Mancelord Limited Eyes Bulgaria's Commercial DTT Multiplex

Business | May 3, 2010, Monday // 08:53
Bulgaria: Mancelord Limited Eyes Bulgaria's Commercial DTT Multiplex Bulgaria's National Unit Radio and TV Systems (NURTS) covers nearly all of Bulgaria with its network of radio and television broadcasting services. Photo by BGNES

Cyprus-based international financial investor Mancelord Limited plans to acquire the Bulgarian subsidiary of Slovakia’s Towercom, which will operate one of the country’s two national commercial DTT multiplexes.

Mancelord Limited, which is represented in Bulgaria by Bromak Ltd., majority shareholder in Bulgaria’s Corporate Commercial Bank Ltd, has informed about its plans the monopoly watchdog the Competition Protection Commission (CPC).

Bromak also holds a stake in the media group of mogul Irena Krasteva, who is believed to be funded by the Corporate Commercial Bank.

The deal will be concluded via NURTS Bulgaria, which is expected to acquire the National Unit Radio and TV Systems (NURTS), which covers nearly all of Bulgaria with its network of radio and television broadcasting services.

The monopoly watchdog has been approached with a request to approve also the acquisitions of NURTS by NURTS Bulgaria and the acquisition of a 50% stake in NURTS Bulgaria by the Bulgarian Telecommunications Company (BTC).

Should the regulatory body give the green light to all the three deals, Mancelord and BTC, as co-owners of stakes in NURTS Bulgaria, will be entitled to construct Bulgaria’s national commercial DTT multiplexes and will have the right to bid for the country’s public service DTT multiplex.

The Bulgarian Telecommunications Company, which was recently rebranded as Vivacom, signed last month an agreement to sell 50% of its broadcasting division - National Unit Radio and TV Systems (NURTS) - to international financial investor Mancelord Limited.

The price of the deal has not been disclosed.

The deal came nearly two years after BTC Group and Austria's Oesterreichische Rundfunksender (ORS) signed a preliminary agreement for NURTS acquisition, which term expired on 2 June 2009.

NURTS covers nearly all of Bulgaria with its network of radio and television broadcasting services. It has a key position on the analogue broadcasting market through its network of TV towers and retranslation facilities covering the entire territory of the country and transmitting the programmes of the major TV and radio operators.

Since 2006 it has been developing in Sofia an experimental DVB-T multiplex for transmission of digital terrestrial television.

In the middle of April the Bulgarian Communications Regulation Commission (CRC) received a total of seven bids for the operation of what will be the country’s public service DTT multiplex.

The bidders include mobile operators Vivacom, which hopes to outbid the others via NURTS Bulgaria.

The future operator of the multiplex, which will distribute the digital programs of the national state-owned television BNT and radio BNR, will receive a permit for 15 years and will provide services to 12 cities across the country – Blagoevgrad, Burgas, Varna, Vidin, Kardzhali, Pleven, Plovdiv, Russe, Smolyan, Sofia, Starta Zagora, Shumen.

Bulgaria has to wrap up the analogue television switch-off by December 2012.

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Tags: Mancelord Limited, Hannu Pro, ORS, BNR, BNT, DTT, NURTS, Vivacom, BTC

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