Saban
COLOGNE -- Entrepreneur Haim Saban and MTV parent Viacom are vying for a major stake in German music TV group Viva Media.
Current major shareholders of Viva, which owns music webs Viva and Viva Plus, include Time Warner with 30.6% and Universal with 15.3%.
Viacom and Saban are said to be in talks with all Viva shareholders for as much as 60% of the group.
A successful bid by Viacom would wipe out the competition for MTV, which has been forced to share the German market with Viva.
For Saban, a majority stake in Viva would expand the Egyptian-born Israeli-American's German holdings, which already include the country's biggest broadcasting group ProSiebenSat.1, deliver a further signal that he is in Germany for the long haul, and return the media mogul to his musical roots.
Saban is also entertaining a possible foray into pay TV, including a takeover of Germany's only paybox, Premiere.
Controlling Viva could benefit ProSiebenSat.1 in terms of programming. The group's leading web, ProSieben, is a major customer of the Viva-owned TV production outfit Brainpool, one of Germany's biggest producers of format shows.
Time Warner topper Richard Parsons recently indicated that the conglom would consider selling its stake in Viva if synergies with Time Warner were not improved.
Contact Ed Meza at
ed.meza@mannaa.de