General Electric has agreed to pay Vivendi $5.8 billion for the French group's 20 per cent stake in NBC Universal paving the way for the conglomerate's planned sale of 51 per cent of the US media group to Comcast. The valuation is at the high end of expectations and essentially equates to one fifth of […]
Spain’s Telefonica has agreed to buy 21 percent of Digital+, the pay television business of indebted media group Prisa, for E470 million. However only E240 million will exchange hands as the remaining E230 million correspond to debt owed to Telefonica by Prisa. Telefonica and Prisa have drawn up a shareholders’ agreement whereby the Spanish telecom […]
ITV has paid £18 million (E19.7m) cash for Disney's 25 per cent stake in GMTV. The acquisition forms part of ITV's strategy to focus on its core activities and will allow closer integration between ITV and the breakfast service. John Cresswell, Chief Operating Officer at ITV, said: “GMTV is the gateway to the ITV day […]
BBC Worldwide will be allowed to acquire Virgin Media’s 50% stake in pay-TV joint venture UKTV to help secure the financial future of Channel 4, despite a ban on all other merger and acquisition activity imposed by the BBC Trust. Sir Michael Lyons, the BBC Trust chairman, outlined a tighter remit for BBC Worldwide that […]
Vivendi/Canal+ has bought broadcaster TF1's 9.9 per cent stake in Canal Plus France for E744 million. After the deal – originally planned for the first quarter of 2010 – is completed, Vivendi’s Canal Plus Group will own 74.9 percent of Canal Plus France. TF1 has held a put option since January 2007 following Vivendi/Canal Plus […]
From David Del Valle in Madrid Telefonica is set to take a 20 per cent stake in Prisa-controlled DTH platform Digital Plus, for E400 million, valuing the platform at E2 billion – far from Prisa’s original expectation of E2.5 billion. The acquisition takes place 18 months after Telefonica sold its 16.73 per cent stake in […]
Virgin Media's attempt to sell its wholly-owned television channels has been called to a halt following an initial review in October and it now seems certain Virgin will try and package up a deal to sell its owned stations and its half of the UKTV joint venture. The company's advisors have valued its channels – […]
International cable operator Liberty Global is to acquire Germany's second largest cable company Unitymedia in a E2 billion deal. Unitymedia has systems in the German federal states of North Rhine-Westphalia and Hesse, which are among the most prosperous and densely populated regions in Europe. Unity Media's cable footprint passes some 8.8 million homes, including ten […]
Digital TV company Kudelski has purchased approximately 60 per cent of the shares in OpenTV Corp it had not already owned for $1.55 a share, taking its voting rights to 91 per cent. In February, Kudelski had proposed buying the remainder of OpenTV’s shares for $1.35 per share, but withdrew that bid in June after […]
Motorola is to sell its Connected Home Division, including the world's biggest STB business, according to the NY Times. The newspapers says sources at Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan, hired to advise on strategic options, are now recommending a three-way split with networks being sold off and the remaining company separated between the mobile phone […]