ESPN eyes Setanta’s football rights June 16 2009 23:39. ESPN, the US sports cable channel owned by Walt Disney, will bid for the Premier League rights held by Setanta in the event that the struggling media company is forced to relinquish them, according to a person familiar with the process. ESPN missed out on the rights when they were auctioned in February, with British Sky Broadcasting picking up five of the packages and only one going to Setanta. Since then, however, Setanta has been hit by a cash crunch and needs to complete a financial restructuring to stay afloat. The Premier League said this week it would re-auction Setanta’s rights if the company failed to make a £10m payment on Friday. ESPN said: “We are aware that the Premier League has issued an invitation to tender for which the rights may or may not go to auction next Monday.” However, it declined to confirm it would bid, adding: “As we have always said, we continue to be interested in rights where they are available and where they make business sense.” That comes as Barry Maloney, the Irish investor, resigned from Setanta’s board citing a potential conflict of interest following the takeover offer from Len Blavatnik, the Russian-born billionaire. The conflict has arisen because Mr Maloney, the general partner of venture capital fund Balderton, has a stake in Top Up TV, the pay-television company controlled by Mr Blavatnik’s Access Industries. Balderton, an early investor in Setanta, is now seen as unlikely to provide further funding for the broadcaster in which it has a stake of about 21 per cent. Mr Maloney declined to comment. Endemol, the production company, is understood to have offered to put £5m into Setanta in return for exclusive rights to produce all the football games. One person close to the process said that Setanta did not consider this to be an attractive offer but instead a “last chance saloon” funding mechanism. The board of Setanta is now locked in 24-hour talks to rustle up a further £20m- £25m from its existing investors, which include Doughty Hanson, the private equity group, and Goldman Sachs, who may have to take large writedowns. Mr Blavatnik has offered Setanta a £20m lifeline in return for a 51 per cent stake. Due diligence should be completed by Friday.
Лисин покупает «Объединенные медиа» Ведомости 10:58 17.06.2009Владелец Новолипецкого металлургического комбината Владимир Лисин договорился о покупке 100% холдинга «Объединенные медиа» у Аркадия Гайдамака и топ-менеджеров за $23,5 млн., пишет газета «Коммерсант». Холдинг «Объединенные медиа» был создан в 2007 г. на базе ИД «Московские новости», который Гайдамак приобрел в 2005 г. (сама газета «Московские новости» закрылась в декабре 2007 г.). В холдинг входят радиоBusiness FM, радио «98 хитов», интернет-портал Bfm.ru и еженедельная газета Business & FM. Выручка «Объединенных медиа» без учета бартера, инфоспонсорства и дебиторской задолженности в 2008 г. составила 340 млн руб., чистый убыток — 29,6 млн руб. Доход радиостанции Business FM (основной актив «Объединенных медиа») по итогам прошлого года составил 281 млн руб., чистая прибыль — 5,1 млн руб. Лисин давно занимается медиабизнесом, главным его активом в этой сфере пока является созданная им в 8 лет назад газета «Газета». Кроме того, Лисину принадлежит липецкая группа «Румедиа», контролирующая местные телекомпании ТВК и СТВ-7 и местные представительства целого ряда радиостанций.
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