Networks vie for TV3 and TV4

The battle to buy TV3 and TV4 could turn into a scrap between Australia's Nine and Ten networks.

Prime New Zealand said this week it was interested in buying the two channels from debt-laden Canadian media giant CanWest Global Communications.

Last December, Prime entered a programming and management arrangement with the Nine Network, which also allows Nine to acquire 50 per cent of the local broadcaster during the next five years.

Nine's rival, the Ten Network, 57.5 per cent owned by CanWest, is also believed to have made a bid for TV3 and TV4.