Israel’s communications ministry is delaying – and may ban – the sale of Israel’s Spacecom satellite business. Spacecom operates the AMOS fleet of satellites and was in the process of being sold to a Hungarian company 4iG. Local reports in Israel say the communications ministry have declined to sign off the deal due to concerns […]
A report in French newspaper Le Figaro quotes the nation’s Association of Advertisers (UDM) saying that they do not see TV advertising and digital advertising as substitutable. This is perceived as a negative for the proposed merger between French commercial TV broadcaster TF1 and smaller rival M6. A note from investment bank Exane/BNPP says that […]
James Purnell, a former Director of Radio at the BBC, as well as its Director of Strategy and Digital, has suggested that the Corporation be funded by a household fee, also proposing that the BBC buy fellow public service broadcaster Chanel 4, whose future ownership is being considered by the Government. Writing in the Sunday […]
Reports suggest that telco Vodafone and French operator Iliad are in talks to combine their respective Italian businesses. Such a deal would create a business with a mobile market penetration of some 36 per cent and combined revenues of nearly €6 billion. According to Reuters, Iliad is working with investment bank Lazard on a potential […]
The FT reports that as Intelsat emerges from its Chapter 11 bankruptcy reconstruction the satellite operator will lose its CEO Steve Spengler (who will leave with a pay-out of at least $4 million) but could also find itself open to a takeover. SES is mentioned as a potential buyer. The FT quotes analyst Armand Musey, […]
Microsoft Corp has confirmed it will buy Call of Duty videogame maker, Activision Blizzard, for $68.7 billion (€60.4bn) in cash, making the Xbox manufacturer the third-largest gaming company by revenue. Microsoft’s offer is a premium of 45 per cent to Activision share price last week. Shares of Activision were up nearly 38 per cent at […]
Bloomberg, in what investment bank Exane/BNPP describes as an “informal survey”, has suggested that Eutelsat and ITV are “most likely takeover” candidates. The bank suggests that ITV has been in the Bloomberg poll fairly frequently over the past ten years. Other companies named as possible takeover targets include KPN, Telecom Italia, Invit, Nokia, ProSiebenSat. 1 […]
A report by the European Audiovisual Observatory aims to shed light on the structure of the AV industry in Europe in terms of revenues as well as other performance indicators specific to key audiovisual market segments. The analysis provides snapshots of the top AV players and explores concentration, statute, and origin of ownership by revenues, […]
At the moment, any merger plan between Dish Network and AT&T’s DirecTV is just behind the scenes talk. But it could happen, and if so, how would the pair start saving cash? The usual synergy promises will trim head-count and the marketing and advertising budgets would be trimmed. But what about those orbital assets? The […]
North American pay-radio operator SiriusXM has bought Cloud Cover and its business music portfolio. The service, Cloud Cover Music, will join subsidiary Sirius XM Radio, which already offers its own SiriusXM Music for Business and Pandora for Business in a wider commercial music portfolio. Cloud Cover employs business management, music programming, licensing, and software development […]