Yahoo! acquires video chat company OnTheAir

December 10, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

Reuters is reporting that, Yahoo! has acquired video chat company OnTheAir. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

A Yahoo! spokeswoman said that Yahoo! had not plans to offer OnTheAir’s existing product, which lets Web users host live video conversations and was launched in March.

This is the second acquisition for Yahoo’s mobile group since Marissa Mayer became CEO earlier this year. In October, Yahoo! acquired Stamped, a New York-based mobile startup that allows consumers to share information about favorite restaurants and music on their smartphones.

Mayer, a former Google Inc executive, has said that her top priority is to create a coherent mobile strategy for Yahoo! and that she intends for at least half of the company’s technical workforce to be working on mobile products.

See the announcement at OnTheAir’s website here.

USA, Sunnydale, CA

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LDC Completes the £7.3m Buyout of HMV’s Live Music Division MAMA Group

December 4, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

ldc_logoLloyds Development Capital has completed the £7.3 million buyout of HMV’s Live Music division, MAMA Group, which is the UK’s second-largest live music business.

MAMA holds over 2,700 events annually in the UK, with up to one million people visiting its venues and 150,000 attending its festivals every year.

The transaction provides a strong platform for CEO Dean James, supported by a very experienced management team, to pursue a focused buy-and-build strategy targeting both UK and overseas opportunities. Future international acquisitions will increase the global influence of the Group and its brands, and enhance the prospect for faster growth from global sponsorship and promotions.

MAMA runs a nationwide network of live music venues with capacities ranging up to 2,300  These include, The Forum, The Garage,mama-logo Camden Barfly, Jazz Cafe and The Borderline in London as well as the Edinburgh Picture House, the Manchester Ritz and the Birmingham Institute regionally.

MAMA’s stable of festivals includes international music brands Global Gathering, Godskitchen and UK based events Lovebox, The Great Escape and Wilderness, curated in association with Secret Garden Party.

MAMA also owns music magazine The Fly.

LDC has a growing track record in the leisure sector. Recent investments include Boom Pictures, Ocean Outdoors, WRG Creative, and Orion Media.

Alistair Pendleton, LDC Investment Director, comments:

“Live Music is a growing and increasingly important sector of the UK economy and in supporting the MBO of MAMA Group we believe we are backing the best management team and the most recognised, successful brand in the business.

“MAMA Group is renowned for its iconic venues, where some of the world’s most successful music artists have performed and hugely popular music festivals, both in the UK and overseas, which have attracted strong followings and showcased some excellent new artists. Management have an exciting buy-and-build strategy and LDC has the resources, skills and track record to help them accelerate their plans and develop the Group into a globally-recognised business and brand.”

UK, London

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TV production company Tinopolis acquires Passion Distribution Limited

December 3, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

tinopolisTinopolis, one of the UK’s largest independent TV production and distribution companies, has acquired Passion Distribution Limited , a  global media distribution company. The transaction adds significantly to Tinopolis’s existing distribution business and is the latest acquisition in its strategy of expanding its international reach and capabilities. It follows the acquisitions in 2011 of A. Smith & Co and Base Productions, both of which are Los Angeles-based and are major suppliers to US networks and cable channels.

Passion Distribution was incorporated in 2008 by Sally Miles and has established itself as a leading television programme and formats distributor with an extensive catalogue of content in various genres including factual entertainment, reality, documentaries, lifestyle and game-shows. Passion distributes content exclusively for numerous UK and North American producers and broadcasters to media platforms across the world and has exclusive distribution agreements with broadcasters and production companies including Scripps Networks, The Oprah Winfrey Network, World of Wonder and Sundance Channel.passion distribution logo

The acquisition of Passion will significantly expand Tinopolis’s ability to maximise the value of its portfolio of companies, programmes and formats. Tinopolis and Passion will continue to grow Passion’s existing business and brand through investment in third party content and co-productions with the support of the wider group. Passion, under the continued leadership of Sally Miles, will inherit Tinopolis’ existing distribution arm MINT with its catalogue of over 2,500 hours of content, its many formats and  sales staff.

Ron Jones, Executive Chairman of Tinopolis, commented: “Tinopolis’s strategy is to develop and grow as a Group that is successful creatively and financially with a strong international reach. With over 40% of our business now outside the UK, we needed a distribution business that could match this and in Sally and her team we have found our ideal partners.”

UK, Carmarthenshire & London

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Viggle to acquire GetGlue for $25M cash and 48.3M shares

November 19, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

Viggle Inc., the television loyalty service, is to acquire GetGlue, the social TV app. Viggle will pay $25 million in cash and 48.3 million shares of stock for GetGlue. Viggle Inc. will operate the Viggle and GetGlue brands, and GetGlue founder and CEO Alex Iskold will join Viggle Inc. in a senior executive position on its management team and as a member of its Board of Directors. Viggle will also absorb all 34 GetGlue employees.

Robert F.X. Sillerman, Executive Chairman and CEO of Viggle said,“With this deal, we are combining very experienced and creative product, engineering and management teams that will continue to build great user experiences and provide industry leading platforms for consumers, networks and advertisers. “We will also be vastly increasing the Viggle user base and quadrupling our network partnerships. Viggle and GetGlue users can look forward to using the apps they have come to love as we add new and appealing features made possible by the combined resources of this clear industry leader.”

Founded in 2007, New York City-based GetGlue has than 3.2 million registered users as well as a database with more than 500 million entertainment ratings and check-ins. GetGlueHD provides customers with a TV guide for the mobile era, listing both TV and online content in calendar form.

Today’s deal is another in a series of recent acquisitions by companies run by Sillerman. In the past five months, Sillerman’s SFX Entertainment bought two Electronic Dance Music companies – Disco Donnie Presents and Life in Color, (formerly Dayglow).

USA, New York

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Penton Media acquires Farm Progress From Fairfax Media for $80M

November 16, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

Penton Media has acquired Farm Progress from Fairfax Media Limited of Sydney, Australia. The acquisition more than doubles Penton’s position in agriculture, which becomes the company’s largest sector group. The purchase price was $79.9 million before certain adjustments.

Farm Progress features four of the industry’s leading farm trade events, including America’s largest outdoor farm show, a broadcast division, and many well-established media brands. They join Penton Agriculture’s portfolio of market-leading franchises.

“Our investment is supported by several inarguable global economic trends including rising demand for nutrition, limited arable land and water, and strong export potential for agriculture products, capital equipment and related production technology into developing countries,” said Penton CEO David Kieselstein.

Farm Progress will become part of the Penton Agricultural Group reporting to Penton Senior Vice President, Dan Bagan. Jeff Lapin, president of Farm Progress, will leave the company at the end of the year. Farm Progress will remain headquartered in St. Charles, IL.

USA, New York, NY, & USA, St Charles, IL & Australia, Sydney

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Disney to acquire Lucasfilm Ltd

October 31, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

The Walt Disney Company is acquiring Star Wars film maker Lucasfilm Ltd. in a stock and cash transaction. Lucasfilm is 100% owned by Lucasfilm Chairman and Founder, George Lucas.

Under the terms of the agreement and based on the closing price of Disney stock on October 26, 2012, the transaction value is $4.05 billion, with Disney paying approximately half of the consideration in cash and issuing approximately 40 million shares at closing. The final consideration will be subject to customary post-closing balance sheet adjustments.

“Lucasfilm reflects the extraordinary passion, vision, and storytelling of its founder, George Lucas,” said Robert A. Iger, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of The Walt Disney Company. “This transaction combines a world-class portfolio of content including Star Wars, one of the greatest family entertainment franchises of all time, with Disney’s unique and unparalleled creativity across multiple platforms, businesses, and markets to generate sustained growth and drive significant long-term value.”

Kathleen Kennedy, current Co-Chairman of Lucasfilm, will become President of Lucasfilm, reporting to Walt Disney Studios Chairman Alan Horn. Additionally she will serve as the brand manager for Star Wars. Ms. Kennedy will serve as executive producer on new Star Wars feature films, with George Lucas serving as creative consultant. Star Wars Episode 7 is targeted for release in 2015, with more feature films expected follow. Star Wars feature films have earned a total of $4.4 billion in global box office to date

USA, Burbank, CA & San Francisco, CA

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Salem Web Network acquires Godvine.com

October 16, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

Salem Web Network, the online division of Salem Communications Corporation, a U.S. radio broadcaster, Internet content provider and publisher targeting audiences interested in Christian and conservative opinion content, has acquired Christian website, Godvine.com.

Godvine.com is a leading source for Christian and family-friendly videos, reaching approximately 3.5 million visitors and nearly 30 million page views per month. Godvine.com has over 2.8 million Facebook fans.

The addition of Godvine.com will make Salem Web Network the largest online destination for Christian content with an average of 5.8 million unique visits per month.

“The acquisition of Godvine immediately delivers a substantial new audience to Salem. We’ve watched it become one of the most widely visited Christian websites and we are thrilled to put our expertise and knowledge behind this rapidly growing website and take it to the next level,” said Rick Killingsworth, Executive Vice President at Salem Web Network.

David Evans, President of New Business Development, Interactive and Publishing at Salem Communications added, “Over the past two years Godvine.com has experienced phenomenal social media growth. With this acquisition Salem now has a great opportunity to really begin to take advantage of social media for sharing inspiration and the Gospel of Christ.”

USA, Richmond, VA

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ITV acquires Finish Indie Tarinatalo

October 16, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

ITV has acquired Finnish producer Tarinatalo as the company continues to build a strong international content business, a key part of its Transformation Plan.

Together with the recently acquired Norwegian indie Mediacircus, the acquisition provides ITV Studios, which already has a base in Sweden, with a production footprint in three of the Nordic countries.

Tarinatalo, which was founded in 1997, specialises in factual entertainment, reality and lifestyle programming.  It was also involved in co-producing the 2007 Eurovision song contest, which was held in Helsinki where the company is based.

Tarinatalo will produce 50 hours of programming this year across 11 shows ranging from pilot game show What Was That? and long running, ratings hit Antiques, Antiques on YLE TV1, through to the brand new series of Dragon’s Den on Nelonen.

Paul Buccieri, Managing Director of ITV Studios International and President and CEO ITV Studios America, said, “Tarinatalo is a terrific fit as we progress with growing our business globally.  It is an extremely creative production company and has built fantastic relationships with Finnish broadcasters.  It not only has a wonderful portfolio of hit shows but also has a huge number of great ideas in development as well. The company has expanded quickly not only in terms of its size, but also in the programme genres it covers, as well as with its licensing and online activity. We are looking forward to working with the team to help it continue to grow and develop creatively.”

The Tarinatalo team will become part of ITV Studios Nordic.

UK, London & Finland, Helsinki

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Universal Music could get approval to buy EMI’s recorded music business as early as tomorrow

September 21, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

The FT is reporting that European and US competition regulators could approve Universal Music’s £1.2 billion bid for EMI’s recorded music business as early as Friday, but will demand that the Vivendi-owned Universal Music sell off at least a third of the company. The deal has already been cleared in several countries, including Australia and Japan.

Read the full story

 

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DMGT sells remaining interest in DMG Radio Australia

September 5, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

DMGT has sold its remaining 50% in DMG Radio Australia (DMGRA) to Illyria, the private investment vehicle of Mr Lachlan Murdoch, which first acquired a 50% interest in November 2009.

DMGT has received A$100m (£65 m) in cash and, later in the year, will receive a further sum equivalent to 50% of the final DMGRA dividend for the year ending 30 September, 2012. DMGT will use the proceeds of the sale to reduce debt.

Martin Morgan, Chief Executive of DMGT, said: “Our partnership with Illyria over three years has been a success. Following an approach from Illyria, we decided now was an appropriate time to realise the value created by DMGRA’s improved performance. The transaction represents another step forward for our strategy to concentrate resources on a more focused portfolio of businesses”.

UK, London & Australia, Sydney, Pyrmont

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