Mediaset takes a new step in its pan-European project with the purchase of 9.6% of the German company ProSieben

This operation, valued at 330 million euros, could be a first step for the Italian group controlled by Fininvest to merge with ProSieben, based in Munich.

Mediaset has acquired for 330 million euros a 9.6% share at the German television operator ProSieben. This could be a first step for the Italian group controlled by Fininvest would merge with ProSieben, based in Munich.

The former Italian Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi, would seek with this operation reinforce Mediaset's role as a pan-European operator. The Italian company, which also controls Mediaset Spain, is now ProSieben's second largest shareholder in terms of voting rights, after Capital Research Global Investors.

The entry of Mediaset into ProSieben, which has lost more than two thirds of its value in the last four years, occurs ten years after the failure of talks between Mediaset and Vivendi, to create a large European free-to-air television conglomerate, thus achieving muscle to face the invitations from global giants such as Netflix, Amazon or Disneyy.

This operation is part of the alliance launched by a dozen European broadcasters such as Mediaset itself, the French company TF1 or the British Channel 4 to soon launch a platform for the distribution of streaming video content and advertising.

And all European commercial television stations have the same problem: stopping the decline in audience due to the use of social media by young people and the rise of on-demand services, which leads to a drop in advertising revenue. .

The rapid process of globalization that conditions the international scene means that European media operators see the need to join forces to continue competing or even resisting in terms of European cultural identity any hostile entry by global giants.

Finally, it should be noted that ProSieben plans to launch next summer Joy's, a streaming platform developed in collaboration with Discovery.

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