Anglo-French electrical goods retailer Kesa has sold the UK-based Comet stores to a private equity firm for just £2 and will hand over a dowry of £50 million and keep the liability of the existing pension scheme. The buyer is a group of companies under the name “Hailey” advised by retailer turnaround specialists OpCapita. Kesa […]
RTL has reported that Q3 revenue rose 6.6 per cent year on year in the third quarter to €1.24 billion thanks to a boost in TV ad sales in Germany, France and the Netherlands and growth at FremantleMedia. Earnings before interest, tax and amortisation rose 8.3 per cent year on year to €144 million. The […]
IPTV delivery solutions specialist Minerva Networks has enhanced its ability to deploy TV services across multiple networks and devices with the acquisition of privately-held TVBLOB. Headquartered in Milan, Italy, TVBLOB develops software products for the delivery of entertainment services on consumer electronics devices combining legacy television with Internet media sources. The company has successfully deployed […]
Time Warner has bid about $1.4 billion for Netherlands-based entertainment producer Endemol. The debt-laden producer of ‘Big Brother’ has been trying to restructure its debts for more than a year and Time Warner is reportedly ready to put up another $100 million in fresh working capital. A few days ago, Endemol gained permission from its […]
Farncombe, the specialist consultancy, has announced the launch of the Farncombe Test Lab, following an agreement to acquire the laboratory testing facilities of UK pay-DTT operator Top Up TV. The Farncombe Test Lab will continue to work with Top Up TV, which will be out-sourcing its future testing requirements to Farncombe, whose team has been […]
Discovery Communications has made its first acquisition of an independent production company by snapping up Betty – the UK firm behind shows such as Dirty Sexy Things, The Joy of Teen Sex and Freaky Eaters. The US factual broadcaster is reported to have paid about £10 million (€11.7m) for Betty as it looks to expand […]
Announcing their results John Malone, head of Liberty Global, said that while the group is looking for more acquisitions in Europe, it will not challenge News Corp for control of British Sky Broadcasting. Malone told the FT that while plenty of bankers had encouraged him to bid after News was forced to pullout because of […]
Following the news in October that France’s leading pay-TV platform Canal Plus was entering into exclusive negotiations with Poland’s ITI and TVN Groups to create a strategic partnership in Poland, ITI has confirmed that Canal Plus is to buy a “significant minority” stake in ITI, the parent company of the owner of 51 per cent […]
Adobe Systems has acquired privately held Auditude, a specialist in video ad management and monetisation technologies for publishers and media companies. Through the acquisition of Auditude, Adobe is now positioned to provide an end-to-end video offering, seamlessly connecting authoring, publishing, monetisation and optimisation with the goal of helping customers build long-term businesses through the delivery […]
UK VoD service SeeSaw appears to have closed for good, following an initial planned closure in June. The company’s website simply says: “Thanks for your support but SeeSaw is no longer available.” Broadcast transmission infrastructure specialist Arqiva, which acquired the aborted Project Kangaroo from it founding partners BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5, put […]