Televisa wooing ally for triple-play
TV unit courts Telefonica in bid
|
Televisa prexy Emilio Azcarraga Jean said Televisa is "looking for opportunities" to better its position as a telco player and "didn't reject an alliance with Telefonica."
"It's very important to see what alliances can be constructed with Telefonica and other companies to improve consumer services and our business," he told Spanish financial daily Expansion.
The alliance would turn around Televisa's faceoff with Carlos Slim's giant Mexican telco Telmex in the country's vastly lucrative triple-play pay TV, Internet and telephony biz.
Televisa already owns satellite pay TV operator Sky Mexico. It's spent two years bulking up its domestic cable assets, buying TVI and Cablemas and, in a high-profile deal last July, paid $325 million for a majority stake in Mexico City telco Bestel.
But Telmex, already an Internet player, controls 90% of Mexican land lines and is awaiting a government license to plow into Internet pay TV.
Telefonica's cell phone operation in Mexico has 11 million clients.
An alliance with Televisa could give Telefonica one foot in Mexico's pay TV market but may goad Slim into moving into the Spanish market.
"If Telefonica goes on taking on Telmex in Mexico, sooner or later Slim will return the favor in Spain," said a Madrid-based analyst, adding that the clearest option would be a Telmex play for Spanish cabler Ono.
