Five or more bids to buy all or part of the MySpace social networking pioneer are expected, valuing the company at more than $100 million says the Wall Street Journal (a News Corp company). Among the names expected to bid are private equity firm THL Partners, Redscout Ventures and Criterion Capital, which owns social networking […]
French telco Vivendi has not reopened talks to buy rival Lagardère’s 20 per cent stake in pay-TV unit Canal Plus, Vivendi chief Jean-Bernard Levy has told French newspaper Le Figaro. Vivendi, which owns 80 per cent of Canal Plus, failed in a previous attempt to buy the stake from Lagardère, which opted instead for a […]
In a move designed to position it for the next stage in the Internet-driven revolution in home entertainment, supermarket chain Tesco has acquired a majority stake in video-on-demand pioneer blinkbox. blinkbox is the UK’s leading movie streaming service, offering thousands of titles streamed on the internet to 2m users each month. Their catalogue of more […]
German commercial broadcaster ProSieben/Sat1 has sold its Dutch and Belgian stations to a consortium led by Finnish media group Sanoma along with Endemol founder John de Mol. The consortium has paid €1.23bn ($1.76bn) for SBS6, Net5 and Veronica. Munich-based Pro7/Sat1 acquired the stations in 2007 when it bought SBS Broadcasting. The sale completes the asset […]
Washington-based Discovery Communications is reportedly looking at some of German broadcaster ProSieben’s assets. In particular the factual broadcaster is said to be keen to pick up Pro7’s Nordic TV assets. The channels being sold comprise the former broadcasting assets of SBS Broadcasting, acquired by pro7/Sat1 back in 2007. In a related sale, the favoured bidder […]
KIT digital, the premium software and technology services provider for multi-screen video delivery, has moved to strengthen its ability to manage complex and large-scale IP video deployments in the US and the UK by signing a definitive agreement to acquire 100 per cent of the capital stock of digital media platform specialist ioko365 Ltd (ioko) […]
Mike Fries, Chief Executive of Liberty Global, has suggested the cable investor is not actively seeking to acquire Dutch cable operator Ziggo, despite earlier suggestions from the company’s Chief Strategy Officer Shane O’Neill that Liberty might consider pre-empting an IPO. Fries told The Denver Post that Ziggo seemed to be “squarely focused on an IPO, […]
In a further consolidation of the global telecoms and content delivery network markets, international provider of fibre-based communications services. Level 3 Communications, and global IP, Ethernet, data centre and video solutions provider Global Crossing have entered into a definitive agreement under which Level 3 will acquire Global Crossing in a tax-free, stock-for-stock transaction, estimated at […]
The Boards of blinkx, the world’s largest video search engine, and Burst Media Corporation, the online advertising services and technology business, have entered into a definitive agreement pursuant to which blinkx will acquire the entire common stock of Burst for an aggregate consideration of $30 million. The combination of the two companies will bring blinkx’s […]
News Corp’s proposed takeover of BSkyB should be delayed until the police conclude their phone-hacking inquiry, Lord Prescott has said. He told the House of Lords it would be “totally unacceptable” for a company “actively involved at all levels in criminal acts” to be given control. The peer says he and others were victims of […]