Following recent speculation that ESPN was seeking to dispose of its UK and Ireland television channels business, having failed to secure any package of Premier League football rights for the coming three seasons, BT Group and ESPN have agreed that BT will acquire ESPN’s UK and Ireland TV channels business. These primarily comprise the ESPN […]
French press reports say cableco Numericable may bid for MNO SFR. BFM Business says the funds behind Numericable – Carlyle, Cinven and Patrick Drahi – are to make a cash offer with a plan to merge the two at a later date. A deal would probably see Vivendi dispose of its interest in SFR. Making […]
Germany’s competition authority, the Bundeskartellamt has formally confirmed that it has prohibited plans by cable MSO Kabel Deutschland Holding (KDG) to acquire cable network operator Tele Columbus. KDG revealed February 18 that the Bundeskartellamt had judged KDG’s proposed divestment of network assets as insufficient to overcome its concerns. Andreas Mundt, President of the Bundeskartellamt, said […]
Kabel Deutschland intends to hike its dividend by 67 per cent and increase investment as funds become available after plans to buy Tele Columbus were blocked by the regulator. Shares in KDG rose 2.5 per cent amid speculation the move could be part of its strategy to deal with a potential bid from mobile giant […]
The German Federal Cartel Office has told Kabel Deutschland its assessment of the remedy package offered on January 22nd for the acquisition of TeleColumbus doesn’t go far enough. KDG says it will now drop the bid. Kabel Deutschland had offered the disposal of Tele Columbus networks in the cities of Berlin, Dresden and Cottbus. The […]
Harmonic is to sell its Cable Access business to Aurora Networks for $46 million in cash. Harmonic will use $35 million of the proceeds for its stock repurchase programme. “The sale of the Cable Access business enables us to sharpen our focus on our largest growth opportunities,” said Patrick Harshman, President and Chief Executive Officer. […]
Telecom Italia-owned network channel La7 is likely to be bought by Italian investment fund Clessidra Capital Partners. Italian newspaper La Repubblica is reporting that Telecom Italia’s board made the decision at its latest meeting, and declined the bid from media conglomerate Cairo Communications. It is not yet known what price has been achieved for La7, […]
Executives of Colombian telecommunications firms DirecTV and Avantel have shot down rumours of a potential merger with TV Azteca. In an interview, DirecTV Colombia’s VP of field operations, Andrés Solé, dismissed the rumours, saying: “All companies in this market speak to each other, which is a reasonable thing to do, but there hasn’t been anything […]
The board of Virgin Media are being sued over the company’s $23.3 billion sale to Liberty Global. Virgin’s directors have been accused of breaching their “fiduciary duties” because they allegedly accepted Liberty’s bid without seeking higher offers elsewhere. Investor Jeff Grimsley has filed a complaint in a Manhattan court that the “unfair process” was meant […]
Opera Software has acquired Silicon Valley based Skyfire Labs, a specialist in mobile video optimisation and cloud solutions for mobility. Skyfire, headquartered in California, is known for its Rocket Optimizer software. This allows mobile operators to leverage cloud computing to optimise virtually any video and other multimedia on crowded cell towers, including 3G and 4G […]