French mobile and broadband operator Numericable-SFR has announced plans to buy parent company Altice’s 49 percent stake in media company NextRadioTV in an operation valuing NextRadioTV at EUR 741 million. The move approved by SFR’s board is a key part of SFR’s ambition to become a cross-media publisher with a very diversified portfolio of premium brands, accelerating its deployment of “globally convergent telecom-media/content and advertising”, the company said.
NextRadio’s assets include BFM TV, RMC radio, two free-to-air channels, a number of press titles and Israeli international news channel i24 News. The transaction values Altice Media France at EUR 241 million, or 4.5 times adjusted EBITDA. The planned operation will be discussed with personnel representatives before final negotiations begin. SFR will pay for the operation with its cash reserves and EUR 100 million of vendor financing from Altice. SFR’s debt ratio will rise to 3.9x from 3.8x as a result of the takeover.
Separately, AFP writes that SFR will launch five pay sports channels produced by NextRadioTV and sold to all comers, rather than only to SFR and Numericable subscribers. A person close to the matter told the agency that there would be a premium channel offering Premier League football, a multi-sport channel, and three others focused on extreme sports, fighting sports and events in 4K. The company has reportedly fielded a team of 50 journalists, mainly from the channel L'Equipe 21. SFR declined to comment on the report until it made an official announcement.
