Updated ,first published
Kyle Sandilands’ contract has been terminated by KIIS owner ARN, sparking threats of legal retaliation from the controversial broadcaster over his $100 million contract with the FM radio company.
Sandilands said he had done everything the company asked at the time 14 days he was suspended from broadcasting after lashing out at co-host Jackie “O” Henderson, including telling the station he was open to working with someone else, but claimed the outcome was pre-arranged.
ARN and Sandilands jointly announced the termination of the deal on Wednesday morning, ending the broadcaster’s record-breaking deal to present The Kyle & Jackie O Show until 2034, which is now sure to be challenged in court.
“ARN have just announced that they have terminated my contract,” a statement from Sandilands on Wednesday morning said. “I don’t agree.”
“My lawyers told you last week this would be invalid. And guess what? It is.”
Sandilands said he had done everything asked of him in the past few weeks, but accused them of not wanting to “fix” the issue, using it as an opportunity to get out of the rest. $200 million contract that he and Henderson signed in 2023.
“So, it’s up to my lawyers.”
Sandilands representatives released the statement early Wednesday morning ahead of the official ASX announcement from ARN, which shortly after confirmed “The Kyle and Jackie O Show will not be submitted again”.
In a statement, Sandilands indicated he was ready to work with “someone else” in the absence of Henderson, with whom he has worked for more than 25 years.
“I said, get me back on the air. I’ll work with Jackie. I’ll work with someone else. Whatever you need. Every time – ‘no’. They had no intention. They didn’t want to fix this. They thought they saw an opportunity to get out of the contract they signed with me a year ago, and they ran with it.”
The decision comes two weeks after Henderson’s contract with ARN was terminated after the company said his representatives had told management he could not continue working with Sandilands. As a result of air dispute in Februarywhich left Henderson in tears, he was allegedly in breach of his contract following an act of “gross misconduct”.
Sandilands said in his statement that he had apologized to Henderson and its meaning. Henderson said he had not previously left ARN and was pursuing the matter through legal channels.
The pair’s contracts, which ran until the end of 2034, were difficult for ARN just one year after the show’s expansion to Melbourne was bombed by broadcasters’ objections to the historical sexual content featured in the show.
In response, Sandilands said the company knew “exactly what they were getting into”, having worked with him for a decade.
“So, you’re telling me – why would ARN prefer to break the contract and pay the legal consequences instead of honoring the contract and paying me to do what I do best? That’s the bottom line.”
Privately, the expected termination of the contract has been the subject of much consternation among rival radio executives over the past two weeks. On Tuesday, one executive, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to commercial sensitivity, said Sandilands was in a “solid position”, saying his rant against Henderson last month was nowhere near his worst on-air behaviour.
Another executive said it was likely Sandilands and Henderson would oppose the cancellation, but ARN had no choice but to act, with the deal’s finances “only working” if the show was successful in the eastern seaboard.
ARN sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they have been instructed not to speak to the press, confirmed that two emails were sent to staff after Sandilands made his bombshell statement.
The first message said: “There is currently a press conference in the basement of our Sydney office. Sharing a reminder that if you are approached by the media, please direct them to (our head of publicity).”
A second email, sent by ARN chief executive Michael Stephenson shortly after 8am, said: “As a result, this morning ARN announced that it has given notice to terminate the contract with Kyle and Quasar Media following the completion of a 14-day period. As a result, ARN will no longer deliver Kyle & Jackie O show.”
One junior producer at ARN, who didn’t work Kyle & Jackie Ohe said: “There’s a lot of pain and anger in here about the fact that those two (Sandilands and Henderson) are fighting over millions of dollars while the rest of us are getting laid off, or trying to pay a payroll tax that doesn’t cover our expenses (costs of daily living).”
Another ARN insider claimed, “What’s going on is so obvious it’s almost laughable: ARN were desperate to get out of this deal, so they took advantage of it the second it was offered. Whether it (management) succeeds is another question entirely.”
Media and entertainment law expert Shaun Miller, head of Shaun Miller Lawyers, believes Sandilands is on solid legal ground.
“I wouldn’t want to stand between Kyle Sandilands and $88 million – it would be roadkill,” Miller said.
“Kyle is on the offensive against ARN. He’s basically saying, ‘Don’t call us; we’re going to sue you.’ And Kyle has a serious legal argument that she was engaged to ARN to be complicated, provocative and cunning. So for ARN to terminate Kyle’s contract for reasons that ARN engaged Kyle to do – that makes no sense at all.
Miller said that ARN’s position could be based on the fact that the company specifically hired Sandilands to work on it Kyle & Jackie O show – and when Henderson left the show, the program ceased to exist. (Henderson has emphatically rejected quit or resigned.)
He added that if Sandilands and Henderson are ready to resume their working relationship, the question their legal teams will ask ARN is, “What is the problem?”
The show launched in Melbourne two years ago, but in that time KIIS lost more than 220,000 listeners under Sandilands and Henderson, or 36 per cent of its breakfast audience. The results of the first assessment of 2026 are published on Thursday.
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Calum Jaspan is a media reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, based in Melbourne. Reach him safely on Waves @calumjaspan.10Connect through X or email address.
Michael Lallo is senior culture writer at The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect through X or email address.
