Mediaset takes a new step in its pan-European project with the purchase of 9.6% of the German company ProSieben

This operation, valued at 330 million euros, could be a first step for the Italian group controlled by Fininvest to merge with ProSieben, based in Munich.

Mediaset has acquired for 330 million euros a 9.6% share at the German television operator ProSieben. This could be a first step for the Italian group controlled by Fininvest would merge with ProSieben, based in Munich.

The former Italian Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi, would seek with this operation reinforce Mediaset's role as a pan-European operator. The Italian company, which also controls Mediaset Spain, is now ProSieben's second largest shareholder in terms of voting rights, after Capital Research Global Investors.

The entry of Mediaset into ProSieben, which has lost more than two thirds of its value in the last four years, occurs ten years after the failure of talks between Mediaset and Vivendi, to create a large European free-to-air television conglomerate, thus gaining muscle to face the challenges shipments from global giants such as Netflix, Amazon or Disneyy.

This operation is part of the alliance puesta en marcha por una docena de broadcasters europeos como la propia Mediaset, la francesa TF1 o la británica Channel 4 para lanzar en breve una plataforma de distribución de contenidos de vídeo en streaming y publicidad.

Y es que todas las televisiones comerciales europeas tienen el mismo problema: frenar el descenso de la audiencia debido al uso de los medios sociales por parte de los jóvenes y del auge de servicios a la carta, lo que conduce a una caída de los ingresos publicitarios.

El rápido proceso de globalización que condiciona el escenario internacional hace que los operadores europeos de medios de comunicación se vean en la necesidad de unir fuerzas para seguir compitiendo o incluso resistiendo en términos de identidad cultural europea a cualquier entrada hostil de gigantes globales.

Destacar por último que ProSieben tiene previsto lanzar el próximo verano Joy's, una plataforma de streaming desarrollada en colaboración con Discovery.