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Time Warner Refines $1.4B Bid For Endemol

By DAVID LIEBERMAN, Executive Editor | Monday December 12, 2011 @ 6:19am PSTTags: Big Brother, Endemol, Endemol Big Brother, Mediaset, Time Warner

The amount is the same as Time Warner’s previous offer for the reality TV producer. But the entertainment giant now tells Endemol that it’s willing to pay all cash — not a combination of cash and debt — if the company wants. Endemol execs had made no secret of their disdain for Time Warner’s previous bid, which one insider referred to as “rock bottom.” The revised offer comes as Endemol approaches its December 13 deadline for a debt-for-equity swap designed to reduce the company’s debt to $670M from $3.7B. Once that happens, the company could be put up for auction. But the situation is complicated: One of Endemol’s biggest shareholders — Italy’s Mediaset, controlled by former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi — is also interested in buying the producer of shows including Big Brother, and Deal Or No Deal. It has said that it would not participate in an auction. Apollo Management, Centerbridge, and Providence Equity Partners and banks including Barclays and RBS are among Endemol’s biggest creditors.

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Scrapping ‘Big Brother’ Frees Up Drama Cash For UK Broadcaster Channel 4

By TIM ADLER in London | Wednesday September 29, 2010 @ 6:24am PDTTags: Endemol, Endemol Big Brother, TV, UK Big Brother Finance, UK TV

It’s using some of the money released by cancelling the show for two new comedy drama series. Channel 4 paid £60-65 million in a three-year deal for the Big Brother rights. Big Brother was thought to be moving across … Read More »

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Five Getting Cut-Price ‘Big Brother’ Bargain

By TIM ADLER in London | Thursday August 26, 2010 @ 6:43am PDTTags: Big Brother, Endemol Big Brother, Reality TV, Richard Desmond, Richard Desmond Five, UK Big Brother Finance

Richard Desmond, new owner of Channel 5, could pay as little as £20 million ($30 million) for the reality show, one insider tells me. Desmond wants the Endemol show to transfer from Channel 4, where it ended its 11th series … Read More »

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