Poland’s Kino Polska will become the sole owner of the thematic channel Zoom TV on January 23.
In a statement, the company says that on that day it will buy the remaining 30% stake in Cable Television Networks & Partners (CNT & P) it does not already own for PLN10 million (€2.37 million).
By securing the stake, which is currently held by PIKE, Poland’s leading cable industry association, Kino Polska will become the sole owner of Zoom TV.
Zoom TV will be the latest of the launched channels on Poland’s eighth DTT multiplex to have recently seen a change in ownership, with Discovery gaining control of Metro TV in September and Polsat securing (amongst others) Nowa TV and Fokus TV earlier this month.
Commenting on Kino Polska’s acquisition,its chairman Boguslaw Kisielewski said: “On the one hand, we feel regret over the parting with PIKE, our long-term partner, with whom we have managed to develop so many valuable synergies in a relatively short time, especially in the area of distribution and production of unique content. On the other hand, bearing in mind the long-term actions taken by us and the challenges faced by the Kino Polska Group in the context of international development in the next 3-5 years, in our opinion this is the best moment to acquire the remaining shares in CNT & P. Full control over Zoom TV will give us the flexibility to build synergy with other international products of the Group, principally the ‘Polish Pack’ package already distributed in the EU and the United States”.
Kino Polska is itself majority (65.15%) owned by SPI International, with the next largest shareholders being Ipopema TF1 (8.59%) and Nationale-Nederlanden OFE (5.24%).
