Grupo Audiovisual Mediaset España Comunicación, S.A.U. (formerly Gestevisión Telecinco, S.A. and Mediaset España Comunicación, S.A.) is a Spanish media company, controlled by the Italian-based company
MFE – MediaForEurope N.V., which is majority-owned by Berlusconi family's
Fininvest Group. Its divisions include the generalist free-to-air TV channels
Telecinco and
Cuatro, thematic channels and a film production subsidiary,
Telecinco Cinema.
Created in 1989 as ''Gestevisión Telecinco'', it was then granted one of the first licenses for private free-to-air analogic terrestrial TV broadcasting in Spain. In 2009, already in the
TDT transition era, Gestevisión agreed with
PRISA's
Sogecuatro to merge their businesses (most notably their flagship channels Telecinco and Cuatro), with in exchange of a minor participation of PRISA as shareholder of Gestevisión. In 2011, the media conglomerate was renamed to ''Mediaset España Comunicación'' PRISA eventually sold its remaining shares in 2015.
History
1989–1993: The early years
Gestevisión Telecinco was established on 10 March 1989, to participate in the
government
A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state.
In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...
auction of broadcasting licenses announced by
Felipe González's government following the ''Ley de Televisión Privada'' (Law of Commercial Television). Its first president was Germán Sánchez Ruipérez and, with a capital of 250 million pesetas, its shareholding was distributed as follows:
*
Fininvest, presided by
Silvio Berlusconi
Silvio Berlusconi ( ; ; 29 September 193612 June 2023) was an Italian Media proprietor, media tycoon and politician who served as the prime minister of Italy in three governments from 1994 to 1995, 2001 to 2006 and 2008 to 2011. He was a mem ...
(25%);
* Divercisa, belonging to the
Organización Nacional de Ciegos de España (ONCE), presided by Miguel Durán (25%);
* Sociedad Europea de Comunicación e Información (CECISA), belonging to Ediciones Anaya, presided by Germán Sánchez Ruipérez (25%);
* Juan Fernández Montreal, owner of Chocolates Trapa (15%);
* Promociones Calle Mayor, of the property developer Ángel Medrano Cuesta (10%).
On 25 August 1989 Gestevisión Telecinco, along with
Antena 3 Televisión
Antena 3 (''Antena Tres'') is a Spanish terrestrial television channel part of Atresmedia, of which it is the flagship station. Its current headquarters are located in San Sebastián de los Reyes.
Some of the most popular programmes broadcast b ...
and
PRISA TV, were issued a 10-year broadcasting license to operate a national,
free-to-air
Free-to-air (FTA) services are television (TV) and radio services broadcast in unencrypted form, allowing any person with the appropriate receiving equipment to receive the signal and view or listen to the content without requiring a subscri ...
, commercial television channel. On 3 March 1990
Tele5 (as it was known then) began its initial broadcast.
In 1997
Silvio Berlusconi
Silvio Berlusconi ( ; ; 29 September 193612 June 2023) was an Italian Media proprietor, media tycoon and politician who served as the prime minister of Italy in three governments from 1994 to 1995, 2001 to 2006 and 2008 to 2011. He was a mem ...
's
Mediaset Group acquired the majority of shares in Telecinco.
The main director of Atlas, Chema Baptist, added maximum responsibility of Telecinco's internet area and new business multiplatform to his duties. This decision was part of the company's policy of harnessing content creation and management in new technologies, and it took place immediately after the repurchase of 50% of his internet branch was finalised by Orange in 2001.
In 1998, after the arrival of
Paolo Vasile as Chief executive officer, Telecinco became more prominent in Spain. On 10 March 2000, the Spanish government renewed the concession for a further 10 years.
In 2003, Mediaset Group increased its stake in Telecinco and became the major shareholder with 50.1% of the shares. Gestevisión Telecinco was listed on the stock exchange on 24 June 2004.
In 2008, Gestevisión Telecinco entered the
North American market with the acquisition of a 29.2% stake in
Caribevision, an
American broadcaster for the country's Spanish-speaking population.
2009–present: Telecinco-Cuatro merger
On 18 December 2009,
Mediaset
Mediaset S.p.A. is an Italian mass media and television production and distribution company that is the largest commercial broadcaster in the country. The company is controlled by the holding company MFE – MediaForEurope (the original ...
, the controlling shareholder of Gestevisión Telecinco, and
PRISA, parent company of
Sogecable, presented an agreement to merge their television operations (Telecinco and
Cuatro). Following this merger,
Cuatro would be purchased in full by Telecinco. As part of the deal,
PRISA would buy newly issued shares of Gestevisión Telecinco, giving it an 18% stake in the company.
This agreement made Gestevisión Telecinco the largest television network in Spain by audience share. In total the group would operate eight free-to-air channels:
Telecinco,
Cuatro,
LaSiete,
FactoríaDeFicción,
LaNueve,
CNN+ and
CincoShop.
The board of directors of the enlarged Gestevisión Telecinco (which would keep the brands and editorial structure of both Telecinco and Cuatro) has Alejandro Echevarria as a chairman and
Juan Luis Cebrián as a vicechairman, both non-executives; with two CEOs, Paolo Vasile (programming) and Giuseppe Tringali (advertising).
PRISA also has two CEOs and nominates the vice-chairman of the operator.
As part of the agreement, Gestevisión Telecinco would take a 22% shareholding in the
Digital+ platform.
The Comisión Nacional de la Competencia (the Spanish antitrust commission), with a resolution dated 28 October 2010, authorised the acquisition by Gestevision Telecinco S.A. of exclusive control of Sociedad General De Television Cuatro S.A.U. (Sogecuatro) through the purchase of 100% of its share capital, subordinate to certain conditions. Telecinco, having met the suspension conditions to which it was subjected, acquired a 22% stake in DTS Distribuidora de Televisión Digital SA (Digital+) and 100% of the share capital of Sogecuatro, which operated the free-to-air channel Cuatro.
On 11 March 2011, following the purchase of
Cuatro and the creation of its newest channel,
Divinity
Divinity (from Latin ) refers to the quality, presence, or nature of that which is divine—a term that, before the rise of monotheism, evoked a broad and dynamic field of sacred power. In the ancient world, divinity was not limited to a single ...
, the company informed the ''
Comisión Nacional del Mercado de Valores'' to amend the corporate name of the company from Gestevision Telecinco to Mediaset España Comunicación.
Mediaset España is a supporter of the
Hybrid Broadcast Broadband TV (HbbTV) initiative that is promoting and establishing an open European standard for hybrid set-top boxes for the reception of broadcast TV and broadband multimedia applications with a single user interface, and has run pilot HbbTV services.
In 2022, after a bid for the 44% pool of shares it did not already hold,
MFE — MediaForEurope (the former "Mediaset Group") completed the takeover of Mediaset España, ending up with roughly a 83% of shares of the company, with the following stated goal being the full merger of Spanish operations with the Milan-based company.
In November 2022, Mediaset España disclosed a restructuring of its senior management, with the appointment of Alessandro Salem and Massimo Musolino as the company's new CEOs, respectively tasked with the areas of Advertising, and Management & Operations, as well as the delegation of certain executive powers in the area of External & Institutional Relations to chairman
Borja Prado.
In late January 2023, MFE announced that it would go ahead with Mediaset España merger plan, and offered to pay €3.2687 per share in the Madrid-based broadcaster.
It also announced that it will give seven MFE class A shares per one Mediaset España share to investors who backed the merger.
On 14 March 2023, MFE offered to buy a 1.05% stake in Mediaset España held by
Vivendi for €10.7 million.
The following day, 15 March 2023, the shareholders of Mediaset España approved MFE's absorption plan in an
extraordinary general meeting, but José Antonio del Barrio Colmanarejo accused the managers of "failing to defend the interests of shareholders in the face of what he saw as an undervaluation of the company".
On 28 April 2023, it was reported that MFE's absorption of Mediaset España was expected to be completed on 3 May.
2 May 2023 was Mediaset España's last day of trading; the Spanish subsidiary's final stock price was €2.89 per share, before the company was delisted from Spanish stock exchanges on the following day, 3 May. Mediaset España's shareholders were offered seven newly issued class A shares of MFE per one Mediaset España share. In total, 220,934,896 new class A shares were issued, with a nominal value of €0.06 each.
Ownership
As of May 2023, Mediaset España is fully owned by
MFE - MediaForEurope.
Group responsibilities
* Grupo Editorial Tele 5, S.A.U. (Spain)
* Agencia de Televisión Latino-Americana de Servicios y Noticias España, S.A.U. (Spain)
*
Telecinco Cinema, S.A.U. (Spain)
* , S.A.U. (Spain)
* Cinematext Media, S.A. (Spain)
* Conecta 5 Telecinco, S.A.U. (Spain)
* Mediacinco Cartera, S.L. (Spain)
* Canal Factoría de Ficción, S.A.U. (Spain)
* Atlas Media, S.A.U. (Spain) — News agency responsible for providing news content for Telecinco's daily news bulletins.
* Agencia de Televisión Latino-Americana de Servicios y Noticias País Vasco, S.A.U. (Spain)
* MiCartera Media, S.A.U. (Spain)
* Publimedia Gestión, S.A.U. (Spain)
* Advanced Media, S.A.U. (Spain)
* Cinematext Media Italia, S.R.L. (Italy)
* Telecinco Factoría de Producción, S.L.U. (Spain)
*
Sociedad General de Televisión Cuatro, S.A. (Spain) — Defunct subsidiary responsible for operating Cuatro.
* Compañía Independiente de Noticias de Televisión, S.A. (Spain) — News agency responsible for providing content for the now defunct
CNN+ news channel.
* Sogecable Media, S.L. (Spain)
Channels
Current
;Domestic
*
Telecinco
*
Cuatro
*
Factoría de Ficción
*
Boing (50% with
Warner Bros. Discovery)
*
Divinity
Divinity (from Latin ) refers to the quality, presence, or nature of that which is divine—a term that, before the rise of monotheism, evoked a broad and dynamic field of sacred power. In the ancient world, divinity was not limited to a single ...
*
Energy
Energy () is the physical quantity, quantitative physical property, property that is transferred to a physical body, body or to a physical system, recognizable in the performance of Work (thermodynamics), work and in the form of heat and l ...
*
Be Mad
Former
*
LaSiete
*
Nueve
;International
*
CincoMAS
References
External links
*
{{Authority control
Television networks in Spain
Mass media companies of Spain
Spanish-language television networks
Television companies of Spain
Mass media in Madrid
Companies based in the Community of Madrid
Mass media companies established in 1989
Spanish companies established in 1989
Companies listed on the Madrid Stock Exchange
Spanish brands
Spanish subsidiaries of foreign companies