Richard Desmond, owner of the UK's Daily Express newspaper, has confirmed plans to sell a majority stake in his adult television business, assumed to be a prelude to an IPO of the newspaper business. The plans for a placing of shares in Portland Television, which is responsible for pay TV channels ranging from Red Hot-branded […]

BBC Worldwide has bought a majority stake in travel guide company Lonely Planet. The corporation’s commercial arm has acquired a 75 per cent stake in the privately owned company. The Lonely Planet operation will boost BBC Worldwide’s travel output, which includes over 500 hours of travel programming such as Michael Palin’s New Europe and Planet […]

Germany’s Deutsche Telekom has concluded a deal to buy Dutch mobile phone and broadband Internet operator Orange Netherlands from France Telecom for E1.3 billion. Deutsche Telekom said it expects the combination to result in savings of about E1 billion over the next few years. About half of those savings would be generated in the first […]

Greg Maffei, CEO and president of Liberty Media, said his company’s deal with Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. to gain control of DirecTV will give real market leverage to the Liberty’s media distribution holdings – but it’s unlikely the Government would let Liberty merge DirecTV with EchoStar. Analysts have speculated that such a merger could succeed […]

EchoStar Communications has agreed to acquire Sling Media in a deal that values the maker of the Slingbox device at $380 million (E279m). The price is payable in cash and EchoStar options. Slingbox devices allow users to watch their home TV signals on any Internet-connected computer.”As an early investor in Sling Media, EchoStar has been […]

Configurable processor specialist ARC International has bought multimedia IP developer Alarity Corporation, for £2 million (E2.9 million) in cash. The bulk of Alarity’s development team is based in St. Petersburg, Russia, where the 40 strong group focuses on codec software, firmware, and advanced multimedia architectures.

Arris Group is to pay $730 million (E517m) in a mix of cash and stock for C-COR Incorporated. Arris says with over 250 customers around the world, the companies collectively reported revenues of over $1.2 billion over the past year and the merged company will be the largest pure-play provider of equipment and solutions to […]

Alcatel-Lucent announced it has acquired Tamblin, a privately held software company that provides applications and tool kits that will enhance Alcatel-Lucent’s solution for enabling IPTV users to find, connect and interact with brands and entertainment they care about. Service providers can use Alcatel-Lucent’s interactive TV applications, now enhanced by the Tamblin software with their existing […]

UK Cable component supplier Technetix has bought its Spanish equivalent Foentel. It is the intention of Technetix to merge this business with its existing Spanish operation Tratec Telecom España, broadening the depth and reach of its world class engineering solutions and integrated supply chain business within Spain. Technetix bought Tratec of The Netherlands last year. […]

NBC Universal has agreed to acquire Sparrowhawk and its global portfolio of pay TV channels, including the international Hallmark Channels, from Providence Equity Partners, 3i and management shareholders. The announcement was made by Jeff Zucker, President and CEO, NBC Universal and David Elstein, Chairman, Sparrowhawk Media. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed, but a […]