Swiss telco Swisscom has reported net revenues fell 2.4 per cent in the first quarter as record customer growth failed to offset weakening market prices. First quarter net profits fell 12.4 per cent to 390 million Swiss francs ($420.3 million). Swisscom TV connections increased by 205,000 (31.3 per cent) year-on-year to 860,000. Meanwhile, Swisscom has […]
A decision made this week to see South Africa’s TopTV sold to China-backed StarTimes group is likely to be challenged in the courts. Multichoice-backed consortium Dynamic TV, which submitted its own robust and well-funded take-over bid for TopTV on April 29, had tried to block the shareholder vote on April 30th and saying that they […]
Lagardere’s chief executive has said he is prepared to consider buying Vivendi SA’s 80 per cent stake in pay-TV company Canal Plus France, according to an interview by French newspaper Le Monde. “I’m ready to look at buying the 80 per cent they have and listing it on the stock exchange in favorable conditions,” Arnaud […]
Yahoo has dropped its bid for Dailymotion due to objections by the French government, according to reports. Yahoo had been in talks to buy a 75 per cent stake in Dailymotion, owned by France-Telecom Orange, in a deal that would have valued the video website at $300 million. But French government officials raised concerns that […]
A special board meeting of On Digital Media (ODM) in Johannesburg on April 30th voted in favour of the scheme put forward by StarTimes to rescue ODM’s TopTV pay-TV operator. Reportedly 99 per cent of shareholders approved the move. The decision also means that other rival bids, in one case by a consortium backed by […]
Cable MSO Liberty Global has increased its stake in Dutch cable operator Ziggo, giving rise to speculation about a possible takeover. Liberty Global already had a 12.65 per cent holding in Ziggo, and raised its stake to 15 per cent, according to a filing with the Dutch stock market regulator AFM. Investment houses Cinven and […]
TopTV, a digital broadcasting rival to South Africa’s Multichoice, is in financial trouble. Up until now the front-runner to buy the troubled company was StarTimes, a China-backed operation with an existing portfolio of African-based pay-TV investments. A new potential buyer (‘Dynamic TV Consortium’) has now emerged in the shape of local South African entrepreneurs, but […]
India’s Airtel Digital TV is selling 20 percent of itself and intends to raise about $200 million in the process to fund expansion. The broadcaster is currently backed fully by telco giant Bharti. Now reports have emerged from Mumbai that US private equity investor Carlyle Group is in early talks to buy the stake. However, […]
Teleste has reached agreements with the government cable operator of Gansu Province and Shanghai OTEC Information Technology. As a result, Teleste will have 10 per cent ownership of a joint venture owned by the three parties. The agreements also cover sales development of the Chinese cable market as well as commencing a local manufacturing facility. […]
Telco and pay-TV giant America Movil is to merge its Brazilian operations. Local director Daniel Hajj says the Mexican-owned company will consolidate its DTH, cable TV and cellular subsidiaries. America Movil owns the Embratel DTH system, Net Servicos (cable) and Claro mobile phone business, and Hajj says the operation will take between 18 and 30 […]