revealed that the network is in advanced discussions to outsource production of its news bulletins to a rival media outlet, who would also sell advertising spots across Ten’s channels.

Analysis of official OzTAM television ratings data reveals an alarming drop in viewers tuning into the network’s news bulletins and across the network in general, with Ten’s national audience down 20 per cent year on year.

David Ellerson Paramoun t Skydance CEO

Research indicates that a large percentage of Ten’s audience have walked away from the network, which some observers claim had become a “left wing” propaganda machine for socialist left opinions, in particular on The Project, hosted by Sarah Harris and Waleed Aly, which was eventually axed last year.

US Judge Blocks Merger

Overnight a US federal judge temporarily blocked the proposed US$110 billion merger between Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros Discovery.

The decision follows a lawsuit brought by a coalition of 12 US States, including California and New York, seeking to halt the deal over concerns it would stifle competition and raise consumer prices.

Prosecutors representing the States said merging the two major studios would inflict “substantial harm on movie theatres, basic cable distributors, and, ultimately, audiences nationwide”.

Beverly Mcgarvey CEO Networj Ten,

In response, the media giants argued that the States had misread the market and that merging would improve streaming efficiency.

Global Sell Off Already Underway

Paramount management attending CES 2026 in January admitted to ChannelNews that they would consider a sale of their struggling Australian TV network, with the business having already cut thousands of jobs and multiple TV networks worldwide.

Since the Skydance merger closed, the business has sold Telefe, Argentina’s free to air network, and in January 2026 offloaded Chilevision in Chile to Vytal Group, the investor vehicle led by Argentine media executive Tomas Yankelevich.

Both were labelled “non-core” to future growth.

Paramount Skydance has also shut down MTV’s music-only channels across Australia, Europe and South America, including MTV Music, MTV 80s, MTV 90s, Club MTV and MTV Live in the UK and Ireland, plus music-only outlets in Australia, France, Germany, Austria, Poland, Hungary and Brazil. Flagship MTV entertainment channels remain on air.

During the past 12 months roughly 4,200 staff have been axed as the organisation looks to strip A$2.8 billion in costs out of the business.