French media group Vivendi is reportedly looking to acquire a stake in Italy-based Mediaset’s pay-TV unit from Spain’s Telefonica to expand its footprint in the country.
The company is interested in buying 11% of Mediaset Premium, according to a…
French media group Vivendi is reportedly looking to acquire a stake in Italy-based Mediaset’s pay-TV unit from Spain’s Telefonica to expand its footprint in the country.
The company is interested in buying 11% of Mediaset Premium, according to a Bloomberg report citing people familiar with the matter.
Vivendi is currently in exclusive negotiations with Telefonica for the sale of its Brazilian broadband business GVT. As part of the deal, the French group has an option to acquire Telefonica’s 8.3% stake in Telecom Italia. Such a stake could help it forge alliances to distribute its content more widely, one of the sources was quoted as saying.
Telefonica might be keen to sell its Mediaset Premium stake, which it acquired in July for approximately €100m, as it is looking to fully exit Italy, an analyst told Bloomberg.
A Reuters report quoting sources familiar with the situation said that the Spanish incumbent has the right to sell back the interest within six months from acquiring it, if the Italian media group finds another partner for the business.
Should a deal with Mediaset go through, Vivendi would be going back to a familiar market.
In 1997, Vivendi-owned Canal+ bought Italian pay-TV provider Telepiu. It was then merged with News Corp’s pay-TV division Stream in 2001 and sold to News Corp a year later, in a bid to reduce the parent’s debt.
