SPI subsidiary Kino Polska TV has acquired 41% of shares in Stopklatka from Agora.
As a result, Kino Polska now owns 82.6% of shares in Stopklatka, which operates Poland’s leading terrestrial movie channel Stopklatka TV.
The deal, which follows a letter of intent signed in March announcing the potential acquisition by Kino Polska TV of Agora’s entire stake in Stopklatka, significantly strengthens Kino Polska TV’s position as one of the largest media groups in Poland. Earlier this year, it became the sole owner of the DTT channel Zoom TV after acquiring the stake owned by the Polish Chamber of Electronic Communications (PIKE). Its portfolio also includes the channels Kino Polska and Kino Polska Muzyka.
Commenting on the latest acquisition, Boguslaw Kisielewski, Kino Polska TV chairman of the board, said: “I am glad we have successfully completed this transaction. For us this is an important step in the implementation of the KP Group’s strategy, which is to become one of the five biggest media groups in Poland. Taking over Stopklatka will result in a significant increase in the group’s consolidated revenues and will present a number of benefits in such aspects as cost synergy, as well as in other areas including future negotiations with content suppliers.
“Stopklatka TV ideally fits our portfolio which features mostly movie channels. Thanks to Kino Polska’s television experience and its resources, the network leads the movie channel rankings. I feel joy Stopklatka is under our wings. Our primary objective is to grow our viewership and advertising sales from the DTT segment. At this point I’d like to thank Agora SA for the few years of fruitful cooperation”.
Stopklatka TV is distributed nationally on the first multiplex, as well as by most leading cable networks and DTH platforms in Poland, and claims 11.4 million active users.