There’s been turnover in Nine’s boardroom in recent years. Since the newest of the directors, now managing director Mike Sneesby and WIN Corp boss Andrew Lancaster, started in 2021, Falloon and his former Fairfax Media ally have left, as did ex-Nine CEO Hugh Marks.

Costello has been chairman since February 2013, prior to the media company re-listing on the ASX, which is a reasonably long tenure as far as non-executive chairmen are concerned.

A Nine spokeswoman declined to comment on the director search on Thursday.

The search comes after Costello flagged that he would be seeking to add another director to Nine’s board at the company’s annual general meeting in November. First, though, he said the board would complete “both a thorough review of current Director skills and a subsequent search to identify the most suitable candidate”.

The board’s heavy on political clout (thanks to Costello), audit experience (Sam Lewis), strategy (Mickie Rosen, Sam Lewis) and operating media experience (Sneesby, Lancaster).