Network Ten boss Hamish McLennan has called on the Abbott government to come good on promises to overhaul media ownership laws after the struggling TV station posted its third consecutive full-year loss.
The government has said it wants to wind back some of the ownership restrictions but isn't rushing to change the legislation.
Mr McLennan said the lack of progress was disappointing and the laws were unfair and outdated.
"We just want to compete on a level playing field," he said.
"We're limited by laws that were created more than 20 years ago, prior to when Google even existed."
Current laws restrict media companies from reaching more than 75 per cent of the population and from owning a TV station, radio station and newspaper in the same market.
If the laws were relaxed there is speculation Ten would look to merge with a regional TV station like Prime, WIN or Southern Cross or could be a takeover target itself by media giant News Corp.
There are already ties between News Corp and Ten; Lachlan Murdoch was the company's chairman from 2012 until March this year when he left the role to become co-chairman of News, and Mr McLennan is a former News executive.
But IG market strategist Evan Lucas said he didn't believe Ten would hold much value for News, given its recent performance.
"I don't know that the tie-up is that compelling (for News Corp) to be paying for what is realistically a fairly horrible story at the moment," he said.
Ten made a net loss of $168.3 million for the 12 months to August 31, driven by weak ad sales and higher costs.
But the result was better than last year's $285 million loss and came despite an improved ratings performance.
Ten lifted its ratings during the year for the first time since 2011 and Mr McLennan said the station's audience was up 44 per cent since August, thanks to the success of programs like Masterchef, Family Feud, Offspring and The Bachelor.
The network hopes to build on that improved performance in 2015 with local adaptations of reality TV series I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here and Shark Tank.
Mr McLennan said the recent improvement in ratings would make it easier to sell the new shows to advertisers.
"When we say that we are going to launch a new show media buyers are more accepting now that we will be able to nail it," he said.
"So when we go to the market and say we're going to launch I'm a Celebrity and Shark Tank, I think they look at us and say, with greater confidence, that yes we think you can launch a good show."
Ten shares were up a quarter of a cent at 19.25 cents at 1355 AEDT.
WEAK AD SALES DRAG ON TEN
* Net loss of $168m, up 41 pct from $285m in 2012/13
* Revenue of $626m, down 4.3 pct from $654m
* No dividend
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