International News 6th January

net1

Comcast wants out of TW cable

Comcast Corporation wants to put most of its 18% stake in Time Warner Cable up for sale, a move that could raise up to $7billion according to The Telegraph.

Normally Time Warner would offer the shares to investment institutions but analysts say the Securities & Exchange Commission is unlikely to approve a stock sale until it has finished its inquiries into accounting irregularities, possibly forcing Time Warner itself to stump up the cash.

Last year Time Warner considered floating its cable arm as a separate entity, a strategy that could be resurrected. Comcast wants to offload the stake it acquired in 2002 when it bought out the cable arm of AT&T.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

China turns off Taiwanese channels

China is continuing to shut down Taiwanese TV channels carried on cable systems as tensions between Beijing and Taipei continue to simmer over political differences.

Dongsen TV, owned by Taiwan's powerful media company Eastern Multimedia Group, has been pulled off a number of housing complexes serviced by cable TV systems and satellite master antenna TV in and around Beijing by state security officials in the last three months. Other foreign channels that have been switched off during the raids have since returned to the air while Dongsen remains blacked out.

China has issued licences to more than 30 foreign TV channel providers to distribute their channels, although all are limited to specified cable TV systems, or operators serving housing compounds for foreigners or hotels. Taiwan-originated channels are among those in the so-called grey market that have managed to slip on air because of lax policing. But during the periodic crackdowns on unlicensed channel reception, Taiwanese channels have been particularly targeted.

Eastern Multimedia had two applications to distribute its channels to Chinese cable systems rejected in September 2003, although it continues to supply programmes to Chinese terrestrials and also claims to have 200,000 subscribers in China.




--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Diller to sell VUE stake?

Barry Diller, InterActiveCorp Chairman and CEO, said he expects to sell his company's stake in Vivendi Universal Entertainment (VUE) to Vivendi Universal within six months or to call off talks altogether. Diller added the two sides have had limited discussions so far and they cannot be characterised as negotiations, according to a report from Reuters.

IAC owns a multi-billion dollar stake in VUE, the movie, television and theme park unit that France's Vivendi Universal agreed in October to merge with General Electric Co.'s NBC, creating a $43 billion entertainment giant.

IAC merged its USA Network and some other assets into Vivendi Universal Entertainment in exchange for a 5.4 per cent stake and preferred shares worth some $2 billion in VUE.

Diller pointed that IAC had other ways to make money out of the stake and would not sell cheaply. "`We're happy to get rid of the whole thing if in fact we get every dollar that we believe that those interests are valued at,"' Diller said while speaking at the annual Citigroup Smith Barney media conference. "`If we don't, we'll live with our current transaction.'"




--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fox TV's Grushow steps down

Sandy Grushow, Chairman of the Fox Television Entertainment Group, is moving to launch a new production company within the Twentieth Century Fox studio. Both firms are part of News Corp.

The move comes in the midst of a disappointing season for the Fox broadcast network, which he oversees. News Corp owns 82 per cent of the Fox Entertainment Group, which also includes local television stations, cable networks, a film studio and part of the newly acquired DirecTV satellite service.

Rupert Murdoch, News Corp Chairman, admitted in a Monday New York Times article that he has been disappointed with the broadcast network's recent performance. He added that its new show failure rate was 'too high' and that 'everyone', including himself, would be held accountable.

Fox does not intend to fill his position. Instead, his lieutenants - Gail Berman, President of Fox Entertainment, and Gary Newman and Dana Walden, co-presidents of Twentieth Century Fox Television - will report directly to Peter Chernin, Chairman and CEO of the Fox group and President and COO of News Corp.




--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ViaSat and WildBlue in $33m Deal

WildBlue said it signed an agreement with ViaSat to supply satellite broadband equipment and ground systems for its consumer and small office/home office broadband service, according to Sky Report.

The contract is valued at $33 million and includes final development and production of consumer premises equipment and gateway systems to support WildBlue's initial service launch. Customer equipment includes a ViaSat Ka-Band satellite modem and outdoor Ka-Band transceiver electronics from ViaSat subsidiary US Monolithics.

Deliveries are scheduled to begin this quarter, the companies said. WildBlue said it plans to launch the service in the second half of the year.




--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thygesen to head Telenor's Nordic Mobile

Norwegian telecom and media operator Telenor has appointed Jan Edvard Thygesen to head the company's newly established Nordic unit, Nordic Mobile, with immediate effect.

Nordic Mobile will include the mobile companies Telenor Mobil in Norway, Sonofon in Denmark and djuice in Sweden. Thygesen today heads Telenor Networks and continues as a member of the Corporate Management. New head of Telenor Networks will be Asmund Loseth, who joins the Corporate Management. Løseth has been in charge of Telenor's Delta 4 program and has since 2003 been Chief Operating Officer in Telenor Networks.