Universal Music Group (UMG) is to take a stake in the French urban music channel Trace TV. UMG will become a global strategic investor in the company, and receive a seat on the board, though the actual financial terms of the relationship have not been released.
“Universal’s strategy is to become actively involved in all areas of media where our artists and our music are present,” explained Nick Henny, Vice Chairman and CFO of UMG. Pascal Negre, president, Mediterranean, South America and Middle East Region, Universal Music Group International, has been appointed to work with Trace management Richard Wayner and Olivier Laouchez.
Paris-based Trace-TV was launched in 2003 and has already built up a network of 50 million homes in close tom 100 countries. Some nine million households in France, Germany, Poland, India, Russia, West Africa, China, Indonesia, Turkey and the Middle East are making a contribution to the service through pay-TV packages.
It is a return to the European music video market for Universal, which at one time controlled the German music channel Viva, before its acquisition by MTV.