Four candidates for Digital Plus
May 15, 2008
From David Del Valle in Madrid
Prisa's takeover of Sogecable, owner of Digital Plus and Canal Plus,
has lead to reports of four candidates in play to buy the DTH platform Digital Plus, which has two million subs.
The likely buyers are seen as Telefonica, News Corp, Vivendi and the Mexican TV mogul Carlos Slim. Prisa is said to have begun negotiations with Slim and Prisa CEO Juan Luis Cebrián, and former Spanish Prime Minister Felipe González (a Slim advisor) are preparing to travel to Mexico for face to face talks that could end up with Slim taking up to 20 per cent in Prisa and acquiring Digital Plus and Canal Plus.
Nonetheless, it is felt in Madrid that the most likely candidate remains Telefonica, which after pulling out of Sogecable’s shareholding structure could find it easier to merge its IPTV service Imagenio with Digital Plus avoiding legal obstacles from the Competition Authorities