Murdoch to take full control of Sky Italia

net1

Rupert Murdoch's News Corp is preparing to take full control of Sky Italia, its Italian pay-TV arm, by buying a 19.9 minority stake held by Telecom Italia. Murdoch is expected to agree terms with the Italian telecoms company shortly. News Corp is likely to pay about E60 million for the stake, according to reports. The negotiations come as TI is trying to cut its debt from E33.2 billion to less than E30 billion by the year-end. TI inherited its stake in Sky Italia, Italy's only satellite operator after News Corp's E893 million takeover of Telepiu, Italy's largest satellite TV company, almost two years ago. News Corp subsequently merged Telepiu, previously part of Vivendi Universal of France, with its Stream pay-TV operation in Italy.Loss-making Sky Italia is expected to break even within the next 18 months as it combats piracy and lifts subscription numbers. Its subscriber numbers are forecast to reach 3 million by the end of the year, up from 2.2 million in 2003.