On May 1st, speaking at the Sirius-XM results, CEO Mel Karmazin suggested that main shareholder Liberty Media’s 40 per cent holding in Sirius-XM “wasn’t the new 50!” It was light-hearted throw-away comment on Liberty’s attempt to persuade the FCC to permit Sirius-XM’s valuable transmission licences to be re-allocated to Liberty. Perhaps Karmazin spoke just a […]
News Corp is to buy a 19.9 per cent stake in Bona Film Group. The agreement will help the Chinese film producer and distributor reach a more global audience with its films. Meanwhile, News Corp gets a chance to play a bigger role in a fast-growing market. Bona said News Corp is acquiring the stake […]
NBCUniversal International has confirmed the acquisition of a controlling 51 per cent stake in international children’s channel, KidsCo, in partnership with existing shareholder and content supplier Corus Entertainment, who also increased its equity in the channel to 43.8 per cent. The announcement was made by Kevin MacLellan, President, International Television, NBCUniversal and Doug Murphy, President, […]
SeaChange has completed the sale of its broadcast server and storage business. The sale to the new independent company XOR Media has closed following customary regulatory approvals. SeaChange CEO Raghu Rau commented: “This sale is an important part of our strategy to transform SeaChange into a pure play software company. Now that the transaction is […]
Despite the furore surrounding whether BSkyB is a ‘fit and proper’ holder of a broadcasting licence following the phone hacking scandal, News Corp COO Chase Carey has scotched suggestions that the company is considering selling its 39 per cent in the broadcaster. “We have no expectation to sell the Sky stake at this time,” Carey […]
Telecom Italia has officially confirmed the sale of Telecom Italia Media, its media and broadcasting unit in which it owns a 77 per cent stake. The Board of Directors has decided to begin the process for the disposal of the activities in the media sector, in view of the refocusing of the Group on the […]
Zon Multimedia shares rose as much as 1.3 per cent after shareholder Isabel dos Santos increased her stake in Portugal’s biggest cable-television provider to 14.9 per cent. Dos Santos agreed to buy 4.9 per cent of the Zon through her Amsterdam-based holding company Jadeium, adding to the 10 per cent stake she already controlled through […]
Widespread reports out of Italy over the weekend suggest that commercial TV channel La7 is to be sold by owner Telecom Italia Media. Two weeks ago, Telecom Italia Media’s shareholders approved last year’s report, which despite recording a decline in overall annual revenue (€238.2 million, down by €20.3 million), it recognised a rise in ad-revenues […]
Liberty Media owns 40 per cent of Sirius-XM and has made no secret that despite its shareholding influence over the pay-radio broadcaster, it would like to formally take ownership of the Sirius and XM operating licences. It applied to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in March for the FCC’s approval. On May 4, the FCC […]
Sigma Designs, a provider of connected media platforms, has completed its asset purchase of Trident Microsystems’ Digital Television (DTV) Business. The acquisition includes Trident’s complete digital TV product portfolio, including its digital TV SoC (system-on-chip), frame-rate-conversion (FRC), and extensive SmartTV software suite, as well as some legacy analogue TV products. The acquisition includes these products, […]