https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Pfy3gsCqic
High View, an independent media company based in Germany, is set to take over two Sony cable television channels in the country.
This month, officials at High View notified federal regulators in nearby Austria that the company intends to acquire all outstanding shares of Fiction First, a German program distributor that offers Sony Channel and Sony AXN to cable, satellite and streaming platforms in the DACH (Germany, Austria, Switzerland) region of Europe.
Under High View’s control, Fiction First will contribute distributing the two Sony channels, which will be rebranded to “AXN Black” and “AXN White” upon closure of the deal. The agreement will also see High View take control of Sony’s streaming television platform, AXN Plus.
Financial terms of the deal were not immediately available. Regulators in Austria have given competitors until August 14 to file a comment about the proposed merger.
Sony Channel offers a number of domestic and foreign television series dubbed in German, including the BBC hit drama “Call the Midwife,” Granada Television’s “Casanova,” the American series “Doc,” and the CBC’s “Murdoch Mysteries.”
High View spun up earlier this year with the launch of four free-to-air music video channels on a pan-European satellite operated by SES. The channels span the genres of rock, rap, dance and classic hits.
