AUDIOVISUAL : FAILURE OF SPAIN'S TALKS ON MERGER OF DIGITAL TV SERVICES.

Summary:Shareholders in Spain's two digital television services, Canal Satellite Digital and Via Digital, have failed to reach an agreement on a merger of the two companies, Sogecable, the leading shareholder in Canal Satellite announced on October 1. Sogecable, itself controlled by the Spanish press group Prisa (publisher of the Madrid daily El Pais) and Canal Plus France, claims the main obstacle to an agreement concerned the "valorisation" of the two digital TV services.

Sogecable has nevertheless intimated that it remains open to dialogue and will continue to seek an agreement to improve the provision of digital satellite television in Spain. Sogecable and the telecommunications group Telefonica, leading shareholder in Via Digital, signed a letter of intention in July covering the merger of the two digital television services on the basis of a 50-50 alliance. The final agreement on this merger was to have been struck before September 30.

Telefonica has confirmed the failure of the negotiations with Sogecable, indicating that a merger was rendered impossible by differences over the valorisation of the two companies, management models and...