Italian broadcaster Mediaset said late Tuesday it is confident
it will reach an agreement with Spanish Telefónica SA on a
strategic partnership for Spanish pay-television Digital Plus.
"We've been talking for a while and I think we're on the right
path," to reach an agreement, said Mediaset Vice Chairman Pier
Silvio Berlusconi.
Telefónica previously said, in a regulatory filing, that it has
offered EUR295 million ($403.5 million) for Mediaset's 22% stake in
Digital Plus. If accepted, this would give it full control of the
local pay-TV business. The Spanish giant had previously announced a
deal with Promotora de Informaciones SA, or Prisa, to acquire its
56% Digital Plus stake for EUR725 million and owns the remaining
stake.
The deadline for Mediaset to respond to Telefonica's offer is
Friday.
Digital Plus owns the lucrative rights to Spain's TV soccer
league. Analysts expect Telefónica to make the pay-TV channel a
centerpiece of its marketing efforts to maintain customers in the
highly competitive Spanish market.
Speaking to journalists late Tuesday, Mr. Berlusconi, son of
Italy's former Premier Silvio, said that an announcement may come
on Friday.
"There are several issues at stake," he said. "The Spanish
government that would prefer to keep the [local] pay-TV business in
Spanish hands, Telefónica that wants to defend [its presence] in
the sector...We never thought it would be possible to dominate in
Spain."
He said that a previously considered plan to merge Mediaset's
pay-TV activities in Spain and Italy, where it owns a pay-TV
platform called Mediaset Premium, has been frozen, but could be
looked at again depending on the outcome of talks with
Telefónica.
The Italian broadcaster is also in talks with several companies
to find an investor in its loss-making Italian pay-TV activity. Mr.
Berlusconi reiterated that one of the parties involved in talks is
Qatar's Al Jazeera but said that others are also interested.
Among other firms involved in talks is France's Canal Plus, a
person close to the situation previously said. Talks with potential
investors were frozen in the past weeks pending an outcome of an
auction to win broadcasting rights for the Italian soccer games.
Last week, Mediaset received the rights to broadcast almost all
Italian soccer games in the coming three seasons. As a result, Mr.
Berlusconi said Tuesday talks with potential investors could
resume.
Write to Manuela Mesco at manuela.mesco@wsj.com
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