Sydney — CBS has snapped up ailing Australian television broadcaster Ten Network Holdings, securing an offshore testing ground for its on-demand streaming service. The most watched US network agreed to buy Sydney-based Ten, which has lost money for five consecutive years, and to provide immediate funds to save it from collapse, the Australian company’s receivers and administrators said on Monday in a statement. The planned transaction also sidelines a potential bid from News Corp co-chairman Lachlan Murdoch. The New York-based media giant, which airs The Big Bang Theory and NCIS, plans to introduce CBS All Access in Australia, more than two years after Netflix started streaming there. Competition from upstarts including Netflix, available in almost 200 countries, is compelling legacy television companies like CBS to offer their own programming to subscribers on demand via the internet. CBS will come up against on-demand platforms offered by Ten’s two main free-to-air rivals as well ...
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