Advanced Television

M&A

News Corp raises Premiere stake

German pay-TV group Premiere has completed a E450 million capital increase, which saw Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp raise its stake from 25 per cent to 30.5 per cent. The company announced the two-step rights issue in December in order to fund last autumn’s purchase of rights to show live Bundesliga soccer. ….

April 24, 2009

Joost seeks buyer?

Reports in the US say online video platform Joost is actively seeking a buyer and has told cable and satellite providers that it could be their online video solution. Time Warner Cable is one of the companies that has expressed interest in Joost say the reports. In the online video sector, Joost has fallen far […]

April 24, 2009

Grass Valley eyes mobile and future ownership

From Colin Mann in Las Vegas Despite its impending separation from parent company Thomson, Grass Valley is upholding its intentions to be active across a range of platforms by revealing a complete ATSC-M/H broadcasting solution, designed to give broadcasters and service providers a one-stop shop for test and evaluation solutions which can go on to […]

April 22, 2009

Move takes over Inuk

Inuk, the IPTV service for students, has been bought by Move Networks for an undisclosed fee. Move Networks says the combination of Inuk's IPTV platform and its virtual set-top box technology would be able to offer viewers an internet television experience with no skipping or buffering. "Inuk's IPTV platform is well positioned to deliver these […]

April 22, 2009

KIT acquires Narrowstep assets

KIT digital, a global provider of IP-based video enablement technologies, has acquired the assets and assumed certain current liabilities of London-based Narrowstep , an Internet TV platform company supporting content providers, broadcasters, telcos and other corporations. The acquisition expands KIT digital's client delivery capabilities – particularly in live-streaming, long-form delivery and delivery using the Microsoft […]

April 10, 2009

Virgin buys into gaming company

Virgin Media has bought a 9.9 percent stake in AIM-listed interactive gaming company NetPlay TV as part of a deal that gives NetPlay the rights to produce VMED's Challenge Jackpot gaming website, TV channel and online games until 2013. The TV channel is currently available on Virgin On Demand, Sky and for three hours a […]

April 6, 2009

Virgin sells up Sit Up

Virgin Media is selling its home-shopping broadcaster Sit-up TV to Munich-based investor Aurelius – owner of RTL Shop – for an undisclosed sum. Sit-up TV operates three digital home-shopping channels – bid tv, price-drop tv and speed auction tv. Virgin said the company’s live programmes are available to viewers in more than 20m homes in […]

April 2, 2009

Telefonica / Vivendi 'variable' bid for Digital+

The joint-venture of Telefónica and Vivendi has tabled another bid for Sogecable’s satellite pay-TV operator Digital+ in the long running sale saga. The amount eventually paid will reflect Digital's future EBITDA performance. For last year Digital+ had EBITDA of E367 million, 10% up on the previous year. At the same time it lost 35,000 subscribers. […]

April 2, 2009

Carphone still wants Tiscali?

UK mobile phone retailer and broadband provider Carphone Warehouse is considering a bid for the Tiscali's UK business, according to press reports. Carphone Warehouse's broadband division TalkTalk is hoping for a bargain after a deal to sell the ISP to BSkyB fell through at the last minute. Tiscali’s UK business had 1.774 million customers in […]

March 30, 2009

Bertelsmann: "Five needs merger to survive"

Bertelsmann, the German media group that controls Five, has said that the UK broadcaster does not have a sustainable future without a merger with ITV or Channel 4. Thomas Rabe, the chief financial officer of Bertelsmann, which has a 90 per cent stake in Five owner RTL, said that the UK broadcaster’s current business model […]

March 27, 2009