© 2010 Rapid TV News
Chris Forrester ©RapidTVNews | 14-12-2009
News Corp will buy 10% of the Rotana movies-to-music group in January. A statement from Saudi Arabia capital Riyadh, where Prince Alwaleed bin Talal’s Kingdom Holdings business is based, confirmed that the News Corp deal is 99% completed.
The facts were confirmed by Rotana Media Services president Nezar Nagro, who made his comments as he announced a 100-million-riyal ($26.7m) distribution deal between Rotana Media Group and the Walt Disney Co. “If we join with News Corp, that could also take us outside our region," Mr Nagro added.
Rotana owns the largest catalogue of old Arabic movies and serials and also manages popular singers and musicians. According to Nagro, the previously-unconfirmed deal could be signed in January and would probably involve News Corp buying 10% of Rotana for an undisclosed price. Other reports state that News Corp would have an option to increase the stake from 10% to 20% in the future. Prince Alwaleed’s Kingdom Holdings is already an investor in News Corp.
Mr Nagro said the deal would give Rotana an advantage over the region's leading free-to-air broadcaster, the Saudi-controlled MBC group based in Dubai, in competing for regional viewers. "Rotana has about a 20% share of TV" in the region's largest markets of Egypt and Saudi Arabia, he said. "I think next year we will reach 30% in Saudi Arabia and Egypt" because of the new deal, he added. Saudi Arabia and Egypt are the most populated Arab nations in the region.
Nagro also said that Rotana, currently wholly owned by Prince Alwaleed, could offer its shares to the public next year and list them on the Saudi stock market.
Prince Alwaleed looks like also being granted one of 5 new FM radio licences in Saudi Arabia. Pay-TV broadcaster ART is another bidder for a licence.
© Rapid TV News 2009
