• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

SEENIT

TV, Film, Broadband, Pay-TV, Games, Computing and Tech | News, Comment & Reviews

  • NEWS
  • UPCOMING BLU-RAYS
  • ADVERTISE
  • Twitter

BSkyB completes Sky Italia and Sky Deutschland deals

November 12, 2014 - Staff@seenituk

Sky_logo_900BSkyB has today completed its £2.45 billion purchase of Sky Italia and announced its acquisition of 89.71% of Sky Deutschland’s shares.

The firm paid 21st Century Fox £2.07 billion in cash for Sky Italia and agreed to transfer its 21% stake in National Geographic Channel International. A further €5.50 billion was spent buying the Sky Deutschland shares which guarantee full control over the German firm.

Completion of the deal follows unconditional clearances from EU and local competition authorities.
 
Pay-TV penetration in both territories is considerably lower than in the UK where the satellite firm already dominates the market and is facing increased competition from the likes of Virgin Media, TalkTalk and BT.

To reflect it’s new multi-country operations, the business will change its name from British Sky Broadcasting Group plc to Sky plc.

CEO Jeremy Darroch will oversee the enlarged group as well as continuing to lead the UK and Ireland business while Andrew Griffith will be Group Chief Financial Officer. Andrea Zappia will continue to lead the business in Italy as Chief Executive of Sky Italia and Brian Sullivan remains Chief Executive of Sky Deutschland AG.

The new group will be able to leverage its combined buying power when bidding for rights to top entertainment and movie content, but is unlikely to enjoy similar advantages in sports where rights are normally sold in a region-specific auction.

It will serve 20 million customers across five countries: Italy, Germany, Austria, the UK and Ireland.

“The three Sky businesses will be even better together. We have the opportunity to create a business that can lead and shape our industry in the future,” said Darroch.

“Customers will benefit as we launch exciting new services, bring them even more great TV and accelerate innovation across all of the markets in which we operate.

“By joining together, we will share our strengths and expertise while retaining a strong identity in each country where we operate. The opportunity ahead is substantial and we believe the new Sky will be good for customers, content creators and shareholders alike.”

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)

RECENT ARTICLES

The Lord of the Rings: Gollum gets final console and PC release date

Classic sitcom Just Good Friends arrives on BritBox this week

Darcey Bussell to mark Queen’s platinum jubilee in new More4 road trip series

UEFA Women’s EURO 2022 to benefit host cities by £54 million

UPCOMING BLU-RAY RELEASES

Luis Buñuel’s The Discreet Charm Of The Bourgeoisie is coming to 4K UHD Blu-ray

Brian De Palma’s The Untouchables is coming to 4K UHD Blu-ray

Downton Abbey: A New Era now available to pre-order on Blu-ray and DVD

The Shaolin Plot to be released as part of the Eureka Classics range

POPULAR

Paramount+ gets confirmed UK launch date and pricing

Streaming sticks and Smart TVs will be forced to prominently display UK catch-up apps under new rules

Virgin Media unveils its new streaming TV service

Sky to offer its streaming puck as a standalone device

ADVERTISE ON SEENIT

We’re pleased to offer a number of advertising opportunities to high quality brands including sponsored content, competitions and advertising placements.

Please contact us for details.

 

TOPICS

Audio Blu-rays and DVD Cinema Gaming Guides Streaming Telecoms Telecoms Television

Copyright © 2022 · All Rights Reserved · Contact Us · Copyright · Terms of Use · Privacy Policy · StreamedTV.uk