Tickers: LSE: GCLA Press Release BCBA: GCLA
GRUPO CLARIN ANNOUNCES THAT ARGENTINE ANTITRUST COMMISSION APPROVES CABLE TELEVISION ACQUISITIONS
Buenos Aires, Argentina, December 10, 2007 – On Friday, December 7, 2007, Grupo Clarín S.A. (the “Company”) was served with notice of the decision of the Argentine Secretary of Domestic Commerce, issued under Resolution No. 257/2007, to approve a series of transactions among the Company, Fintech Advisory Inc. (“Fintech”), Cablevisión S.A. and Multicanal S.A. that had taken place on 26 September 2006, and as a result of which (i) the Company holds indirectly approximately 60% of the capital stock of Cablevisión, (ii) Fintech holds, directly and indirectly, approximately 40% of the capital stock of Cablevisión, (iii) Cablevisión, directly or indirectly, owns 98.5% of the capital stock of Multicanal, 100% of the capital stock of Holding Teledigital Cable S.A. (“Teledigital”) and 3% of Primera Red Interactiva de Medios Argentinos (Prima) S.A. (“Prima”) and (iv) Multicanal owns 97% of the capital stock of Prima.
In connection with its approval, the Argentine Secretary Domestic of Commerce accepted a two‐year irrevocable undertaking (the “Undertaking”) offered by the Company, Vistone LLC, Fintech, Fintech Media, LLC, VLG Argentina, LLC and Cablevisión, whereby such companies shall:
1. Guarantee the general availability of television signals that are owned or marketed exclusively by the companies involved in the approved transactions, under commercial conditions that are fair to all pay television operators that request such signals, whether or not they are competitors of Cablevisión, Teledigital or Multicanal.
2. Guarantee a place in the programming grids of Cablevisión, Teledigital and Multicanal to all providers of television signals, whether or not they are competitors of the any companies controlled by the companies involved.
3. Guarantee plurality, freedom of information and entertainment ensuring that the programming grid of Cablevisión, Teledigital and Multicanal offers subscribers a reasonable supply of news, sports and entertainment signals.
4. In order to pass on to consumers the benefits of the efficiencies generated by the approved transactions, the involved companies guarantee:
a. that they will extend their pay television and Internet access services. The companies’ project involves the laying of approximately 3,000 kilometers of 36‐fiber fiberoptic cable following the network of Argentine national and provincial roads. The following cities shall receive broadband service coverage: the City of Buenos Aires and its northern, southern and western metropolitan areas, Luján, General Rodríguez, Mercedes, Campana, Saladillo, Tandil, Zárate, Junín, Chivilcoy, Olavarría, Pergamino, Chacabuco, Lincoln, Balcarce,
Investor Relations Contacts In London: In New York: In Buenos Aires: Alex Money/Caroline Merrell Melanie Carpenter / Peter Majeski Alfredo Marín/M. Julia Díaz Ardaya Temple Bar Advisory Ltd. I‐advize Corporate Communications Grupo Clarín Tel: +44 20 7002 1080 Tel: +1 212 406 3692 Email: [email protected] E‐mail: [email protected] Email: clarin@i‐advize.com
www.grupoclarin.com/ir Dolores, La Plata, Ensenada, Bahía Blanca, Tres Arroyos, Mar del Plata, Pinamar, Santa Rosa, Cipoletti, General Roca, Neuquén, the City of Córdoba, Río Cuarto, Carlos Paz, Villa María, Laboulaye, Jesús María, Belle Ville, San Francisco, Salta, Posadas, Paraná, Santa Fe, Rosario, Rafaela, Cañada de Gómez, Corrientes, Firmat, Formosa, Gualeguaychú and Resistencia.
b. Progressively, an increasing number of cable television customers will have access to digital services with the following benefits: better image and sound quality, broader programming offer and the possibility to add new services that will be offered by the involved companies.
5. Guarantee, during the term of the Undertaking, that certain urban areas in which the networks of the involved companies overlap (La Plata, Necochea and Casilda) and where there are no alternative cable television providers, the basic representative fee for basic cable television services will not exceed the basic representative fee charged in the Buenos Aires metropolitan area.
6. Guarantee, during the term of the Undertaking, the implementation of an optional social pay television service with a reduced fee that will include all broadcast television signals and at least ten additional signals. Within the term of the Undertaking, this social service will be available to no less than 5% and no more than 10% of all homes passed by the involved companies in the Buenos Aires metropolitan area. Additionally, the involved companies have undertaken to carry out the necessary technical studies in connection with the availability of their technological platform to evaluate the possibility of extending this social service to other regions in which Cablevisión, Teledigital and/or Multicanal provide pay television services.
7. Provide, free of charge, the connection to the basic pay television service to the following public municipal, provincial and national establishments within the regions covered by the cable television networks of the involved companies, in accordance with the following details:
a. Hospitals and public health care centres, schools, police headquarters, fire department buildings and senior care centres, provided that they are located within the regions covered by the cable television networks of the involved companies and in urban centres with a population of up to 10,000. The service will be provided free of charge regardless of whether a given establishment belongs to a municipality, a province or the federal government.
b. Hospitals and public health care centres, schools and senior care centres, provided that they are located within the regions covered by the cable television networks of the involved companies and in urban centres with a population of up to 100,000. The service free of charge will be provided regardless of whether a given establishment belongs to a municipality, a province or the federal government.
c. Public schools and senior care centres, provided that they are located within the regions covered by the cable television networks of the involved companies and in urban centres
www.grupoclarin.com/ir with a population of more than 100,000. The service free of charge will be provided regardless of whether a given establishment belongs to a municipality, a province or the federal government.
ABOUT THE COMPANY
Grupo Clarín is the largest media company in Argentina and the market leader in the cable television and Internet access, printing and publishing, and broadcasting and programming segments. Its cable television network is the largest in Latin America, with the largest broadband subscriber base in Argentina. Its flagship newspaper –Diario Clarín– is the highest circulation newspaper in Latin America and the second‐highest circulation Spanish‐language newspaper in the world. Grupo Clarín is the largest producer of media content in Argentina, including news, sports and entertainment and reaches substantially all segments of the Argentine population in terms of wealth, geography and age.
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www.grupoclarin.com/ir