June 15, 2026 — 5:00amThose eagerly anticipating the blockbuster trial set to pit Kyle Sandilands against his former employer ARN Media from October 12 may yet be disappointed.Well, that is if those close to the former shock jock and the ARN leadership team are to be believed. Word is the parties have advanced negotiations and are nearing an agreement to settle Sandilands’ $85 million contract claim in the Federal Court. If all goes to plan, a settlement could be announced as early as this week.Radio shock jock Kyle Sandilands and his former employer ARN are in a legal stoush.Sam MooyAnd Sandilands has already started work on his next act. CBD hears the Sydney-based host’s next venture is shaping up as a subscription-based live online show – audio and video, obviously – with the working title Kyle Sandilands Live.Expect a number of the former staff from his Kyle and Jackie O Show to be included in the project, which we hear will be “uncensored” and live five days a week as a 6am breakfast product. That will see it aimed at the same audience demographic as his former FM radio show.Just when it kicks off, of course, will be subject to Sandilands’ settlement negotiations with ARN.We can’t say we’re surprised. Sandilands has been saying for months how eager he is to return to air, both to pay his mortgages – four of them, to be precise – and no doubt to try to stop his audience from bleeding out to other shows.Sandilands and Jackie “O” Henderson in happier times.InstagramNo word, sadly, on the value of Sandilands’ settlement, which we’d be surprised to see come close to the $85 million he is asking for. But no doubt ARN chief executive Michael Stephenson and his chairman, Hamish McLennan, will be thrilled to get close to ending one half of the $160 million humiliation ritual that has dogged the company for the better part of this year.ARN declined to comment. Sandilands’ spokesperson was contacted.In late March, Sandilands launched legal action against ARN Media, claiming he was owed more than $85 million after the KIIS FM owner terminated his contract following the expiration of a two-week deadline the company set him to fix his “serious misconduct” against co-host Jackie O Henderson. Then ARN filed a counterclaim. Henderson, meanwhile, has tied the company up in a separate lawsuit.The KIIS breakfast shift in Sydney, formerly held by Sandilands and Henderson, shed 3.5 per cent – dropping from 11.7 to 8.2 in the latest GFK radio ratings survey released last week. In Melbourne, the KIIS breakfast shift barely blipped, dropping a mere 0.4 from 5.4 to 5.One Nation candidate speculation growsSpeculation is rife around One Nation Victoria as to which of its luminaries might take the state leadership role in the party.Former Northern Territory resident Adam Giles, now Victorian, is much spoken about.Giles, a former NT chief minister, certainly has the political chops. These days he runs Gina Rinehart’s Kidman and Co, looking after her land, agriculture and clothing assets. Rinehart is Pauline Hanson’s biggest financial backer.However, leading the Victorian branch of One Nation – inside or outside parliament – seemed to be the last thing on his mind when Giles was contacted by The Age.Barnaby Joyce and Pauline Hanson talk to reporters outside the One Nation fundraising function in Melbourne on Friday.Simon Schluter“I’m not a member of the party; I wouldn’t know what they’ve decided,” he said.Would he join One Nation? “I don’t know what I’ll do ... I haven’t got any plans,” he said.How about running for the Victorian parliament? “I have no intention of running. Full stop.”But Giles did not rule out some leadership role if approached.“I’d consider it. I’m not saying yes, but if it was on a voluntary, part-time basis, I’d consider it.”Such enthusiasm surely must qualify Giles for something.Warren Pickering, the current party president, dead-batted when approached on the subject.“All rumours, mate,” he texted. “We’ve not announced as yet.”One Nation held a high-profile fundraising evening on Friday in South Melbourne, where Hanson and Barnaby Joyce revved up supporters and people who were “One Nation curious” – as one attendee put it, most definitely turned a lens on the party’s plans for Victoria and who was in their corner.Guests swarmed Hanson for selfies at the fundraiser.Fiona ByrneSpotted by CBD at the event were the aforementioned Giles, Lee Hanson, Pauline’s daughter, and Mark Nicholson, the creator of the Please Explain cartoons.Others among the 270 guests included comedian Elliot Loney; lobbyist Mark Jones; prolific buyer of houses on The Block Danny Wallis; Hancock Prospecting media adviser James Radford; Rikki-Lee Tyrrell, One Nation’s sole seat holder in the Victorian parliament; director of education programs at the Institute of Public Affairs Colleen Harkin; Albert Park hairdresser and former Liberal candidate now One Nation supporter Michael Piastrino; and controversial Whittlesea councillor Aidan McLindon.McLindon sidestepped CBD’s question as to whether he had political ambitions with One Nation, saying: “The leadership that Victorians are looking for, I believe, is not currently sitting in parliament.” Fun fact: McLindon, representing the Liberal National Party, ran against and beat Hanson for the Queensland state seat of Beaudesert in 2009.Tickets to Friday’s fundraiser cost between $200 and $500, with a limited number of meet and greet tickets with Hanson and Joyce priced at $2000 a pop. Hanson’s chief of staff, James Ashby, told CBD that 10 people had forked out for the private audience. The event was organised by Virginia Gibson and her son Ben, and George Mirabella.From our partners