Shareholders have approved a deal under which Telecom Italia (TI) will take complete control of its 77.71% subsidiary Telecom Italia Media. Under the arrangement first announced in February, TI is looking to swap 0.66 of its ordinary shares for each outstanding Telecom Italia Media ordinary share, as the telco looks to simplify its group structure. A statement from Telecom Italia Media said: ‘The merger operation is planned to take effect for statutory purposes in the third quarter of 2015.’ Telecom Italia Media’s main asset is a majority stake in Italian digital terrestrial television (DTT) operator Persidera, with the division having sold off other assets, including TV channels La7 and MTV Italia over the last few years.
Meanwhile, TI has conducted live trials of Long Term Evolution (LTE) broadcast technology at a football match in Milan. A number of fans at AC Milan’s San Siro stadium were able to watch streams of three live matches simultaneously over TI’s 4G LTE network using compatible devices. The trial was carried out in conjunction with equipment partner Huawei. Marco Patuano, CEO of Telecom Italia, said in a statement: ‘We are particularly proud to start the testing of LTE broadcast, which will bring the mobile TV anytime and anywhere with very high quality video content and live streaming simultaneously.’