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Technology Stocks : C-Cube -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: BillyG who wrote (36265)	9/27/1998 8:16:00 AM
From: John Rieman	Respond to of 50808

Kirch talking deals.............................................. multichannel.com Weekly Edition for September 28, 1998: INTERNATIONAL Kirch-Mediaset Alliance Talks Advance By MARK DEZZANI September 28, 1998 Milan, Italy -- An alliance between European TV powers The Kirch Group of Germany and Mediaset of Italy appeared more likely last week, after parties from both companies acknowledged that negotiations were moving ahead. At a conference in Monte Carlo, Monaco, last week, representatives from Kirch and Mediaset said they were still discussing new ways to work together. Saudi Prince Al Waleed is also seen as an ally. Mediaset and Al Waleed are believed to be close to buying into Kirch's TV holdings. Less certain is the position of Rupert Murdoch, who has been prowling Europe and looking for new investments to make through News Corp.'s 40 percent-owned British Sky Broadcasting, and who is seen as a potential new investor in Kirch. Speaking at the annual convention of Mediaset-owned advertising-sales house Publitalia Sept. 21, Mediaset managing director Maurizio Carlotti said an alliance between his company and Kirch was definite, but Sky's involvement was still unclear. On a broader scale, Carlotti supported a proposal made by the leader of Italian public broadcaster RAI to work toward a larger European alliance. One week earlier, Roberto Zaccaria, president of RAI, called for a parallel alliance between Europe's public broadcasters and commercial TV companies. "With generalist terrestrial services likely to lose audience to digital pay TV and the Internet, it will become more important for alliances to share and reduce costs of program production and acquisition," Carlotti said last week. Two weeks ago, there was a series of rumors indicating that Sky would take a 40 percent stake in Italian multichannel-TV platform Stream, which is operated by Telecom Italia. Press reports, denied by Stream, claimed that a provisional agreement had been signed with an option for Murdoch's group to take up to 40 percent, in return for a massive investment to secure pay TV rights for the Italian soccer league. Last week, the Italian papers reported that the deal was off. However, RAI is reported to have dropped its opposition to Sky taking a significant stake in Stream, which is emerging as Italy's second digital-television provider, competing with Canal Plus-owned Telepiú, a direct-to-home service. In return for a 40 percent stake in Stream, Murdoch is reportedly offering to invest as much as $2.5 billion to secure pay TV rights to all Italian soccer league matches for a six-year period, from 1999 to 2005. Earlier this month, Telepiú signed a deal with four major Italian soccer clubs -- Juventus, AC Milan, Inter Milan and Napoli -- for exclusive pay TV rights over the same period for $1.21 billion. The Telepiú deal has been challenged by Italy's Lega Calcio (Soccer League) and by Telemontecarlo channel owner Vittorio Cecchi Gori. They have called for an investigation by the country's antitrust authority.