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LEADING French commercial TV network TF1 is seriously considering the possibility of buying a stake in Italian pay-TV operator Stream.

TF1’s interest in Stream was confirmed on May 3 by president Patrick Le Lay whodid not exclude the possibility of reconsidering a bid, following last month’s exit of Cecchi Gori Group and SDS as shareholders. Last year, TF1 had planned to take between 10 and 15 per cent of Stream, but then changed its mind following the hostile take-over by Olivetti of Telecom Italia.

According to Le Lay, during the initial negotiations regarding the shareholding structure of Stream, “we chose not to participate because we thought the alliance between

News Corp, Telecom Italia, several football teams and Cecchi Gori, seemed complex. Today the structure is simplified and we could evaluate the question once again, if we are asked to do so.”

The possible entrance of TF1 in Stream seems to suggest a wide-ranging alliance (from Internet to TV) between Mediaset-Kirch-TF1-Murdoch which could rival Vivendi, Canal+, Mannesmann, Vodafone (and RAI in Italy) as well as CLT-Ufa-Pearson TV.


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