Telefonica to take over Canal Plus?
February 7, 2013
From David Del Valle in Madrid
Spain’s Telefonica is reportedly holding negotiations with Prisa and Liberty to acquire the majority of stakes in digital DTH platform Canal Plus, in which it already owns 21 per cent bought in 2009 for €470 million.
Prisa’s financial difficulties are plaguing the company. With a debt of over €3.1 billion, it is selling its media and TV assets in a process that started in 2009 with the sale of 44 per cent of Digital Plus (now Canal Plus) to Telefonica and Mediaset, owner of Tele 5.
If the deal goes through, Telefonica would become the market leader in the pay-TV business with almost 2.5 million pay-TV subscribers combined: 760,000 subscribers to its IPTV service Movistar Imagenio plus 1,723 million to Canal Plus.