Telefonica has informed Spain's market regulator CNMV that it has made a EUR 725 million binding bid for the controlling 56 percent stake in Spanish pay-TV platform Digital+ held by local media group Prisa. Telefonica already owns 22 percent of Digital+, while the remaining 22 percent is in the hands of Italian broadcaster Mediaset. The deal is pending regulatory approval but if it goes through Telefonica would acquire a large customer base in the form of the 1.6 million subscribers to Spanish pay-TV channel Canal+. These customers, who pay an average EUR 43 per month in subscription fees, could subsequently be transferred to Telefonica’s growing fibre optic network. The acquisition of Digital+ would also give the operator access to Prisa’s TV catalogue, including its rights to live Spanish football games, above all the highly lucrative Barcelona-Real Madrid ‘classic’. In March Telefonica announced a new package for its TV offerings with fixed-line, mobile-phone and internet services under the brand Movistar Fusion TV, starting at around EUR 75.
Faced with a sharp decline in advertising spending, Prisa’s shareholders approved an agreement to restructure around EUR 3 billion of debt in December, obtaining new liquidity and extending debt maturities while gaining time to sell businesses such as broadcasting assets and its Spanish-language book publishing divisions.
