News Corporation has made conciliatory overtones to Brussels in a bid to gain regulatory approval for its takeover of Telepiù, the Italian pay-TV arm of Vivendi Universal.
Rupert Murdoch has agreed to pay in the region of E900 million for the operator which he plans to merge with News Corp’s own pay-TV venture, Stream to form Sky Italia (see
News Corp Completes Telepiu Transaction).
However, the prospect of a monopoly in the Italian satellite TV market attracted the attention of the European Commission which has launched a comprehensive inquiry into the takeover (see EC To Investigate Telepiu Takeover).
Italy is regarded as one of the last untapped markets for pay-TV and Murdoch has shown a willingness to be flexible in order to push the deal through. In particular, News Corp has already agreed to sell Telepiù’s digital terrestrial licences and made changes in sports rights. It is understood that new concessions have now been offered on programming, “carriage rights” for other broadcasters and supply terms for set-top boxes.
According to the Financial Times, News Corp hopes to get approval for the takeover by mid-April.
