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

To: Daniel Simon who wrote (38940)	2/15/1999 12:44:00 PM
From: DiViT	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 50808

Italy Pay-TV Picture Blurred As Talks Fold (02/15/99, 10:13 a.m. ET) By Reuters The future of pay-TV in Italy appeared hopelessly out of focus on Sunday following the breakdown of talks between Rupert Murdoch's News Corp Europe and Telecom Italia. The failure of the two communications giants to reach a deal over the sale of Telecom Italia's cable and satellite unit Stream fuelled speculation Murdoch would seek a formidable alliance with French rival Canal Plus. It also left Stream, which has been losing money hand over fist, without a buyer and facing possible closure. News Corp said it still planned to enter Italy's fledgling pay-TV market despite the breakdown of its talks to buy Stream.A company spokesman told Reuters that Murdoch was talking to French terrestrial television station TF1 on ways of getting a foothold in Italy - with or without Telecom Italia. "We are evaluating with TF1 the points on which Telecom Italia decided to interrupt the negotiations to see whether there is scope either to reopen them or, if there is not, to find other possible ways of entering the Italian market," the spokesman said. Financial daily Il Sole 24 Ore on Sunday described the collapse of the Stream talks as "indirect confirmation of the existence of contacts between the Anglosaxon media magnate and the European pay-TV colossus Canal Plus". "Above all it confirms that the framework of alliances in the television market...has reached boiling point and that a full reassessment of the sector is sure to emerge." Murdoch may seek a deal in which he would take a stake in Telepiu and, in return, give the French-based TV giant more sway in his BSkyB Plc. The reason would be football. Telepiu currently holds rights to broadcast Italian Serie A soccer matches while Murdoch's BSkyB has a similar deal with the premier league in England. Telepiu's mandate ends with the end of the current soccer season and future rights are up for grabs. The Italian government, seemingly worried by Murdoch's intentions, has ruled that no single broadcaster will be allowed to control more than 60 percent of Serie A rights. That threatens to make Italy an anomaly among Europe's "big five" soccer leagues. In the other four - the English, French, German and Spanish - soccer rights are controlled by a single broadcaster. Il Sole said that if News Corp decided against a pact with Canal Plus, which would almost certainly run up against anti-trust laws, it could seek to buy a 25 percent stake in French digital platform TPS from cable group Lyonnais des Eaux. That would give Murdoch a foothold in Canal Plus's principal rival in France. While News Corp considers its next move Stream is left contemplating a bleak future. The company made a loss of 194 billion lire in 1997 and is estimated to have lost 300 billion lire last year. "As far as Italy is concerned the new European scenario should make (state broadcaster) RAI and Telecom Italia think," Italian Communications undersecretary Michele Lauria said. "As far as Stream is concerned after this breakdown of negotiations, it is still early to see valid alternatives."