A major report from investment bankers Morgan Stanley Dean Witter on Italy’s Mediaset has described the company as having considerable "value in diversity". The Morgan Stanley report said that Italian pay-TV (from Telepi_) is not a threat at this stage "for Telepiu continues to underperform expectations with regard to consumer numbers…in fact we breathed a huge sigh of relief when Fininvest chose to put its 10 per cent holding [in Telepi_] back to controlling shareholder Canal Plus."
Over the past half-year Mediaset has further diversified outside its core market with a major deal (Traviata), announced with Kirch Group, that takes Mediaset into Germany and also gives it a useful slice of Kirch’s European TV production.
Analyst Sarah Simon said that some 20 per cent of Mediaset’s value is now accounted for by assets other than its core Italian TV channels (Canale 5, Italia 1, Rete 4), which command an impressive 42 per cent of the national TV audience and 60 per cent of advertising spend.
In 1996 Mediaset invested in Spain’s Telecinco (for Euro97 million (Pounds 64 million)), and Morgan Stanley’s report said that today that investment is worth Euro618 million. Telecinco has around 21 per cent share of the Spanish audience, and a 23.7 percent share of commercial TV revenues, up 1.5 per cent on a year ago.
