Disney subsidiary ESPN is to acquire France Telecom’s Orange Sport TV channel at the end of October. It is reported Orange will distribute the sports channel under the ESPN brand in France and internationally. The channel will be entirely managed by ESPN but Orange will continue to transmit French football league matches on mobile phones until 2012. In 2009, ESPN bought the English football league rights off Setanta.
Sourced from news website Electron Libre.
Tribune Company has reached agreement with Oaktree Capital Management and Angelo, Gordon & Co on a plan of reorganization that will settle claims surrounding “Step 1” of the company’s 2007 going-private transaction.
The settlement comes as a result of the court-ordered mediation requested by the company and overseen by U. S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Kevin Gross; it has been approved by the Special Committee of Tribune’s Board of Directors, comprised of independent members of the company’s board. Oaktree and Angelo Gordon, who will be co-proponents of this plan, both hold significant amounts of the Initial and Incremental Term Loan of Tribune Company.
“The plan addresses two primary issues that are fundamental to a successful reorganization of Tribune,” said Don Liebentritt, Tribune’s Chief Restructuring Officer. “First, it enables the company to exit Chapter 11 and distributes the equity of the reorganized Tribune and its subsidiaries to the holders of the Initial and Incremental Term Loan claims. Second, to the extent not settled prior to confirmation, all claims identified by the Examiner’s Report relating to ‘Step 2’ of the company’s going-private transaction are preserved and placed in a litigation trust. We remain confident that additional settlements will be reached.”
The Litigation Trust will allow an independent litigation trustee to pursue legal action relating to the remaining fraudulent conveyance issues alleged by various unsecured creditors, while avoiding the possible negative impact these litigation issues might have on the company’s business operations.
The plan’s settlement resolves claims associated with the financing of “Step 1” of the going-private transaction, all of which the Examiner found to have less than 50% probability of success. The settlement, which has been overseen by the court-appointed mediator, provides for Tribune Company’s senior bondholders to receive a total distribution of $300 million (approximately 23% of their claim amount) in cash plus their interest in the Litigation Trust.
Unsecured creditors of Tribune Company will receive the same percentage recovery, also in cash and an interest in Litigation Trust, which will allow them to seek redress for potential fraudulent conveyance issues. Unsecured creditors of Tribune Company’s subsidiaries will have an opportunity to receive 50% of their claim amount in cash.
The plan also provides for both Initial Term Loan Lenders and Incremental Term Loan Lenders to receive a pro rata distribution of cash, debt and equity of the reorganized Tribune and its subsidiaries pursuant to the terms of Credit Agreement.
USA, Chicago, IL
Kelsey Publishing, publishers of specialist magazines and books, has acquired Cage & Aviary Birds from IPC Media. The terms of the deal were not disclosed. The deal sees Kelsey acquire the brand – currently published within the IPC Inspire portfolio – with immediate effect. There will be no interruption to the publishing schedule of the title.
As Britain’s only weekly bird keeping title, Cage & Aviary Birds gives readers the chance to see what’s hot and what’s not in the aviculture world, with the emphasis on avian news and expert comment.
IPC Inspire managing director Paul Williams says: “As one of the leading publishers of specialist titles in the UK, Kelsey is the perfect new home for Cage & Aviary Birds. I would personally like to thank the team for continuing to do a fantastic job over the course of the strategic review and acquisition negotiations, and wish them all the very best for the future.”
Kelsey managing director Steve Wright added: “We see Cage & Aviary Birds as an excellent fit for our magazine portfolio. It is an iconic brand within the bird keeping scene and will be one of the biggest titles published in our business.”
Staff transfer to Kelsey with immediate effect.
UK, London & Kent
AOL has acquired 5min Media, the Web’s largest video syndication platform (comScore Media Metrix data, August 2010). The acquisition allows AOL to significantly expand its consumer offering of contextually relevant, high-quality video across its sites. Deal terms were not disclosed.
“AOL and 5min Media share the same excitement about the direction our industry is taking, and our complementary video capabilities make us a compelling fit and an attractive combination for content creators and publishers”.“Our acquisition of 5min Media is the latest in a number of steps we have taken this year to better position AOL to capture the growing video opportunity on the Web,” said Tim Armstrong, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of AOL. “AOL is building a video ecosystem for the next decade. 5min Media is the perfect complement to our powerful video capabilities — it provides a missing piece in the AOL value chain that completes our end-to-end video offering from content creation through syndication and distribution to the consumer experience and monetization.”
“AOL and 5min Media share the same excitement about the direction our industry is taking, and our complementary video capabilities make us a compelling fit and an attractive combination for content creators and publishers,” said Ran Harnevo, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, 5min Media. “We’ve seen rapid and successful growth as an independent organization and becoming part of AOL is a natural next step. We’re confident that AOL’s organizational horsepower, combined with the vast library, audience and syndication capabilities 5min Media offers, present compelling opportunities for AOL as well as the content creators we work with and the publishers we serve.”
USA, New York, NY
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AOL has agreed to acquire TechCrunch, the company that owns and operates TechCrunch and its network of websites dedicated to technology news, information and analysis. TechCrunch and its associated properties and conferences will join the AOL Technology Network while retaining their editorial independence, further bolstering AOL’s position as one of the world’s leading providers of high-quality, tech-oriented content. The announcement will be made on stage at TechCrunch Disrupt in San Francisco, CA.
“Michael and his colleagues have made the TechCrunch network a byword for breaking tech news and insight into the innovative world of start-ups, and their reputation for top-class journalism precisely matches AOL’s commitment to delivering the expert content critical to this audience”
.Founded by Michael Arrington, TechCrunch operates a global network of dedicated properties from Europe to Japan, as well as vertically-oriented websites, including MobileCrunch, CrunchGear, TechCrunchIT, GreenTech, TechCrunchTV and CrunchBase. The TechMeme Leaderboard ranks TechCrunch as the No. 1 source of breaking tech news online, followed by AOL’s Engadget.*
“Michael and his colleagues have made the TechCrunch network a byword for breaking tech news and insight into the innovative world of start-ups, and their reputation for top-class journalism precisely matches AOL’s commitment to delivering the expert content critical to this audience,” said Tim Armstrong, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of AOL. “TechCrunch and its team will be an outstanding addition to the high-quality content on the AOL Technology Network, which is now a must-buy for advertisers seeking to associate their brands with leading technology content and its audience.”
Heather Harde, Chief Executive Officer of TechCrunch, said: “TechCrunch and AOL share a motivating passion for quality technology news and information, and we’re delighted about becoming part of the AOL family. This represents a compelling opportunity to extend the TechCrunch brand while complementing the great work of sites like Engadget and Switched. Our contributors, and our audiences, can look to the future with excitement about what we can build when we have the significant resources of AOL behind us.”
Michael Arrington, Founder and Co-Editor of TechCrunch, said: “Tim Armstrong and his team have an exciting vision for the future of AOL as a global leader in creating and delivering world-class content to consumers, be it through original content creation, partnerships or acquisitions. I look forward to working with everyone at AOL as we build on our reputation for independent tech journalism and continue to set the agenda for insight, reviews and collaborative discussion about the future of the technology industry.”
TechCrunch also hosts industry-leading conferences and events, including The Disrupt series, The Crunchies Awards and various meet-ups worldwide. These conferences bring together industry innovators, entrepreneurs and financing sources to exchange ideas, forge new relationships and discuss the current and future industry trends.
“Engagement with thought leaders is as important to AOL as our engagement with our contributors, audiences, publishers and advertisers, and TechCrunch’s conferences and websites will give us a promising, additional springboard to join and amplify these conversations. We’re committed to quality in everything we do at AOL, and look forward to working with Heather, Michael and the TechCrunch team to extend the brand,” said David Eun, President of AOL Media and Studios.
The AOL Technology Network consists of AOL’s tech-oriented properties including Engadget, the Web magazine about everything new in gadgets and consumer electronics; Switched, which covers the intersection of the digital world with entertainment, sports, art, fashion and lifestyle; TUAW, the unofficial Apple weblog; and DownloadSquad, the weblog about downloadable software and other computer subjects. The AOL Technology Network ranks in the top five for tech news according to comScore Media Metrix, August 2010 data, and leads the top five in average time spent and average visits per user.
This acquisition will further AOL’s strategy to become the global leader in sourcing, creating, producing and delivering high-quality, trusted, original content to consumers. TechCrunch will remain headquartered in San Francisco, CA, as a wholly owned AOL unit. Deal terms were not disclosed.
USA, New York, NY & San Francisco, CA
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AOL has acquired Thing Labs, whose Brizzly family of web-based social software makes it easy and fun for users to create, share, explore and enjoy content. The Brizzly team will play a key role in helping AOL provide consumers with the best possible venues to discover and share content with each other. Over time, AOL expects to integrate aspects of the Brizzly service into its popular Lifestream product, its social aggregator and publisher, and AIM, AOL’s flagship messaging platform. The Brizzly team will join AOL’s Consumer Applications Group, where Thing Labs Founder and Chief Executive Officer Jason Shellen and Christopher Wetherell, Vice President of Product and Engineering, will lead the AIM product suite, including Lifestream.
“AOL is a different company than it was even a year ago. We have to fundamentally change the way we think about the consumer experience and the team at Thing Labs has a vision and a track record of success that we think will help truly transform the messaging space,” said Brad Garlinghouse, President of AOL’s Consumer Applications Group. “The team represents a great combination of vision, product knowledge and experience building innovative social products and we believe their contribution will further complement the exciting work that the Lifestream and AIM teams at AOL are doing.”
Founded in June 2008 and based in San Francisco, CA, Thing Labs creates web-based software that encourages and inspires users to share great content. Its applications include Brizzly, which allows users to view and post updates to Twitter and Facebook; Brizzly Picnic, a group chat site; Brizzly Guide, a site dedicated to explaining social media trending topics in real time, and Brizzly for iPhone. Prior to founding Thing Labs, Shellen and Wetherell were instrumental in creating Google Reader, which allows users to aggregate their most important content.
“AIM, Lifestream and Brizzly are really complementary and we can’t wait to begin exploring how we can combine and enhance them to improve AIM and Lifestream,” said Shellen. “AOL and Thing Labs share a creative vision that the Web should be fun, effortless, inspiring and trusted.”
Lifestream enables users to view status messages and posts from their friends on Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, Delicious, Digg, Flickr, YouTube and much more — all in one place, from anywhere. Launched within AIM in 2009 and now also available as a standalone desktop product and on mobile platforms, it is one of the largest social aggregators on the Web, with more than four million unique visitors.*
This acquisition supports the AOL Consumer Applications Group’s mission to redefine the way people share and connect on the Web. Deal terms were not disclosed.
USA, New York, NY & San Francisco, CA
Wilmington Group plc is to acquire Axco Insurance Information Services Limited, the leading provider of international compliance and regulatory information for the global insurance industry.
AXCO provides comprehensive information on the markets, regulation and taxation environment for the insurance industry within 165 countries worldwide. AXCO’s customers include international insurers, reinsurers and brokers with a particular strength in North America. The business is based in London and employs 40 staff. 96% of AXCO’s customers are subscribers to products delivered electronically. Their renewal rate in recent years has been in excess of 95%.
The acquisition of AXCO has been effected by Wilmington’s wholly owned subsidiary Waterlow Legal & Regulatory Limited which has acquired 100% of the fully diluted share capital for an initial cash consideration of £21.325m and a deferred payment, capped at £675k, which will be calculated by reference to the net current assets of AXCO at 30th September 2010. Wilmington will fund the consideration from existing debt facilities. AXCO is expected to have approximately £2m of net cash at completion. The transaction is expected to be earnings enhancing in the current financial year.
During the year ended 31 December 2009, the period of the latest audited accounts, AXCO made statutory profits before interest and tax of £1.23m on turnover of £5.6m. Pro forma unaudited revenues and EBITDA for the twelve months to 30 June 2010 were £5.8m and £1.93m respectively. At 31 December 2009 AXCO had gross assets of £5.34m.
Charles Brady, CEO of Wilmington, commented, “AXCO is an information business of the highest quality and a clear international market leader. It provides its customers with ‘must have’ intelligence and has demonstrated an ability to maintain continued growth irrespective of the challenging environment in recent years. It is highly complementary to Pendragon, our pensions law and regulation information business, as well as to the compliance and regulatory training divisions within Wilmington. This acquisition is the latest step in our plan to build a world class, international, compliance and regulatory information and training business. We are confident of AXCO achieving enhanced growth within Wilmington.”
UK, London
VideoEgg, a privately held advertising network, has agreed to acquire blogging and conversational media company Six Apart, to form SAY Media.
The new entity combines VideoEgg’s engagement technologies with Six Apart’s social publishing platform to power advertising campaigns that are more conversational and interactive, with the combined company reaching 345 million global unique visitors.
Mena Trott, Six Apart co-founder: “SAY Media continues Six Apart’s mission to make passionate creators successful. Whether on TypePad or another platform, developing a game or an application, the company will empower people to create great content and make money doing it. This acquisition marks a new beginning as we launch a modern media company centered on the creators, the content, and the audiences that are redefining media.”
Link to the Launch Video
USA, San Francisco, CA
DeNA has invested an undisclosed amount in Astro Ape Studios an iPhone development studio focusing on next generation social gaming and best known for Office Heroes.
DeNA has a wide range of operations including social gaming, e-commerce, mobile phone related services and online advertising business. Its latest quarterly report puts it on track to create $1 billion in revenue this year. DeNA has been steadily increasing their American presence through strategic U.S. investments. They invested in mobile social gaming company, Aurora Feint; made a full acquisition of IceBreaker and most recently bought Mountain View-based developer Gameview Studios
USA, San Mateo, CA & Japan, Tokyo
DeNA has acquired 100 percent of Gameview Studios, LLC, formally know as Bayview Labs, LLC
Based out of Mountain View, CA, Gameview creates social gaming applications on iDevices. Gameview has created the popular applications Tap Ranch, Tap Fish: Exotic, and Tap Birds, the last two which have been ranked No.1 among free apps in the App store.
Gameview has some new mobile apps in its pipeline and plans to provide new apps in the Android market. It aims to establish a firm position in the smartphone market going forward.
DeNA is aggressively investing in promising social application developers all over the world to promote their “X-device” “X-border” strategy of promoting game development across different mobile devices and borders
“Our acquisition of Gameview today is congruent with our goal of rapidly expanding our mobile footprint as a leading brand and platform in mobile social gaming,” says Tomoko Namba, CEO of DeNA. “We were impressed by the creativity and passion that the Gameview team has for creating addictive and engaging gaming experiences, we’re excited to welcome them into the DeNA family.”
Through this acquisition, DeNA will promote an alliance between Gameview and MiniNation, DeNA’s strategic subsidiary in the smartphone market. By leading Gameview’s socially-active users to the MiniNation platform, DeNA aims to energize activities on MiniNation platform and further increase the platform’s value.
“The overwhelmingly wide range of games and active users in the community are the formula for success DeNA has utilized on Mobage-town in Japan,” says Namba. “This acquisition will enable DeNA to replicate this success in the smartphone market and MiniNation platform, further expanding DeNA in the global market.”
DeNA has a wide range of operations including social gaming, e-commerce, mobile phone related services and online advertising business. Its latest quarterly report puts it on track to create $1 billion in revenue this year. DeNA has been steadily increasing their American presence through strategic U.S. investments. They invested in mobile social gaming company, Aurora Feint, and made a full acquisition of IceBreaker, DeNA.
This latest acquisition follows a series of moves by DeNA including a strategic partnership with Yahoo!, called Yahoo Mobage, and the creation of a $27.5 million incubation fund to promote social gaming.
USA, San Mateo, CA & Japan, Tokyo
Fusion Corporate Partners 
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