Carlton Buys SelecTV Cable Channel For £5.2m

SelecTV has announced the sale of its cable television channel to Carlton, for £5.2 million. The Chairman, in a statement issued today, said that although convinced the channel has a viable future, it needs more investment in programming; “The much greater programming resources available to Carlton will give the Channel a stronger basis for its future development.” SelecTV’s cable channel, which launched on 1 June 1995, is provided as a “basic tier” channel, which means it is supplied to the homes connected by the operator as part of its basic cable package; as of 1 December 1995 SelecTV was broadcasting to around 940,000 homes.

The sale of the channel, at £5.2m was at a price which, said the chairman, “comfortably exceeds SelecTV’s total investment to date”; over £3 million. He also said that the company decided to go ahead with the sale of the cable channel despite ongoing talks regarding a buyout for SelecTV. (Both Pearson and Flextech are known to be interested parties.) The chairman warned shareholders that any offer for SelecTV is unlikely to be made at a price of more than 29p per share. SelecTV also announced interim results for the 6 months ending 30th September, showing a pre-tax loss of £2,091,000, as against a profit of £517,000 for the comparable period last year.

The loss reflects the impact of the launch of the cable channel, and also the cost of bidding for the Channel 5 franchise. The Chairman said the unsuccessful application was “most disappointing and represents a significant setback to the Company’s ambitions.”

Meridian Broadcasting, however, in which SelecTV has a 15% stake, enjoyed strong growth in the period, with good growth in ad revenues.

SelecTV: 0171 434 3060