0052 GMT - Investors in Southern Cross Media may find it hard to get their heads around a planned merger with Seven West Media, Morgan Stanley says. That's because Southern Cross achieved its goal of becoming a pure audio broadcaster when selling its regional TV stations. Now, the Seven West tie-up will flip it back into TV in a bigger way than ever. "We also think Southern Cross shareholders may be disappointed that the company has not received a cash takeover bid itself after recent media reports along these lines," analyst Andrew McLeod says, nodding toward a story in The Australian. Still, the deal is better than the status quo, MS says. A bigger company can cut costs aggressively, and offers greater scale to advertisers. MS also sees an opportunity for faster growth of digital assets. (david.winning@wsj.com; @dwinningWSJ)

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 30, 2025 20:52 ET (00:52 GMT)

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