Horse Creek Entertainment operates HomeTV.se, which is the third largest broadband VOD platform in Scandinavia.
In November, Horse Creek Entertainment made two private offerings, prior to its planned IPO on the Stockholm Stock Exchange. At the time of the offerings, Private acquired shares representing a 17.2 percent interest in the VOD provider, estimated at an aggregate value of 1 million Euros, with options for another 2 million shares. Horse Creek Entertainment is estimated to be valued at 7 million euros.
“These two successful offerings guarantee our continued investment in top-quality mainstream content, which plays a central role in our expansion of Home TV in Scandinavia and into additional territories,” Horse Creek Entertainment Chairman Charles Aperia said.
“The stake taken by Private is part of a close collaboration which ensures that both our companies can fully exploit not only the mainstream, but also the adult market by bringing Private’s high quality content to mainstream consumers,” Aperia said.
Numbers of IPTV subscribers globally will grow from 13.5 million in 2007 to 72.6 million in 2011, according to marketing research conducted by Multimedia Research Group Inc. With Europe leading the way for IPTV, forecasts estimate an annual growth rate of 48 percent in European markets from 6.4 million at the end of 2007 to 30.4 million in 2011.
Home TV has been operating since 2006, offering more than 500 mainstream and adult titles throughout Scandinavia with software developed specifically for their service. In 2008, Home TV plans expansion into markets including the Baltic States, Poland, U.K. and Ireland.
“The investment in Horse Creek Entertainment is part of a wider strategic plan to increase our strength in the mainstream broadcast market and we are very excited about the future development of Home TV,” Private Media Group CEO Berth Milton said. “Furthermore, we see a great business potential in combining Horse Creek Entertainment’s role as a mainstream content aggregator with our access to 75 percent of Europe’s fast growing IPTV market.”
News of the stock purchase comes at the same time that Private announced two new vice presidents.
Tim Clausen was promoted to vice president of sales from his former position as director of wireless technology, and Fiona Garvey was promoted as vice president of online media, from her former position as director of Internet.
