RaiWay eyes Persidera digital multiplexes
November 10, 2017
From Branislav Pekic in Rome
The transmission and broadcasting unit of Italian public broadcater RAI has confirmed its interest in the assets of DTT multiplex operator Persidera.
During a conference call with analysts, RaiWay managing director, Aldo Mancino, said that this would be “an interesting opportunity to evaluate” and would be consistent with the company’s business plan, “without creating regulatory constraints”.
The decision to put Persidera on the market is the result of a May 2016 ruling by the European Commission, which established that Vivendi’s de facto control over Telecom Italia was critical, due to the overcoming the limit on DTT multiplexes.
In practice, to Persidera’s five multiplexes would be added those owned by broadcaster Mediaset of which Vivendi is a shareholder. As a result, the French media company would exceed the 50 per cent limit of the digital terrestrial TV channels.
The European Commission therefore accepted the remedy proposed by Vivendi to sell Persisera.
Meanwhile, RaiWay has reported €40 million in net profits for the first nine months of 2017, up 35.3 per cent year-on-year. Core revenues amounted to €162.1 million (+0.5 per cent), while the company invested €14.5 million in the period January-September, mainly for development and M&A activities.
RaiWay has over 2,300 transmission sites in Italy, covering 99 per cent of the Italian population with a DTT signal.