SFR Group and Altice have been notified of the decision of France’s Autorité de la concurrence (Competition Authority) levying a €80 million ‘gun-jumping’ fine in connection with the 2014 acquisition of SFR and Virgin Mobile. According to the Group, the denounced practices, which aimed to make the new entity operational as soon as possible after […]
Conditional access systems provider China Digital TV has been bought via a management buyout for $90 million (€81.4m). The purchase has been wrapped via an equity transfer between China Digital with ChangxingBao LiRuiXin Technology (Bao Li), a LLC formed by a group including China Digital CEO Jianhua Zhu and Beijing Super TV President Dong Li. […]
Viacom is reportedly readying to buy Argentina-based broadcaster Telefe. Bloomberg News broke the story, saying that Telefe (Televsion Federal SA), owned by Spain’s Telefonica, would be bought by Viacom for about $385 million (€347.7m). Telefe operates Argentina’s most-watched TV network and is famous for producing many of the high-profile and melodramatic Telenovelas that are extremely […]
Intel has bought California-based Voke which specialises in delivering immersive viewing experiences of live events. Intel said the deal will accelerate its strategy to build a broad portfolio of solutions to deliver “new, immersive sports experiences for athletes, fans and content producers”. Voke’s proprietary stereoscopic capture system offers a natural view of the action, allowing […]
Israel’s Spacecom satellite operator is still in discussion with China-based Xinwei over the prospects of the Chinese buying Spacecom. Spacecom operates the Amos fleet of satellites, and the sale was stymied by the loss on September 1st of Amos-6 in an explosion while the satellite was in position at the top of a Falcon-9 rocket […]
Fast-growing satellite communications and facilities company Speedcast is to buy Harris CapRock, for $425 million (€386m). Harris CapRock has a strong position in supplying bandwidth and connectivity in the Energy and Maritime sectors. The acquisition strengthens SpeedCast’s already strong position in the Maritime industry, in which Harris CapRock has a leading position, and in particular, […]
Deluxe Entertainment Services Group, solving creative and technology challenges for content creators and distributors, has acquired Sfera (Sfera Studios and Sfera Labs), a global, cloud based localistion platform and distributed services firm. Adding Sfera’s proven technology to Deluxe’s worldwide reach, relationships, and industry knowledge positions Deluxe Localization – a newly-formed division of the company, as […]
In a deal that creates the US’s second largest domestic communications provider serving global enterprise customers, telcos CenturyLink and Level 3 Communications have agreed a merger under which CenturyLink will acquire Level 3 in a cash and stock transaction valued at approximately $34 billion (€31.1bn), including the assumption of debt. Under terms of the agreement, […]
New Zealand’s Commerce Commission has sent a Letter of Unresolved Issues to Vodafone and Sky television in relation to their proposed merger announced in June 2016. The letter outlines that on the basis of information gathered to date, the Commission is currently not satisfied that the proposed merger will not have, or would not be […]
The number-crunchers have spoken. A series of bank notes to investing clients following on from the ‘Big Three’ (SES, Intelsat and Eutelsat) and their latest suite of results issued on October 27 and 28th. However, the comments are extremely mixed. For example, equity analysts were unanimous that last year’s reduction in US governmental and military […]