Alex Webb, Columnist

TV Giants' Tie-Up Is Among the Stranger Things

A Mediaset/ProSieben joint defense against Netflix makes sense, but did the Italian broadcaster really have to buy a stake?

May 29, 2019 at 11:37 AM UTC

By Alex Webb

Alex Webb is a correspondent for Bloomberg Quicktake. He previously covered the technology, telecoms and media industries in London, San Francisco and Munich.

A strange approach to answering Netflix.
Photographer: Gabby Jones/Bloomberg

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Big tech’s global reach is forcing European broadcasters to ask some hard questions. Consolidation isn’t necessarily the answer.

On Tuesday it was Vivendi SA’s acquisition of pay-TV operator M7. On Wednesday, Italy’s Mediaset SpA said it had acquired almost 10 percent of German commercial broadcaster ProSiebenSat.1 Media SE.