UK cable TV provider Virgin is selling its Sit-up home shopping division to German restructuring firm Aurelius.
The deal, worth an estimated GBP500m (USD732m), will see Sit-up’s Bid TV, Price Drop TV and Speed Auction TV channels transferred to Aurelius, which already runs German shopping channel RTL Shop.
?Since our acquisition of RTL Shop in Germany, we have become very familiar with the home shopping business model. We are excited about extending our presence in this market, especially since this is one of the few areas of growth in retailing,? says Aurelius CEO Dirk Markus.
Virgin recently wrote down Sit-up’s value by GBP54.8m (USD80.3m) after it failed to secure Freeview broadcast rights for one of Sit-up’s channels. Virgin posted a GBP50.2m (USD73.6m) loss in February following the write-down.
The sale is fuelling rumours that Virgin wants to offload its content business.
StrategyEye's related categories: TV Channels - General TV, Broadcasters - Cable, TV Channels - Speciality TV
StrategyEye's related companies: RTL, Virgin Media, sit-up channels
