Lachlan Murdoch backs Ten chief Hamish McLennan to stay at REA Ten CEO Hamish McLennan has been backed by Lachlan Murdoch to remain as non-executive chairman of REA group, the parent company of realestate.com.au. The chief executive of free-to-air broadcaster Ten Network Hamish McLennan will continue his role as chairman of real estate classified REA Group, shrugging off calls for him to resign from REA to focus on a turnaround at Ten. Ten chairman Lachlan Murdoch told shareholders that Mr McLennan's role as non-executive chairman of REA Group was beneficial to Ten. "The board of Ten felt that the experience in digital media Hamish has gained - and will continue to gain - through his involvement with REA would be extremely valuable for our company," Mr Murdoch said, according to the ASX announcement accompanying Ten's annual meeting. Since Hamish joined the board of REA in early 2012, its market capitalisation has increased by about $3 billion and its net profit has increased more than 60 per cent. It is important ot note that Hamish's role at REA is that of non-executive chairman. That role in no way distract him from, or encumbers, his role at Ten. REA surprised the market on Tuesday by announcing the departure of its long-serving CEO Greg Ellis. This means it is looking for a new CEO and chief financial officer. The Australian Shareholders Association said it would ask Mr McLennan to stand down as REA chairman at today's Ten meeting, arguing that the turnaround job at Ten - which has battled poor ratings, executive turnover and a weak share price - requires Mr McLennan's full attention. Ratings "unacceptable" Mr McLennan told shareholders that although Ten's ratings in 2013 were "unacceptable," there had been a positive response to the company's shift from the youth market. Since we shifted TEN's focus to people 25 to 54, we have seen growth in our audience in that demographic. It is early days but we have seen increases. Just as importantly, our advertising revenue has stabilised in recent months. Ten is Australia's fourth-rated network, behind the ABC. Mr McLennan said Ten was focused for 2014 on "improving Ten Network's ratings, revenue, earnings and return to shareholders" through premium sport, "event" television, premium drama, a 6 pm family entertainment show, news, and US content. Billionaire handover Ten shareholders will be asked to approve a deal that could hand over security of all the media group's assets to three of its billionaire shareholders - James Packer, Lachlan Murdoch and Bruce Gordon - in return for the trio guaranteeing its new $200 million loan. Resources billionaire Gina Rinehart, a director and significant shareholder of Ten, sent her apologies. She is represented at the AGM by Hancock chief development officer John Klepec. Call for rule changes Mr Murdoch also urged the government to re-examine media regulations, arguing existing rules did not provide a level playing field for Australia's free-to-air broadcasters. "All the commercial free-to-air networks invest heavily in local content and it is fair to say that as online content becomes more popular, the free-to-air television industry's ability to invest in local content is threatened," Mr Murdoch said. He pointed to rules that free-to-air television networks show more than 4,300 hours of Australian content a year between 6am and midnight, and said that local programming accounts for about 70 per cent of Ten's total programming costs. Mr Murdoch said the media industry needed a framework that takes into account the "rapid and revolutionary changes in the way Australians increasingly choose to consume their media, onscreen, online, in print, digital, narrow or broadcast." In the converged media environment exactly the same content is often delivered across multiple different platforms - pay television, mobile, internet and free-to-air television - each of which is subject to a different level of regulations. If competing services are not regulated or policed to the same extent, it is vital that there is a reduction in the regulatory burden on free-to-air television. A level playing field across content rules, tax levies and diversity is vital to maintain the strength and competitiveness of Australian media and its ability to continue to invest heavily in local content.