TVP, Canal+ join forces for digital TV

Canal+ last Tuesday signed a letter of intent with TVP and two other Polish companies - Polsat and cable operator AsterCity - to create a combined digital platform.
But TVP was careful last week to stress that no final deal has been signed.
"It's just a letter of intent," said Pawel Sosnowski, head of TVP's information bureau. "And we know what sometimes happens with letters of intent."
Just five months ago Canal+ signed a similar letter with @Entertainment's Wizja TV to create a joint digital platform. However, the deal fell through because the two entities were unable to agree on terms. "We certainly hope this time the letter will actually end with a solid contract," Sosnowski said.
Also Canal+ Polska, the driving force behind the future consortium, remained optimistic last week. "We signed a letter of intent and now our lawyers are working to prepare the actual contract," Lew Rywin, president of Canal+ Polska, told the Business Journal last Friday. "We want to sign the documents next week."
Whether the deal goes through or not, Canal+ still plans to kick off its own digital platform at the end of October, Rywin added.
Although the initial documentation does not specify the exact stakes to be taken by the Polish companies, according to Canal+, TVP is likely to assume the largest stake - 40%. Canal+ Polska's mother company, Telewizyjna Korporacja Partycypacyjna (TKP), will take 25%, and Polsat will have 22%. AsterCity would assume 3% of the shares with 10% reserved for other investors.
The 10% stake could be assumed by telecom monopoly Telekomunikacja Polska (TPSA). But Rewin stressed that the stake may be offered to other Polish broadcasters if TPSA is too sluggish to join the consortium in a timely manner.
"It's an open offer," he said. "We'll take even Wizja if they decide to become a purely Polish broadcaster."