Premium TV, the digital media sports group that builds and manages websites for organisations including Chelsea FC and the Premier League is being sold to the billionaire industrialist Len Blavatnik for £25 million (€33.93m) in a deal expected to close in July.
The former NTL subsidiary was also used by the cablenet to hold stakes in football clubs including Middlesbrough, Aston Villa and Leicester City. At one time NTL, now known as Virgin Media, had invested £110m in the company. When NTL filed for bankruptcy in 2002, Premium TV was sold to the crisis and turnaround advisory group Quest Turnaround Advisors.
Most recently, Virgin had commissioned Premium TV to produce broadband coverage of the Football League.
Blavatnik, who also holds stakes in the Russian broadcaster CTC Media and the UK’s Top Up TV, will place Premium TV with his other media interests in his Access Industries group.
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