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Foxtel takeover of Austar advances

The takeover of Austar by Foxtel has overcome another hurdle after its biggest shareholder agreed to a bid.

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The takeover of Austar by Foxtel appears has overcome another hurdle after the regional Pay TV provider’s biggest shareholder Liberty Global Inc. agreed to a bid of $1.52 per share.

The agreement values Austar at A$2.5 billion.

“We look forward to completing the transaction and believe it represents compelling value for all shareholders,” Austar Chairman and Liberty Global Chief Executive Mike Fries said in a statement.

Foxtel Chief Executive Kim Williams said, “A merged Foxtel and Austar would make compelling strategic sense and it would continue to invest and innovate in a superb digital service for consumers across Australia.”

The takeover is still subject to conditions including approval by shareholders, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, the Foreign Investment Review Board and rulings by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service.

Source: Wall Street Journal

8 Responses

  1. My advice to Foxtel its

    “Take the hint from far better international providers and wise up. The movie channels for a horror range is very 2nd rate to what the rest of the world gets”

  2. I don’t see any remote improvement over Austar with Foxtel. The only difference is a fancy box and a few more channels. There’s no horror channel on Foxtel and they only offer a On demand service which is a rip off. If I wanted better I would have Sky UK or Direct TV in the USA which in fact cares about providing for their customers of which both Austar and Foxtel have failed to do. Sky has Horror channel and Direct TV has Chiller. What does Austar/Foxtel have for horror fans apart from token movie channels that mix in a crappy range of horror???

    Nothing

  3. This better go through, i am so sick of the inferior technology and pour service I receive from Austar. I never had any problems when I was in a Foxtel Area.

    Bring it on I say!!

  5. This takeover is not anti competitive because Austar is not directly competing with Foxtel and they are not a threat to Foxtel what so ever. I believe that Foxtel is doing Austar a favour by buying it out. This just another aquisition to bolster Foxtel’s portfolio and to gain more customers.

  6. If the ACCC say this merger is anti-competitive I will be annoyed, no one in the Foxtel regions understand how ripped of us Austar people are it is irritating, they don’t compete so I don’t understand why there would be a problem though.

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