Samantha Armytage gets call from ARN as it plots life after Kyle and Jackie O

April 2, 2026 — 4:00am

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ARN Media, the company that until recently was the home of The Kyle and Jackie O Show, may be engulfed in legal fights with its star presenters, as they push to get paid out the remainder of their $200 million deal.

But ARN chief executive Michael Stephenson appears to have other things on his mind. The former Nine salesman has been sounding out a number of big names across the Australian media business in an effort to defibrillate the company’s program slate – and arrest the company’s plummeting share price.

The latest big-name talent to receive a call from the company is the Seven Network’s former Sunrise co-host Samantha Armytage, according to two sources familiar with the approach. Armytage is host of The Golden Bachelor, broadcast by Nine Entertainment, publisher of this masthead.

Apparently the parties have yet to meet, one of the sources said, and there haven’t been any formal discussions over a deal. Still, Armytage becomes the latest in a string of big names who ARN has kicked the tires on over a possible contract, as it develops “several new shows”. ARN and Armytage declined to comment.

The highest-profile talent being chased, as regular readers of this column would no doubt recall, is Today show co-host and right-wing podcaster Karl Stefanovic, whose signature has become a priority for ARN, CBD hears. The company has also sounded out Eddie McGuire, though it’s unclear whether he’d be interested in such a move.

Karl Stefanovic holds talks with ARN over possible FM radio move

The approaches represent a harried move into the talent market for ARN this year. And, perhaps unsurprisingly, CBD hears agents across the business have been clamouring to get their clients in front of the company’s leadership team, now it’s known that Stepho and Co are on a shopping spree.

The talent frenzy, of course, makes up just one corner of the circus that has engulfed ARN as it faces not one but two major legal battles with its own presenters.

As a result, one of the high-profile agents we wouldn’t expect to be involved in the talent feeding frenzy is Gemma O’Neill, best known for managing Jackie “O” Henderson. On Tuesday, ARN told investors Henderson had followed her former co-host Kyle Sandilands and launched legal action in pursuit of the $82 million remaining on her contract.

O’Neill, as it turns out, also worked briefly with Armytage last year, according to two sources familiar with their relationship. While those close to the pair insist they’re on good terms, we can only guess it wasn’t fruitful, given the arrangement lasted only a few months before they split in July last year.

But then again, O’Neill had a lot on her plate. The company she had operated for years went into voluntary liquidation late last year, with more than $540,000 in debts. The overwhelming majority of that was owed to the Australian Tax Office.

A statutory liquidator’s report filed with the corporate regulator on March 19 by Grant Thornton said the firm’s initial investigations into O’Neill indicate her company became insolvent as early as December 2, 2024. O’Neill didn’t respond to a request for comment in time for publication.

However that matter shakes out, we have no doubt O’Neill will be crossing all her limbs in the hope Henderson gets anywhere close to the $82 million and change she’s trying to extract from ARN via the court – from which we’d expect O’Neill to take a cut. After all, she’s got bills to pay.

News Corp’s $281,000 new loos

Every time we hear the words “News Corp” and “toilets” in the same sentence, it’s difficult to suppress the thought of long-time Murdoch lieutenant and former editor-in-chief of The Daily Telegraph Col Allan relieving himself in the sink of his office.

From Vaucluse to Copacabana: Kyle Sandilands has four mortgages to pay

But more than 20 years after Allan’s former News Corp colleague and Crikey founder Stephen Mayne posted that tale online, it looks like staff of the Daily Telegraph, The Australian and news.com.au may finally get some bathrooms worthy of relieving themselves in.

One of two development applications lodged with the City of Sydney for News Corp Australia’s Holt Street headquarters proposes an upgrade to the building’s bathrooms, and to allow for compliance with the Disability Discrimination Act. The new loos are set to cost about $281,000, according to the application.

According to the site plans filed with the council, it looks like the men’s and women’s bathrooms on levels one through five, where the company’s executives sit, are set for a revamp. We hear they’ve long been due for a refresh.

The second development application relates to a proposal for “minor alterations and additions” to the building, at a cost of $704,655. The site plans were pretty light on detail. Thankfully we aren’t just stupid – a neighbour wrote in to express their concerns over the noise that could be generated by what “appears to be the addition” of two air-conditioning units on the roof of the citadel.

New loos and air-conditioning? A News Corp spokesman was in no mood to entertain our queries.

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