Forget Rupert Murdoch for a moment – another nonagenarian is set to take control of a once-hallowed TV licence, previously the jewel in the Packer family crown.

Enter Bruce Gordon, who turned 96 just over a week ago and is in the last stages of positioning himself to take over Australia’s Nine network.

Capital Brief reported earlier this week that under media ownership laws, Gordon needed to offload one of his regional TV licences before he could ramp up his interest in Nine.

That’s apparently happened, with the media billionaire’s WIN network selling its northern NSW licence to Paramount, owner of Network 10, as a precursor to increasing his control over the broadcaster. In finance-speak, that’s converting the equity “swaps” held with Macquarie Group – reported to equate to 10.2 per cent of Nine’s equity – to shares in order to exercise his full voting rights.

But despite divesting his Northern Rivers Television licence – covering Newcastle, Taree, Tamworth, Port Macquarie, Lismore, Coffs Harbour and the Gold Coast – it may take precious time before Gordon can take control.

Birketu chief executive Andrew Lancaster, who occupies Gordon’s seat on the Nine board, has already admitted that Nine is its strategic focus.

The “swaps” deal would raise his holding – including that of investment vehicle Birketu – to 25.15 per cent and would require a takeover bid under corporate law, or alternatively he could up his stake with three per cent “creep” increments every six months.

At that rate, he could be approaching 98 before the ambition was realised.

Apart from the eponymous TV business, Nine Entertainment owns the former Fairfax Media national and metro mastheads, the Australian Financial Review, the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age. It no longer owns any printing facilities, contracting out print production to News Corp Australia.

Pictured: An ambitious feasibility study by Brewster Murray imagined new headquarters for Nine in Willoughby including a helipad