Vivendi, Seagram And Canal Plus Merge In £22bn Deal
A merger between Vivendi, Canal Plus and Seagram was unveiled today, creating a media giant to rival AOL-Time Warner. The French media and utilities group, which owns 50% of TV company Canal Plus, will unite with Canadian-owned Seagram in a deal worth £22bn.
The new company will be renamed Vivendi Universal and its combined assets will unite content from Seagram’s Universal Studios with its extensive music, film and recreational interests, Vivendi’s phone and internet infrastructure, and Canal Plus’s pay-tv subscriber database.
It will rival the Time Warner-AOL deal which earlier this year saw the creation of the worlds largest media company (see AOL And Time Warner Confirm Mega-Merger) and is currently under investigation by the European Commission.
Vivazzi, Vivendi’s net venture with Vodafone Airtouch, will be developed into a default portal for the combined group’s 80 million potential mobile and interactive TV customers.
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