Talks between Seven West and regional broadcaster Prime over combining their assets into a single media company have ended with the two unable to come to an agreement.
Seven West said it was approached by its regional affiliate but that talks over a prospective deal - enabled by the scrapping of media ownership restrictions - were unproductive.
"Seven West Media confirms that there was a conceptual proposal received from Prime but that this did not result in any agreement," Seven West said in a single-paragraph statement to the ASX on Friday.
"Seven West Media has discussions with its affiliate when appropriate on various matters of common interest."
Prime was more loquacious in its statement, not giving any specifics of the deal but indicating that it would have liked to have pressed ahead.
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"Prime advises that it did previously have discussions with SWM in relation to a possible combination of the two companies, but that those discussions have ceased," Prime said in its statement.
"While Prime saw merit in the possible combination, the parties were not able to agree on the terms of the transaction."
At 1030 AEST, shares in Prime were sharply lower, down 7.4 per cent, or 3.5 cents, at 44 cents.
Seven West shares were up 0.35 per cent, or 0.25 cents, at 71.25 cents
