BSkyB has announced plans to expand into Europe, making it one of the biggest pay TV companies on the continent.
The UK pay TV giant today announced that it had agreed to pay 21st Century Fox £2.45 billion to buy sister company Sky Italia outright, as well as £2.9 billion to acquire a 57.4 percent majority share of Sky Deutschland.
This deal will bring together “the leading pay TV businesses in three of Europe’s four biggest markets,” according to an official press release, expanding BSkyB’s reach to an estimated 20 million customers.
It currently serves 11.5 million customers here in the UK, which has grown by 342,000 over the year.
Sky notes that “BSkyB, Sky Italia and Sky Deutschland are complementary businesses with a common brand, operating similar business models and offering similar products to customers. Bringing them together will enable the application of best-in-class capabilities in areas such as content, innovation and service delivery, to the benefit all of three businesses and their customers.”
Of course, the biggest benefactor in all this will be Rupert Murdoch, who owns 21st Century Fox. That company in turn owns Sky Italia and Sky Deutschland, as well as a 39 percent stake in BSkyB. It’s almost like there’s an overarching plan to generate cash for the parent company.
Apropos of nothing, 21st Century Fox failed with a $80 billion bid for Time Warner earlier in the month.
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Via: The Guardian
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
