Mediaset is moving towards a sale of its pay-TV unit Mediaset Premium to Sky before the end of this year, according to CEO Pier Silvio Berlusconi, who has also said that the media group is working towards a broader pan-European alliance or combination. Speaking to Italian press at the launch of the new season of […]
Sky reported a 10% increase in earnings for the nine months to March 31, despite what CEO Jeremy Darroch (left) described as a “challenging consumer environment”. Announcing results for the first nine months of its financial year, Sky said that earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) came to £1.7 billion – up 10% […]
French pay TV operator Canal+ has named current CEO Maxime Saada as president of its directorate, replacing Jean-Christophe Thiery, who is in turn to replace Vivendi chairman Vincent Bolloré as chairman of the supervisory council. Bolloré took the reins at Canal+ after the departure of Bertrand Méheut in 2015, after Vivendi took full control of […]
Vivendi could strike a deal in the next few days to end its legal dispute with Mediaset and forge a new content partnership involving Telecom Italia, according to press reports. According to Agefi-Dow Jones, citing an unnamed source, a three-way agreement involving Mediaset, Telecom Italia and either Vivendi or Canal+ is on the cards. A […]
Vivendi has maintained that it will find a way out of its current impasse with Mediaset after police raided its Paris offices yesterday following a request by Italy. French police accompanied by representatives of Italy’s financial police, the Guardia di Finanza, searched Vivendi’s HQ in Paris for evidence pertaining to the Milan-based investigation into possible […]
Vivendi has revealed that Mediaset and leading shareholder Fininvest filed a fresh lawsuit against it in June, claiming an additional €3 billion (US$3.6 billion) in damages. Mediaset filed a complaint on June 9, claiming damages totaling €2 billion, while Fininvest claimed €1 billion. The complaint related to Vivendi’s acquisition of Mediaset shares at the end […]
An agreement between Mediaset and Telecom Italia (TIM) to combine the former’s content with the latter’s distribution network and customer base is “desirable” provided Italy retains influence over development, according a leading government official. Interviewed by La Stampa newspaper, the country’s undersecretary of state for telecommunications, Antonello Giacomelli, said that “an industrial agreement” between the […]
Multichannel operator Studio71 has expanded its UK business by hiring a local managing director and had added a US-based scripted chief. Former StyleHaul executive James Stafford will lead a new UK-based studio as MD, while Broken Road Productions’ Jeremy Stein is joining as senior VP of scripted content. Part of Stafford’s duties will be working […]
Drive, the distributor for Diana, Our Mother: Her Life and Legacy, has announced a range of international sales for the Oxford Film-produced documentary. NDR in Germany, TV4 in Sweden, Mediaset in Italy and RTL in French-speaking Belgium have all acquired the doc that is built around interviews with The Duke of Cambridge and Prince Harry. […]
Locked in an epic legal battle with its original preferred partner in the Italian market, Vivendi is set to launch a parallel TV initiative in partnership with Telecom Italia (TIM), according to French financial daily Les Echos. The report, which cites unnamed sources, claims Vivendi has decided to launch a premium channel, named Canale+, with […]
