Radio Silence for Kyle Sandilands as Contract Deadline Looms
Kyle Sandilands says he has not heard from his employer about whether he will be fired as a decision day arrives over an alleged breach of his contract, while regulators have imposed new licence conditions should the show return.
Kyle Sandilands Faces Contract Deadline
Sandilands was suspended by the KIIS FM parent company, ARN, on March 3 and told he had 14 days to remedy what the company characterised as a breach of his agreement. A decision on whether he will return to air or face termination was expected on Tuesday.
Outside his Sydney home, Sandilands said he had not heard from ARN about whether they would terminate his $100 million contract for inappropriate conduct and added, “At the end of the day, I’ve got a contract with ARN and I expect them to honour that. ” The presenters are in the second year of a decade-long, $200 million deal that coincided with a poorly received push into the Melbourne market.
Regulator Imposes New Licence Terms
On Monday the now-dormant show was hit with new licence terms should it return to the air. Repeated decency breaches prompted the media regulator to order ARN to ensure no offensive or explicit sexual content went to air on the programme if it resumes broadcasting.
Sandilands’ Response, Co-Host Friction and Next Steps
Sandilands has denied breaching his contract after publicly criticising his co-host Jackie “Jackie O” Henderson on a February 20 broadcast. In that on-air exchange he berated Henderson, telling her, “You’re off with the fairies… every segment, every time you’ve spoken, you don’t even know what’s going on. ” ARN said Henderson gave notice that she could no longer work with her co-host and considered his comments a breach of his agreement.
When asked whether he might explore buying out the media company, which has a market cap of about $106 million, Sandilands smiled and said he had “many options. ” He reiterated that he wanted to continue the show, saying, “I still want to do the show, the listeners want me back on doing the show. “
The immediate next step is the employer’s decision on the suspension window that closed with the deadline. Until ARN makes its determination, the programme will remain off air under the new licence conditions and the future of the long-term contract will remain unresolved.
