Telefónica / Movistar makes €725m Digital+ bid

Telefónica / Movistar has made a €725 million bid for 56% of the Spanish pay-TV operation Digital Plus.

Digital+ is the satellite TV service for Spain.

The Telefónica / Movistar bid is somewhat less than the €1,000 million sought by the cash-strapped media concern Prisa that is effectively being forced to sell its TV operations.

Telefónica already holds 22% of Digital+ and with 78% of the company would be in effective control.

Telefónica / Movistar has been looking to relaunch its existing IPTV offer Movistar TV.

In the past Telefónica was a pay-TV operator in its own right through the Via Digital satellite platform, until its merger into what is now Digital+/Canal+ in 2002.

BSkyB, Al Jazeera and Liberty Global have previously been linked with a bid.