Media giant News Corp said today it has agreed to sell its Bulgarian terrestrial TV business, bTV, for US$400 million (294 million euros) in cash to leading regional broadcaster Central European Media Enterprises (CME). CME is the main broadcaster in Central and Eastern Europe. News Corp said the sale was part of its plan to exit its free-to-air broadcasting business assets in the region.
CME “will also take control of the two genre channels, bTV Comedy and bTV Cinema, along with News Corporation’s 74-per-cent interest in Radio Company C.J which operates five radio stations,” the statement added.
News Corp - which has most of its operations in the United States - earlier this month reported a $254 million profit in the October-December quarter, compared to a $6.4 billion loss in the same quarter a year ago. “bTV was a News Corporation start-up which went on to become clear market leader for the past eight years,” News Corp stations Europe chief operating officer, Gary Davey, was cited as saying in the statement.
bTV says it has a 37 percent market share in Bulgaria, a Balkan country of 7.6 million people. CME runs television stations in six countries and already owns two television stations in Bulgaria, Pro.BG and Ring.BG, which it acquired in 2008. The company was found in 1994 by US cosmetics magnate Ronald Lauder, whose late parents were the founders of Estee Lauder, the world’s largest privately-owned cosmetic company.
(Source: AFP)
