Confirming Ofcom’s recommendation of a referral, Hunt said that in accordance with his duties to meet relevant parties, he met with News Corporation on 6 January to set out the process that he would follow and briefly explain Ofcom’s conclusions. “Having informed them of the process I then wrote to News Corporation and BSkyB on […]
France Telecom’s Orange has revealed that it is in exclusive negotiations with Dailymotion, the world’s second largest online video site, with a view to taking a 49 per cent share in the operation. Once complete, the deal, valued at €58.8 million, will provide Orange with the opportunity to develop a complete multi-screen video offer From […]
Modern Times Group is talking with ProSiebenSat.1, about the sale of its European TV and radio group SBS. Valuations on the group go between €1 billion and €1.5 billion. Swedish Modern Times Group is looking specifically at SBS’s Scandinavian business. Holland’s The Telegraaf Media Group, is understood to be interested in the local TV operations […]
According to a report by Romanian daily newspaper Ziural Financier, RomTelecom and Romania Cable Systems (RCS&RDS), the country’s two largest broadband providers by subscribers, are going head-to-head in the acquisition of a number of smaller cablecos, as a way of increasing their network footprints. The newspaper claims that RCS&RDS has acquired a new subsidiary in […]
BSkyB is adding to its range of subscriber services with the purchase of WiFi on-the-go business The Cloud from a group of VCs. The deal, reported in the News Corp owned Sunday Times, is likely to be announced along with financial results on Tuesday – Sky is expected to report a 25 per cent increase […]
Kuwait Projects Co (KIPCO) says there will not be an IPO this year for its Middle East pay TV Orbit Showtime Network. Mr Faisal al-Ayyar, Kipco’s CEO and vice-chairman, was quoted in an interview with Kuwaiti daily newspaper al-Watan, saying KIPCO would present the issue to shareholders and seek their approval prior to considering an […]
The Carlyle Group plans to offload its 62 per cent stake in ETTV, a Taiwan cable TV operator in what would be the private equity firm’s latest Taiwan exit. Local press reports Chairman Gary Wang, ETTV’s second largest shareholder, is interested in the stake, which may be worth T$7.5 billion ($250m). Late last year, Carlyle […]
Rival media owners have told Jeremy Hunt, the UK culture secretary, he must ignore offers from News Corp to separate off Sky News. Reacting to reports the company has said it will separate or even sell Sky News the newspaper groups wrote to Hunt warning this pre-condition offer should not stop him referring the bid […]
News Corp has told the UK government that it may be prepared to ‘separate’ Sky News from BSkyB if the concession meant avoiding a lengthy investigation into its takeover of the broadcaster. According to the FT, talks between Rupert Murdoch’s media group and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport have cited this as a […]
In a long-expected deal Amazon acquired all of Lovefilm, the online video rental service for around £200 million (€237m). The move bolsters Amazon’s DVD business and puts it in a straight fight with Netflix as both progressively shift their business online. Lovefilm has 1.6 million subscribers, Amazon already held a 42 per cent stake acquired […]