Merger predicted on digital TV market following sale

The head of the Vivendi Universal media concern, which controls Canal + TV, has predicted that Poland's two biggest digital TV platforms, Cyfra + and Wizja TV, will merge. Following the sale by Agora S.A. of its stake in Canal + and Cyfra +, Jean-Marie Messier, president of Vivendi Universal, announced his plan to merge Canal + Poland with United Pan-European Communications (UPC). UPC is the owner of the UPC Telewizja Kablowa network and Wizja TV. The tie-up is expected to take place within the first half of this year. To date, no Polish digital TV platform has managed to attract 500,000 subscribers, the level considered to guarantee satisfactory profitability. In 1999, the losses of Canal + totaled euro 25 million and net losses by UPC Polska amounted to euro 135 million. A further reason for the merger is the increasing difficulty being experienced by UPC in finding new financing sources. Although the need for such a merger has been stated for several years by experts, all the attempts so far have foundered at the negotiating table. (Gazeta Wyborcza, 30 April - 1 May, p. 29) M. S.-C.