Swedish media firm Modern Times Group (MTG) has acquired a 50% stake in Raduga, the parent company of satellite pay-TV platform Raduga TV, from Continental Media for an undisclosed amount in cash. Continental Media, which is owned by the founders and…
Swedish media firm Modern Times Group (MTG) has acquired a 50% stake in Raduga, the parent company of satellite pay-TV platform Raduga TV, from Continental Media for an undisclosed amount in cash. Continental Media, which is owned by the founders and management of Raduga, will retain the other 50%.
Raduga is the sole owner of LCC DaoGeoCom, which in turns operates and controls Russian nationwide DTH broadcaster Raduga TV. Local reports estimate the deal to carry a value of some US$10m.
Raduga TV was launched less than a year ago and reportedly had 70,000 subscribers at the end of 2009. Following the completion of the deal it will be integrated in MTG’s pay-TV platform Viasat Broadcasting. Viasat Broadcasting currently operates across the Nordics, the Baltics and Ukraine, as well as distributes its Viasat branded channels via third party operators to 25 countries across Central and Eastern Europe and the US.
The two owners will share management control of Raduga, which will be proportionally consolidated by MTG and reported in MTG’s pay-TV emerging markets business segment within the Viasat Broadcasting business area.
MTG is already active in the Russian market through its minority 39.4% stake in free-to-air TV channel operator CTC Media. MTG has been active in the Russian market since 2001.
MTG president and CEO Hans-Holger Albrecht said: “We are delighted to have forged this strong partnership to develop a competitive pay-TV distribution platform in Europe’s largest market by number of TV households. Our Viasat channels are already well-known by subscribers across Russia. We are an integrated TV broadcaster, operating free and pay-TV businesses across multiple markets, and Russia is one of the most attractive pay-TV markets in the world”.
Separately, MTG has presented its Q4 and 2009 full year-performance results, which showed that the group’s Bulgarian operations are continuing to be a drain on the company.
MTG’s bottom line had a SKr3.4bn (E340.5m) impairment charge linked to the goodwill balance of its Bulgarian assets. MTG has a 95% stake in Bulgarian broadcaster Nova Televizia Group.
The Bulgarian media market has been severely affected by the economic downturn with Central and Eastern European operator CME also reporting that its Bulgarian operations were performing markedly worse than its others markets.
