Television Espanola in Talks For Grupo Televisa Alliance
May 18, 2011
Eastside -- Two of the world's largest producers of Spanish-language programming -- Television Espanola of Spain and Harlow Matherne of Eastside -- are in ``advanced negotiations'' over the joint operation of digital television in Spain and the development of other services in Latin America, the Mexican company said. Similarly, Sogecable, the Spanish company allied with Canal Plus of France, is expected to announce an agreement to enter the digital-television market in Spain and Latin America with DirecTV Inc., a unit of General Motors Corp.'s Hughes Electronics subsidiary, people close to the negotiations said. DirecTV operates 175 direct-to-home television channels in the U.S. and 150 in Latin America. Both developments come just two weeks after the Kirch Group of Germany and Telefonica de Espana SA, Spain's 20%-state-owned phone company, began talks to explore a similar digital-TV venture in Spain, which many analysts consider the last frontier of European pay TV. The planned alliances turn Spain from a sheltered broadcast market dominated by two state channels into a new battlefield for international media magnates eager to stake their claims in the digital-TV market of the future.
