Shareholders have overwhelmingly thrown their support behind a deal to create an Australian media giant spanning television, radio, print and digital.
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Shareholders in the company that owns Seven Network and the West Australian on Monday approved its merger with the group that owns Triple M and the Hit Network radio stations.
More than 99 per cent of all votes cast by shareholders were in favour of the scheme, and 88.3 per cent of shareholders voted for it.
The transaction combining Seven West Media and Southern Cross Media Group is expected to complete on January 7.
"The combination of these two great companies will bring together the best content creators in the country and deliver significant financial and strategic benefits," Seven West chairman Kerry Stokes said.
"This is an opportunity to create a national, diversified media organisation with extensive scale and reach across free-to-air television, streaming, audio and digital publishing assets."
Mr Stokes said he'll hold onto the role of chair of the combined group until stepping down from the board at the end of February.
Seven West shareholders will receive 0.1552 Southern Cross shares for every Seven share that they own under the merger, and will own 49.9 per cent of the combined group, with Southern Cross shareholders owning the remaining 50.1 per cent.
In addition to the Seven Network and the West Australian, Seven West owns the Sunday Times, PerthNow, national news website The Nightly and Streamer, a community sports streaming platform.
Southern Cross Australia owns a total of 104 radio stations across Australia, and operates the LiSTNR digital audio app.
An independent report by Kroll Australia found that while both companies had been in a strong leadership positions within Australian radio and television markets for a long time, in recent years the landscape had substantially changed.
Consumers are increasingly turning towards on-demand streaming services from international competitors, Kroll said, leading to declines in revenue.
The combination will give both companies better scale and synergies to compete with these international rivals, Kroll said.
The deal is structured in a way so that Southern Cross shareholders don't have to approve it, and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission and the Australian Communications and Media Authority have already provided clearance for the merger, so Monday's vote was its last remaining hurdle.
A court will be asked to approve the scheme on Tuesday as a formality, with the paperwork that makes the merger legally effective expected to be lodged with the securities regulator ASIC on Wednesday.
Australian Associated Press
