Advanced Television

Funding

Celeno closes $24m investment round

Celeno Communications, a provider of  Wi-Fi chips and software for HD multimedia and data home networking applications, has secured a $24 million series E round of funding. The over-subscribed round included existing investors Cisco, Liberty Globa, Greylock Partners, and Pitango Venture Capital, and was joined by new investor Vintage Investment Partners. The latest round brings […]

September 27, 2012

Intelsat raises $640m

Satellite operator Intelsat is raising $640 million in senior debt due for repayment in 2022. The cash will be used to pay off older debt as part of the $603 million due in 2016. The balance will be used to fund other corporate activity. The borrowings are made under its Intelsat Jackson Holdings subsidiary company. […]

September 20, 2012By Chris Forrester

Chinese expand African TV investment fund

China’s Africa Development Fund and its China Development Bank are to extend its investment strategy into African digital TV. Since 2007 around $100 million has already been directly invested, and the president of the fund, Chi Jianxin, says another $50 million has been earmarked for further investment. There could also be more given that the […]

September 3, 2012By Chris Forrester

Telenet to buy back shares

Belgium’s largest cable operator Telenet has revealed plans to take on up to €700 million in debt and use the money to buy back shares. “Telenet … intends to implement a shareholder remuneration policy consisting mainly of share repurchases…..Telenet believes that the combination of the adjustment to the capital structure and the revised shareholder remuneration […]

August 13, 2012

Liberty spins off Starz

Despite earlier denials, Liberty Media has confirmed it’s spinning off pay-TV unit Starz into a separately traded public company. As a standalone premium network with licensing agreements in place to run Disney and Sony theatrical films, Starz could present an attractive acquisition target for predators. Starz closed the second quarter with about 20.7 million subscribers, […]

August 9, 2012

Church quits News Corp investment

The Church of England has pulled its nominal £1.9 million (€2.39m) investment from Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp as a protest over its handling of the phone hacking scandal. The Church Commissioners and the Church of England Pensions Board, who together hold more than £8 billion of assets, sold all their shares, after the Church’s Ethical […]

August 7, 2012

Arqiva looks at refinancing

Broadcast transmission provider Arqiva is looking at options to refinance its £3.4 billion of debt raised when Macquarie acquired National Grid Wireless in 2007, reports Reuters, quoting unnamed sources. Early stage discussions are being held between shareholders of Arqiva, the company and a few banks on how to refinance the debt, some of which matures […]

August 3, 2012

Ziggo sells additional 32m shares

Dutch cable company Ziggo has confirmed it is selling a further 32 million shares following its launch on the Amsterdam stock exchange earlier this year. Private equity companies Cinven and Warburg Pincus, the two biggest shareholders in Ziggo, are releasing the shares. At the launch, just 21.7 per cent of the company was up for […]

July 31, 2012

Roku raises $45m

Roku, a company which sells boxes that make it easy to connect to streaming web services such as Netflix, has raised a $45 million investment round from News Corp, BSkyB, an unnamed strategic investor, and existing investors Menlo Ventures and Globespan Capital Partners. The investments will bring Roku closer ties to a pair of properties […]

July 26, 2012

MGM now clear of bankruptcy, seeks IPO

MGM Holdings, the successor owner to the original MGM studio’s assets, is considering a public offering of shares, according to a brief statement made by the studio. It has retained Goldman Sachs as an advisor. MGM entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in November 2010. The company is now owned by a group of investment funds. […]

July 26, 2012By Chris Forrester