Advanced Television

xavier niel

Mediawan merges with Leonine Studios

Mediawan and Leonine Studios have announced the signing of a definitive agreement for Leonine to merge with Mediawan in an all-stock transaction. The combination aims to foster closer collaboration between the businesses, and establish Mediawan as a premier studio with a global presence across 13 countries, 85 labels, a catalogue of some 30,000 hours of […]

April 29, 2024

Kinnevik’s Tele2 stake acquired by Freya

Freya Investissement, a special investment vehicle jointly owned by iliad and NJJ Holding, has entered into a binding agreement to acquire approximately 19.8 per cent of the share capital of Tele2 from Kinnevik, an investment company focused on digital consumer businesses. Consideration for the transaction will be paid in cash and totals approximately SEK 13 […]

February 26, 2024

Carraun takes 6% stake in Proximus

Xavier Niel-controlled Carraun, the parent company of Irish telco Eir, has confirmed that it holds an approximately 6 per cent interest in Belgian multiplay operator Proximus. Carraun says it is making the investment in Proximus to get exposure to the Belgian leader in connectivity, describing it as “the undisputed domestic leader” in fixed and mobile, […]

November 15, 2023By Colin Mann

Niel invests €200m in AI

French billionaire businessman Xavier Niel is investing €200 million in AI, split between a future research lab to be located in Paris, cloud supercomputing capabilities powered by Nvidia Corp. hardware, and funding for startups. The project hopes to lure top French AI engineers — who left to work for big tech firms — back to […]

September 26, 2023

France: Niel’s SIX challenger revealed

Xavier Niel, owner of Iliad (Free) and several publications including Le Monde, has appeared before a hearing of French TV regulator Arcom in connection with his ‘SIX’ bid to takeover the M6 DTT frequency. Niel insisted that SIX “doesn’t aim to replace a channel with another” but to “create a new all-genre TV channel”.  He […]

February 15, 2023From Pascale Paoli-Lebailly in Paris

Niel wants TF1/M6 DTT frequencies

French media entrepreneur Xavier Niel, owner of telecom group Iliad (Free) and several publications including Le Monde, has told broadcast regulator Arcom he is interested in acquiring TF1 and M6 DTT frequencies. Arcom is currently handling the renewal of both channels’ FTA DTT authorisations, which expire on May 5th. Three bids have been filed, those […]

January 24, 2023From Pascale Paoli-Lebailly in Paris