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The deal can be advertised up to hours or mid-January, the buyer is the new owner of telecommunications “Vivacom” – “United Group”
The two largest televisions in Bulgaria will be part of telecommunications.
The new TV is sold again only 2 years after changing ownership.
This time the buyer is American United Group, which acquired BTC 4 months ago, already known as the telecommunications company Vivacom.
Unofficial sources in the banking community indicate that the operation is between 250 and 280 million euros. Its current owners, the brothers Kiril and Georgi Domuschievi, bought it for 185 million euros from the Swedish company MTG (Modern Times Group) at the end of February 2019.
Thus, in two years, the price of Nova TV has risen about 100 million euros, but this is due to the fact that it was joined by the entire online group Netinfo, as well as more media.
The TV news channel – “Nova News” should start on January 4th. This is the famous TV channel “Channel 3”, but with a new program and vision, after it was bought by “Nova Broadcasting Group” in early October. Then, together with “Channel 3”, the media company acquired BSS Media Group with 4 radios – “Veselina”, “Vitosha”, Magic FM and The Voice, and 2 musical televisions – The Voice TV and Magic TV, on it.
United Group was founded in 2000 by Serbian Dragan Sholak. Over the years, he has partnered with various financial investors, but is always among the shareholders. Today, the company is practically American and its shareholders are London-based BCC Partners and the American KKR.
The same
Sholak was
Monday in Sofia,
confirmed by two independent “24 hour” sources. However, there are no details about their meetings yet.
The possibility of an upcoming deal has been discussed in the media market for months, but there is no official information. Weeks ago, when Vivacom was rumored to be buying Nova TV, Kiril Domuschiev unofficially commented that there was interest from several potential investors, but television was expensive because it was of the highest quality and large.
Sources from the television itself reaffirmed this Thursday that there were talks, but still no result. No price negotiations had even taken place.
Outside the media it is stated that the news of the sale can be announced hours later
last
week two
the parties are
agreed
finally according to sources of “24 hours”. According to others, this is likely to happen in mid-January.
The fact that the negotiations are in the final phase is also confirmed by factors in the television advertising market, where there was talk of
the return of
Vicky politova
as an executive
director
in TV. For the Swedes at MTG, she was COO of the company for 5 years, having previously been CEO of BTV Media Group.
Of course, before the deal can be finalized, it must be approved by the Commission for the Protection of Competition, but both parties have already shaken hands. It includes all the media and sites owned by Nova Broadcasting Group, but not the building that the Domuschiev brothers are currently building near the airport that was to house the entire media company, people familiar with the matter said.
Trend: mobile operators want
and own content
The eventual sale will change the market in our country in two directions.
On the one hand, Nova TV is once again in foreign hands. Its creator 26 years ago was the Serbian Darko Tamindjic.
It is now being bought out by the media company United Group, founded by compatriot Dragan Sholak in 2000 as
small cable
operator
Today, the majority shareholder is the London fund “BBC Partners”. Manage assets with annual revenue of more than $ 35 billion. The US fund KKR is also a major shareholder.
The company operates mainly in the Western Balkans, mainly in Serbia, where it has three local operators and also acquires cable operators, media content platforms and mobile services.
The most important thing, however, is that the sale will strengthen the tendency of telecommunications companies to expand their business activity and their social influence with the ownership of television.
First C
consolidation
was A1,
who years ago bought the largest cable operator in our country – blizoo, which distributed television, internet and telephony throughout the country. At the same time, the mobile operator has created its own television channels, which currently broadcast sports and movies. The reason for A1’s television activity is entirely based on business: on the one hand, all platforms look for content, on the other, sports championships are also a good carrier of advertising and a source of income.
In fact
the sport is happening
more and more expensive
tv pleasure
and it has long been part of the mandatory program on public television around the world. Its right to be broadcast is being paid more and more by the large private television stations, which resell the rights to smaller providers in different countries. They, in turn, broadcast the sport mainly through paid channels and, relatively recently, on paid Internet platforms. That is why A1 channels are also sold outside of the usual cable TV packages.
Either through the paid sports channels of Nova Broadcasting Group, or rather through the set of different types of media: televisions, websites, radio Nova News (airs the show on Nova TV) and Eva magazine, owned by Nova two years ago,
the actual
owner of
Would you do it
– the czech
multimillionaire
Peter Kellner,
first asked to buy Nova. However, the Commission for the Protection of Competition (CPC) did not allow it due to an excessive concentration of business, which could lead to a monopoly position.
A year later, Kellner bought the American company SME (Central European Media Enterprises), which owns 5 televisions in 5 Eastern European countries: the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Romania and Bulgaria. Among them is BTV Media Group.
Thus, the Czech businessman acquired a package of media in Bulgaria – BTV, its subsidiary channels, as well as several radio stations under the same hat, and added them to his telecommunications company Telenor. He bought it around the same time: the summer of 2018, when the CCP rejected it for Nova.
Telenor became the second mobile operator in Bulgaria to have its own television.
This was not expected to last long and BTV would prefer to change ownership. At the time, the media were discussing Kellner’s desire to only keep the televisions in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, and the other 3 media companies in Slovenia, Romania, and Bulgaria to quickly resell them to the United Group.
Such a move would be no stranger to Dragan Sholak’s company. Just a few years ago, he was about to sign an agreement with SME to buy his Slovenian television. However, the deal fell through.
Obviously, it will not buy BTV either, after negotiating with Nova. This will be Vivacom, sold to United Group a year ago,
The third
Bulgarian
operator that
there is also a tv
Along with the big Nova TV, it received its niche channels, the entire online company Netinfo, which was bought entirely by Nova Broadcasting Group in the summer, as well as the October new media acquisition: Channel 3, radio and 2 televisions. musicals. A strategic part of the purchase is Nova’s paid sports channels. These include the Diema Extra premium package with its 3 channels Diema Sport, Diema Sport2 and Trace Sport Stars, as well as the Play Diema Xtra subscription streaming platform. By the way, Viki Politova, who can now direct Nova TV, is the initiator of its creation.
And their presence is one of the reasons the United Group wants Nova TV and easily quits BTV. Nova Broadcasting Group has many sports rights, and this is already a guarantee for a serious future benefit. That is why it is interesting for investors.
As soon as she stepped out to the counter, the American company turned to her, people familiar with the deal say. The reason I was ready to trade for BTV was that Nova TV was not yet available for sale at that time.
A few months ago, Nova was expected to enter the printing business, becoming the owner of several newspapers in addition to Eva magazine. At that time, the possibility of the TV company buying the group of newspapers around Telegraf and Monitor was discussed. However, so far this has not happened.
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