Telefonica has formed new company to look after its media interests. Jose Antonio Rios, president and CEO of Telefonica Media, a new company formed just one week ago, announced in Cannes this week that the unit will be floated in the first quarter of next year, subject ot certain conditions.

Investment bank JP Morgan is currently conducting a complete examination of Telefonica’s media-related assets. Rios confirmed that Vfa Digital, Antena 3 and Telefonica’s TSA satellite services unit will be included in the new group, in addition to its investments in Pearson and cable and satellite -related investments in Latin America. "This is going to be a huge entity," said Rios. "There is no other audio-visual group in the world that can reach 250 million Spanish and Portuguese-speaking homes." The IPO will be on NASDAQ. Telefonica Media is expected to one of Spain’s top 30 companies in terms of market capital.

Rios also confirmed that Telefonica intends to reduce its holding in Via Digital and that it was talking to European and American groups about participation in the platform. Hughes is seen as a possible partner, as is Hicks’ News, already a partner in Latin America interests.