The owner of Mediaset, MediaforEurope (MFE), one of the leaders in the audiovisual sector in Italy and Spain (Canale 5, Telecinco, etc.), announced early September that it now holds 75.6% of the capital of its German competitor ProSiebenSat.1. It already controlled 33% of it when it launched a takeover bid in March. ProSieben, which owns 15 television channels, a production company, a streaming platform known for its cult German show – “Germany’s Next Top Model” by Heidi Klum – is worth 1.9 billion euros on the stock market.
Two days earlier, Pier Silvio Berlusconi, the buyer’s CEO and son of former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi (who died in 2023), had travelled to Berlin to meet with Wolfram Weimer, the German Minister of Culture. Weimer had expressed concern about the maintenance of ProSieben’s “editorial and economic independence” . This was a thinly veiled allusion to the ties between the late Italian premier and Vladimir Putin.
Europe-wide broadcasting giant
The deal creates a Europe-wide broadcast giant. MFE already owns 100% of Italy’s biggest broadcaster, Mediaset, and its Spanish counterpart, Mediaset España, which operates commercial network Telecinco. The group now reaches a combined population of about 210 million people.
The acquisition of ProSiebenSat.1 means that MFE has become the third largest commercial TV company in Europe, behind Bertelsmann-owned RTL and ITV in the UK. MFE’s ambition is to build a pan-European broadcaster that can compete with US streamers such as Netflix.
It will be interesting to see how this affects acquisitions and co-productions in the European market when MIPCOM come around in October.