PRISA TV will not exercise its option for a DTT freeview news channel, provided for in agreements signed with Telecinco

The agreements - signed on December 18, 2009 between Sogecable and Telecinco and Mediaset and PRISA and subsequently formalized in the merger deal of April 14, 2010 -- included the integration of Sogecable's Freeview television business into Telecinco as well as the latter's acquisition of a 22% stake in DIGITAL +.

According to the agreements, the merger included all operations and all human and material resources of Cuatro, Sogecablemedia - the exclusive advertising arm of Cuatro - the Compañía Independiente de Noticias de Televisión (CINTV), which produces news channel CNN+, and finally, Sogecable Editorial, owner of the music rights derived from Cuatro.

In accordance with the agreement, PRISA TV provides Telecinco with its free-to-view TV license, which includes the four broadcast channels in its multiplex, while reserving the option of leasing back one of the eight DTT channels resulting from the merger, with the sole purpose of developing a news channel.

PRISA TV has now informed Telecinco, within the agreed time fame, that it will not exercise the lease option on that channel.

Having analyzed the current free-to-view television market and the opportunities offered by new technologies, PRISA TV is instead to develop a global news channel, distributed on the Group's platform and across other digital networks. The channel will draw on the value of the Group's existing brands in a strategy aimed at strengthening its news presence in the global Spanish and Portuguese-language markets.