Telefónica reportedly joined a number of potential suitors for AT&T’s Latin American pay-TV assets. According to a Reuters report, the deal could be worth $10 billion. Telefónica is the largest telco in Latin America, but lacks significant holdings in the pay-TV market.
As part of AT&T’s $48.5 billion acquisition of DirecTV last year, the carrier took a large portfolio of pay-TV assets across Latin America. AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson made it clear he has little interest in hanging on to the assets, saying in part, “they are single product companies and that’s not terribly exciting to us.”
AT&T is the largest pay-TV player in Central and South America with approximately 19 million customers. Through the DirecTV acquisition, the U.S. carrier inherited PanAmericana, Peruvian television network, as well as gained a 93% stake in Sky Brasil, which offer satellite TV in countries including Venezuela, Argentina, Chile, Colombia and Puerto Rico.
An unnamed source also linked Liberty Global as a potential suitor for the assets. AT&T could decide to break up the assets and sell them in pieces. According to a Reuters source, “Other parties are interested in AT&T’s assets in specific countries, and the company may choose to run several sale processes.”
