Nine CEO to oversee sprawling TV division after top executive’s exit

Nine chief executive Matt Stanton will oversee the company’s TV and streaming division after announcing that managing director of streaming and broadcast, Amanda Laing, is leaving the business after less than two years in the job.

Stanton said Laing’s role running Channel Nine, free online video platform 9Now, and premium streaming service Stan would “not exist in its current form” because of a restructure.

Laing is leaving in just six days’ time, with Stanton – whose background at Nine was in finance and strategy – to oversee the division on an interim basis as a result of the “structural changes”.

Stanton thanked Laing for her work, and said she had brought together the streaming and broadcast divisions. He said change was necessary because the “industry is changing at pace and we are operating in an increasingly competitive market.”

As a result, he said, “Amanda will sadly be departing the business.”

Laing said her divisions had been transformed, with growing audiences and subscribers. “I leave Nine with immense pride in the team I have had the privilege to lead and everything we have achieved together,” she said in a short statement. “I’ll forever be a champion of their work.”

Laing joined the company, which also owns this masthead, in April 2025. Laing had previously been a senior executive at pay television company Foxtel and had sat on the Australian Rugby League Commission.

The move came after a day of change for Nine, which announced on Wednesday that Australian Financial Review editor-in-chief James Chessell was leaving to join independent media site Rampart. He is being replaced by the Review’s editor Cosima Marriner.

During Laing’s tenure, Nine secured a deal to retain the rights to broadcast the NRL, but also made cuts in its television division in response to advertising revenue declining.

Those cuts came as part of a strategy to overhaul Nine’s television news broadcasting dubbed “Future News”, in which it streamlined the number of positions it employs with new broadcasting software.

The changes prompted a fierce backlash from staff, some of which have joined the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance union for the first time.

And while Nine held onto the NRL rights, the sport’s boss Peter V’Landys has previously said that outcome was due in large part to direct negotiations with Nine chair Peter Tonagh.

In its most recent annual results, Nine cut the value of its Total TV business, which includes both broadcast and digital streaming, in its books by $426 million to about $360 million.

Star Today show host Karl Stefanovic was sacked by Nine earlier this year after he started an independent podcast and gave a sympathetic interview to the British extreme right activist Tommy Robinson.

Nine’s share price dropped to $0.72 on Wednesday afternoon, down almost 40 per cent over the last twelve months.

Laing’s section of the company had already been reorganised during her short tenure.

Nine created the new position of streaming and television boss for Laing upon her arrival. It was in part an attempt to bring the company’s streaming service Stan closer to the rest of the business and position it more centrally as one of its main growth sectors.

Laing previously worked for Nine from 2006 to 2017 before her stint at Foxtel.

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