The company “Media Alliance”, owned by the media holding NMG and the Discovery Communications, has completed the acquisition of the broadcaster Turner’s Russian share, as reported by the RBC.
The joint venture of the media holding and the US TV company obtained all broadcasting rights for the TV channels CNN, Boomerang and Cartoon Network in the Russian Federation. The deal value is not announced.
In addition, it became known that the “Media Alliance” and one of the Vi seller’s units would be engaged in advertising time sales on the children’s TV channel Cartoon Network.
As remarked by the head of “Media Alliance” Grigory Lavrov, the conclusion of the deal provided the company with an opportunity to cover the audiences, especially the children’s one, which are currently highly demanded in commercial terms. It also strengthened the position of the company in terms of thematic TV.
We shall recall that since the beginning of this year the legislative amendments came into force in Russia, restricting up to 20% the ownership of foreign citizens and/or companies’ share in the mass media. Therefore, to continue their operation in the Russian Federation many foreign companies were prompted to bring its activities to the norms of law over the past year. Since the US broadcasting company Dicovery Communications desired to go on distributing its services in Russia, it decided to set up the joint venture “Media Alliance” along with the holding NGM. The conclusion of the deal took place in early October 2015, as previously reported by the Mediasat.
In late 2014, the TV channel CNN International announced that due to the changes in the Russian law “On Mass Media” it would not be able to proceed with its operation without advertising earnings as from 31 December, and therefore it would be forced to give up broadcasting in the country. The Ministry of Communications stated that the Russian authorities could not see any obstacles to continue the channel’s operation. And yet in the mid-January 2015, the CNN announced its desire to restore broadcasts in the cable networks of the Russian Federation. After obtaining all the required documents, the TV channel became available again to Russian audience, specifically to the Tricolor TV’s subscribers.
In December 2015, the Mediasat featured that the company “Media Alliance” was eager to buy the Turner’s package of Russian channels. In late February of this year, the Federal Antimonopoly Service authorized the forthcoming bargain.
