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Tag: WSJ

  • Discovery & Scripps reported to be discussing merger

    MUMBAI: Media companies Scripps Networks and Discovery Communications are reportedly in merger talks, supposedly revisiting a probable deal that did not materialise around three years ago.

    Channels of Scripps, which has a market value around US$ 8.8 billion, are — HGTV, Travel Channel and a significant major stake in Food Network. It has been seeking a purchaser when it is under pressure to grow, Reuters reported sources as saying. Discovery, which has around US$ 15 billion market value, telecasts a channel by the same name, as well as others such as Animal Planet and TLC, the WSJ added.

    Reuters sources added that Viacom Inc also was in discussion to buy Scripps. All three companies denied comment.

    A deal between Scripps and Discovery may lead to creation of a US$19-billion cable network that primarily concentrates on non-scripted shows.

    Discovery CEO David Zaslav had said that there were discussions about potential deals at a time when broadband and cable companies were merging and need content to de-commoditise and differentiate that pipe. RBC Capital Markets’ Steven Cahall had said that a combination of the non-fiction programmers made good sense.

    Also Read :

    Scripps TV looks for opportunities to grow, seeks to extend debt maturity

    Scripps Network not to renew deal with Netflix

  • Dentsu Aegis Network to acquire majority stakes in Merkle

    Dentsu Aegis Network to acquire majority stakes in Merkle

    MUMBAI: Continuing its buying spree, Dentsu Inc.’s Dentsu Aegis Network is eyeing to acquire a majority stake in Baltimore based data marketing firm Merkle that specializes in ‘customer relationship marketing.’

    It includes crafting loyalty programs for marketers and managing their vast customer databases that hold reams of consumer information. It also offers a host of other digital marketing and technology services including search advertising and data-driven ad buying and analytics.

    Terms of the deal were not disclosed but The Wallstreet Journal’s insights the c’ash deal has an enterprise value of roughly USD 1.5 billion when including Merkle’s debt.’

    “Their ability to develop people-based-marketing highlights where this business is going,” Dentsu Aegis Network CEO Jerry Buhlmann told WSJ. . “Convergence is driving our business towards a much greater level of addressability.”

    As part of the agreement, Dentsu buy out private equity firm technology Crossover Venture’s stakes in he company along with other shares held by other shareholders. Merkle’s management and employees expect to retain a “significant” minority stake in the firm.

    “Closely-held Merkle had $436 million in revenue in 2015 and works on behalf of companies such as MetLife Inc., Geico Corp., and Dell Inc. In recent years, it has invested in ad and marketing technologies to help power its clients’ campaigns. Its systems are closely integrated with Facebook, for example, so Merkle could help target ads for a retailer using the data the retailer collects from its customers such as email addresses,” stated the The Wall Street Journal report.

    (Source: The Wall Street Journal)

  • Dentsu Aegis Network to acquire majority stakes in Merkle

    Dentsu Aegis Network to acquire majority stakes in Merkle

    MUMBAI: Continuing its buying spree, Dentsu Inc.’s Dentsu Aegis Network is eyeing to acquire a majority stake in Baltimore based data marketing firm Merkle that specializes in ‘customer relationship marketing.’

    It includes crafting loyalty programs for marketers and managing their vast customer databases that hold reams of consumer information. It also offers a host of other digital marketing and technology services including search advertising and data-driven ad buying and analytics.

    Terms of the deal were not disclosed but The Wallstreet Journal’s insights the c’ash deal has an enterprise value of roughly USD 1.5 billion when including Merkle’s debt.’

    “Their ability to develop people-based-marketing highlights where this business is going,” Dentsu Aegis Network CEO Jerry Buhlmann told WSJ. . “Convergence is driving our business towards a much greater level of addressability.”

    As part of the agreement, Dentsu buy out private equity firm technology Crossover Venture’s stakes in he company along with other shares held by other shareholders. Merkle’s management and employees expect to retain a “significant” minority stake in the firm.

    “Closely-held Merkle had $436 million in revenue in 2015 and works on behalf of companies such as MetLife Inc., Geico Corp., and Dell Inc. In recent years, it has invested in ad and marketing technologies to help power its clients’ campaigns. Its systems are closely integrated with Facebook, for example, so Merkle could help target ads for a retailer using the data the retailer collects from its customers such as email addresses,” stated the The Wall Street Journal report.

    (Source: The Wall Street Journal)

  • Fox Television acquires KTVU-TV FOX 2 and KICU-TV 36; offers to pay $10 million for Seattle’s KBCB TV

    Fox Television acquires KTVU-TV FOX 2 and KICU-TV 36; offers to pay $10 million for Seattle’s KBCB TV

    BENGALURU: Fox Television Stations (FTS) announced that it has acquired San Francisco-Bay Area stations KTVU-TV FOX 2 and KICU-TV 36 following the close of its previously announced swap agreement with Cox Media Group (CMG). 

     

    The company’s parent 21st Century Fox has agreed to pay $10 million (about Rs 60 crore) to buy KBCB TV station in Seattle, in a move that follows a general strategy to buy stations in cities with National Football League (NFL) franchises.

     

    With the addition of the San Francisco-Bay area stations, FTS now includes duopolies in seven of the top 10 US markets.   FTS also now owns stations in 12 markets with National Football Conference (NFC) teams, allowing it to further leverage the Company’s NFC broadcast package. 

     

    In exchange for the newly-acquired stations, FTS transferred two owned-and-operated stations, WHBQ-TV FOX 13 and WFXT-TV FOX 25, located in the Memphis and Boston markets, respectively to CMG. Both stations will remain FOX affiliates, says FTS.

     

    KBCB TV is a station owned by Venture Technologies Group. Seattle has a NFL team – the Seattle Seahawks and Fox sees value in owning TV stations in markets with an NFC team.

     

    But acquiring the station may help Fox gain leverage to get what it really wants: KCPQ-TV Seattle, a much bigger station owned by Tribune Corp. KCPQ-TV is Fox’s current affiliate in the region and airs Seahawks games says a report by Wall Street Journal’s (WSJ) Joe Flint.

     

    Flint in his report says that Fox has held talks with Tribune about trading one of its stations elsewhere in the US in exchange for KCPQ—at one point Fox even put a Chicago station on the table, though that offer no longer stands. But so far the talks have gone nowhere and have gotten increasingly acrimonious, according to people familiar with the talks. Fox informed Tribune last month that it would terminate the companies’ affiliation agreement for KCPQ-TV Seattle next January.

     

    That will leave the Tribune station without Fox programming, including sports and prime-time entertainment, and could cause its ratings to dive. Industry observers say that move and the KBCB-TV purchase are aimed at ratcheting up pressure on Tribune to do a swap deal.