Mergers, takeovers and investments Amplified Holdings Business-to-business digital USA +1/678 556 2000 services provider has bought www.amplified.com Checkout.com, e-commerce site selling music, video and interactive games, for an undisclosed sum. Cisco Systems Computer giant is to take 1.65 USA; +1/408 526 4000 per cent stake in Japanese www.cisco.com Internet investment company Softbank for $200m. Japanese firm plans to use money to develop broadband and wireless projects and to fund mergers and acquisitions. Cisco will also buy most of Softbank's 12 per cent holding in Cisco's Japanese unit for $275m. Das Werk German digital film processing Germany; +49/69 9735301; and 3D animation specialist * www.das-werk.de has acquired Centropolis Effects (CFX), facility used for special effects work on Independence Day and Godzilla. Founders Devlin and Emmerich will receive four per cent stake in Das Werk in return following integration. * has completed acquisition of majority stake in UK's Glassworks, digital special-effects business created by games maker Eidos. Einstein Channel UK educational multimedia UK; +44/20 7396 5598 developer has acquired www.einstein.tv business-to-business distance learning specialist Television Education Network (TEN) from receivers for [pound]500,000--of which [pound]100,000 in cash and 1 m Einstein Channel ordinary shares. Endemol Entertainment Telefonica-owned Dutch Netherlands; +31/35 539 9888 television producer recently www.endemol.com acquired by Spain's Telefonica * has sold its 49 per cent stake in Munich-based television entertainment group GAT. Film und Fernsehproduktion back to company's founders for undisclosed sum. Endemol had previously sold off 23 per cent stake in Germany's Helkon for around $70m (see 1999/124a5), thus signalling further withdrawal from German market. * has agreed to buy the 50 per cent of French ASP Endemol that it does not already own. Endemol first bought into Groupe ASP in 1998 (see 1998/174b2). Following latest acquisition, company--which also encompasses Case Productions, Hubert Productions and 50 per cent stakes in PAF Productions and Societe de Spectacles--will be renamed Endemol Entertainment France. Knowledge Industry Publications Philips Business USA; +1/914 328 9157 Information-owned publisher of www.kipinet.com Film & Video Magazine has bought rights to annual ShowBiz Expo for undisclosed amount from Reed Exhibition division of Reed Elsevier. Entertainment trade show ShowBiz Expo was launched 18 years ago and is held in Los Angeles, featuring representing technology trends from pre- to post-production, with conferences on animation, digital film-making and other topics. Next show on 31 March 2001 will increase focus on high-tech industry issues such as interactive television, streaming media and use of high definition cameras. Macromedia Maker of Flash animation USA; +1/415 252 2000 software has agreed to acquire www.macromedia.com Internet content management company Allaire Corporation for about $360m in cash and stock, exchanging 0.3 shares of its stock and $3 in cash for each Allaire share. Macromedia's subsidiary Shockwave recently announced plans to merge with AtomFilms, popular Internet distributor of live-action shorts. NBC Enterprises US broadcaster is to merge its USA; +1/212 664 4444 production and syndication www.nbc.com business with that of Hearst-Argyle Television, building on production partnership announced end last year that also included Gannett Broadcasting. Pair will continue relationship with Gannett and pool activities to produce new programming for cable networks. Television stations owned by the three cover 60 per cent of US television market. RealNetworks American Internet digital USA; +1 206 674 2700; distribution company has www.realnetworks.com acquired secure digital media software developer Aegisoft for $12m worth of stock. Real- Networks makes software that is widely used in transmission of audio and video over the Internet. Shin Corporations Thai satellite Thailand; +66/2 299 5050 telecommunications provider has www.shincorps.com acquired a majority stake in Internet Service Provider (ISP) Data Line Thai. Company owns one other ISP, CS Communications. Target Media Advertising space buyer for UK UK; www.unitedadnet.com film industry has merged with +44/20 7287 2827 Internet outfit New Media Industries (NMI) to form Target NMI, together with parent company DPA Soho. Merged company is said to increase focus on new media advertising and promotion. Target's previous clients include FilmFour, Icon, Metrodome, Redbus and Winchester, TDF Video Service France Telecom's audio-visual France; +33/1 55 95 10 00 media unit has agreed to buy 13 www.tdf.fr per cent stake in leading Spanish film laboratory Madrid Film from Basque capital risk company Talde on undisclosed terms. Added to TDF's 66 stake, deal would give it controlling 79 per cent interest. Madrid Film had turnover of ptas 2bn ($11.1m) and year-end profit of almost ptas 200m ($1.1m) in 2000. Ownership could fit in well with France Telecom/TDF's e-cinema ambitions. Telefonica Spanish telco and multi-media Spain; +34/1 353 4100 outfit has increased its stake www.telefonica.es in Portugal Telecom (PT) from 4.75 per cent to 10 per cent on undisclosed terms. PT and Telefonica has many cable and television interests in Iberian peninsula, and will now also become South America's largest mobile telephone operator through $10bn 50:50 joint venture in Brazil. PT may increase its stake in Telefonica to 1.5 per cent. Tellabs US manufacture of cable USA; +1/630 378 8800; telephony system hardware has www.tellabs.com agreed to buy cable modem manufacturer Future Networks for $181m cash. Terra Lycos Asian division of Internet Spain; +34/91 452 3000 portal provider is to acquire www.terralycos.com Hong Kong-based Chinese content site MyRice.com for between $10m and $12.75m. MyRice has consistently featured in surveys of the top 20 most popular Websites in China. Lycos Asia is 50:50 joint venture between Terra Lycos and Singapore Telecommunications (SingTel). Viacom US media group has completed USA; +1/212 258 6000 $3bn acquisition of BET www.viacom.com Holdings II in stock and debt transaction. Company owns cable channels Black Entertainment Television, BET on Jazz and Bet International, as well as publishing company BET Books and TV production unit BET Pictures. Vivendi Universal French telecoms and media group France; + 33/1 71 71 10 00 has agreed to sell its 55 per www.vivendiuniversal.com cent stake in ISP (Internet Service Provider) AOL Compuserve France to its partner, AOL. Latter already owned 45 per cent of the venture through its European subsidiary AOL Europe. Vivendi has been seeking to sell for some time as it wants to focus on transforming its own portal, Vizzavi, created in 2000 with Vodafone, into an ISP. Zoran Corporation Chip-maker expanded to created USA; +1/408 919 41 11 two new corporate www.zoran.com divisions--Home Entertainment and Personal Media--last month (January). Former will oversee company's DVD and audio activities, whilst latter operation will focus on digital camera and imaging markets. Separately, Zoran has purchased undisclosed equity stake in Canadian digital compression developer QDesign Corporation. On the money markets Adelphia Communications Corp US cable operator, which last USA; +1/814 274 9830 month (January) took control of www.adelphia.net 375,000 former Comcast cable customers in Southern California, has sold $750m in five-year convertible notes. Issue was managed by Salomon Smith Barney and Banc of America Securities. BigStar Entertainment US video e-tailer and USA; +1/212 981 6300 entertainment news destination www.bigstar.com was delisted from Nasdaq market last month (January). Stock had failed to meet index's trading conditions. BigStar stock has since commenced trading on OTC Bulletin Board. Move followed resignation of company's chief financial officer. Cox Communications Fifth largest cable operator in USA; +1/404 843 5281; US has filed shelf registration www.cox.com with Securities and Exchange Commission to sell over time up to $2bn in class A common and preferred stock, debt securities, debentures, and trust preferred securities. Proceeds will be used for general corporate purposes, including acquisitions. Creative Eye Indian television producer has India; +91/22 639 3216 raised Rs 25m ($540,000) www.creativeeye.com through IPO of slightly over 5m shares offered to retail investors. Including book-building part of the offer, Creative Eye has raised Rs 250m. Home Entertainment Corporation Video rental specialist is UK; +44/1733 231231 planning to float at an estimated valuation of [pound]40m-[pound]50m. HEC--which owns 167-outlet Choices Video rental chain, and Video Box Office--achieved group sales of [pound]44.4m for the 28 weeks to 16 December 2000, compared with [pound]29.9m over the same period in 1999. Insight Communications New York-based cable USA; 1/212 371 2266 group has issued $150m discount www.insight-com.com bond offering to fund cable acquisitions and repay company debt. Insight is eight largest cable group in US. Kinowelt German film major has sold half Germany; +49/89 307 966 of all its shares--6.3m www.kinowelt.de non-voting class B shares--in Canada's Alliance Atlantis Communications (AAC) for DM 166m ($78m) in cash. Kinowelt strategic alliance with AAC will, however, continue. Kinowelt had previously sold 1 m B shares, raising $13m, part of which were to be invested in UK distributor Momentum Pictures, which it controls together with AAC. Mediacom Communications Ninth largest cable operator in USA; +1/845 695 2600 US has sold privately $500m of www.mediacomcc.com 12-year senior bonds. Proceeds will be used to repay bank debt and for general corporate purposes. Last month, Mediacom announced that it had completed acquisition of 14,000 subscribers in Alabama from AT&T. Mondo Media On-line syndicator of animated USA; +1/415 865 2700 entertainment has secured $17m www.mondominishows.com in third-round financing, led by SBVC (formerly Softbank Venture Capital) and previous Mondo investors, including Foundation Capital, Sofinnova Ventures and Red Rock Ventures. Funding will be used to bolster European expansion efforts. Mondo Media's syndication partners include AOL Time Warner's Entertaindom, ExciteAtHome, iWon, Lycos, RealNetworks, Netscape NetCenter and Shockwave.com. NorthPoint DSL provider that counts USA; +1/415 403 4003 Microsoft among investors has www.northpointcom.com filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection with debts of $500m. Company got in difficulties after planned merger with Verizon Communications collapsed, leaving it without expected cash injection. Northpoint 'has no intention' of going out of business, citing debtor-in-possesion funding that will allow it to continue day-to-day operations. Analysts see Northpoint as a prime take-over target. NTT DoCoMo Japanese mobile Japan; +81/355 632 200; operator NTT DoCoMo is www.ntt.com to raise approximately [yen]800bn ($6.75bn) to fund its international investments for next-generation mobile phone services in Netherlands, UK and US. DoCoMo will launch its high-speed mobile Internet services in Japan in May 2001. This service should provide an indicator of profitability of mobile video services. Softbank Japanese Internet investment Japan; +81/3 5642 8020 company has led investment of www.softbank.com $250m in Korean broadband access provider and portal operator Thrunet. Softbank will provide $100m, $70m of which will be bonds with warrants, $30m of which will be direct investment giving company 14.4 per cent stake. Trigem Computer and Naray & Company are also among investors. StudioCanal Production unit of Canal France; +33/1 46 10 12 00; Plus pay TV platform, www.cplus.fr says it has notified Finexpand of its intention to acquire its 20.4 per cent stake in Expand. StudioCanal has a call option on stake negotiated February 2000 at the time of its purchase of a 33.3 per cent stake in Expand and its production unit Ellipse Programme. Call option can be exercised until 31 March 200 I. Stake will be valued by three experts; minimum share price is Euro 38. If StudioCanal decides not to buy, a second call option can be exercised between 15-31 March 2003. Team Communications Group Producer-distributor outfit is USA; +1/310 312 4400 launching $50m television www.teamtv.com production fund called Team TV Fund, following pact with Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC), with Team contributing $5m of its own capital. Cash will go towards financing up to 50 per cent of television projects funding with total production volume of up to $125m. In addition to Los Angeles office, Team has units in UK (Team Dandelion) and Germany (Team Entertainment Germany). Wowow Japanese satellite Japan; +81/3 5543 8000 broadcaster plans to raise www.wowow.co.jp [yen]20bn (9172.4m) by listing shares on Tokyo's Stock Exchange (TSE) Mothers market for venture capital firms. Funds will be used for new equipment, as well as film and other programming acquisitions. Listings is planned for March, although it may be postponed until after April, depending on market conditions. Mothers market has less stringent listings requirements than the regular section of TSE. Software deals Alliance Atlantis Communications Canadian film group has Canada; +1/416 967 1174 concluded five-title deal with www.allianceatlantis.com Spanish distributor Alquimia Cinema, linked to producer/exhibitor Aurum Producciones. Titles include Maelstrom and Stardom. Blow-Up Pictures US digital filmmaker has signed US; +1/212 343 1849 three-year deal with US www.blowuppictures.com independent distributor Lot 47, which will provide domestic distribution for at least half of Blow Up's productions and minimum of eight titles. Budgets will be at or below $1 m, as is usual for Blow Up features, although titles have not yet been determined. Idea is to bring together two companies at an early stage to decide on distribution and marketing strategy, in order to get a headstart on digital films sold after completion. Canalnumedia Internet division of French pay France; +33/1 44 25 10 00 TV operator Canal Plus has sold www.canalnumedia.fr its rights to develop websites for several French soccer stars to Internet sports specialist Athleteline. Deal gives Athleteline rights to websites of Emmanuel Petit, Marcel Desailly, Lilian Thuram, Bixente Lizarazu, Youri Djorkaeff and Frank Leboeuf. Canalnumedia will retain rights for website of two-times World Player of the Year, Zinedine Zidane. CinemaNow US Internet-based pay-per-view USA; +1/310 314 2000 (PPV) movie operator has agreed www.cinemanow.com deal with its parent company Lions Gate Entertainment to offer Lions Gate films on the Internet, beginning with each film's PPV window, usually about 60 days after video rental release. Films will cost 92.99. Agreement brings much-needed extra product for CinemaNow, which up to now has been offering older content free. Eagle Pictures Revitalised Italian Italy; +39/6 32 22 278 distributor has sealed three-year product deal with Mutual Film Company for three films a year over the period. First film is Paramount's video game spin-off Tomb Raider, co-financed by Mutual. Granada Television UK broadcaster is to produce UK; +44/161 832 7211 [pound]3m ($4.5m) worth of broadband www.granada.co.uk programming for Wellbeing, the health channel it owns jointly with retailer Boots. Granada plans to create a broadband 'factory', making high-volume, low-cost programming. Wellbeing is due to launch next month (March). In Demand Pay-per-view (PPV) programmer USA; +1/646 638 8200 has signed deal with AOL Time www.indemand.com Warner channels TNT and Cartoon Network to offer films and episodes for distribution via video-on-demand. Initial TNT titles to be offered include Andersonville, Kissinger and Nixon, while Cartoon Network titles on offer will include The Flintstones and Johnny Bravo. In Demand provides PPV programming for cable systems reaching 28m PPV-addressable households. Intertainer US video-on-demand (VoD) firm USA; +1/310 264 3944 has agreed content deal to www.intertainer.com distribute original programming and films from A&E Television Networks. From February 200 I, Intertainer will offer selected pay-per-view and VoD programming from A&E Network and The History Channel on its TV-based VoD platform and its Intertainer.tv broadband Internet site. Lego Danish interlocking brick toy Denmark; +45 79 50 74 24 manufacturer has signed www.lego.com agreement to develop interactive software for Microsoft's Xbox video games console, as well as on-line activities for children's section of Microsoft's website MSN Kids Channel (www. kids.msn.com). Lego has previously embraced digital age with CD-ROM games, microcomputer-controlled toy robots, and movie director kit for children in alliance with Steven Spielberg. Lions Gate Entertainment Canadian film Canada; +1/416 944 0104 and television group has www.lionsgate-ent.com acquired all-media domestic rights to production slate of InDigEnt co-operative. InDigEnt operates as digital video film production funding collective: film-makers agree to technical and budgetary constraints in return for 50 per cent of distribution revenues, shared by entire production crew. Films will premiere on Independent Film Channel after initial release in medium 'most appropriate to their scale'. Paramount Pictures Major has concluded three year USA; +1/213 956 5000 first-look distribution deal www.paramount.com for films from fledgling film, television and Internet company Crusader Entertainment. Crusader aims to produce up to six films a year in various genres. Budgets will range from $4m to $80m and may be fully or co-financed. Paramount Television Group Programme producer has signed USA; +1/213 956 5000 three-year programming deal www.paramount.com with Japanese distributor Movie Television covering free, basic cable and satellite rights to all theatrical releases 2000-2003, as well as series, mini-series and TV movies for the 2000/01 to 2002/03 seasons. Studio Hamburg Letterbox Feature film arm of Studio Filmproduktion Hamburg has agreed a three-title Germany; +49/40 66880 co-production and distribution deal with German outfit Concorde Film, beginning with Widerstand der Herzen. Valley Distribution Audio-visual distribution arm USA; +1/530 661 6600 of Valley Entertainment in US www.valley-entertainment.com has become sole supplier of DTS 5.1 technology-developed music CDs and DVD Audio titles from DTS Entertainment record label. To date, more than 115 DTS 5.1 CD titles have been released; first DVD Audio recordings will be launched this month (February). Distribution was previously handled by Image Entertainment.
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