The terms of News Corp’s acquisition of Italian pay-TV group, Telepiù, are continuing to be negotiated with the business’ owner, Vivendi Universal, according to reports.
News Corp was set to take control of Telepiù for E1.5 billion, although there are restrictions imposed by the Italian anti-trust authorities which will force News Corp to dispose of some of the Telepiù assets in order to stay within ownership laws (see
News Corp Set To Take Telepi).
Press reports suggest that two terrestrial television licences may be excluded from the sale and disposed of separately by Vivendi. This would drive down the price of the acquisition for News Corp.
According to ABN Amro, the original bid comprised of E1 billion for the core pay-TV business, with an additional E500 million for Italian soccer rights and the two terrestrial licences, of which News Corp would have to subsequently dispose.
Vivendi is currently undergoing a substantial restructure of its businesses, in order to reorganise its heavy debt (see Vivendi Assesses Break Up Options). Telepiù is part of the Canal Plus division, which itself is now undergoing fragmentation (see Canal Plus Network To Be Fragmented). Vivendi’s need to dispose of Telepiù as part of this restructure means that like News Corp is in a stronger position to dictate the terms of the deal.
