U.K.’s Yes TV Attracts Hollywood Cash

U.K. pay-TV company Yes Television is to get cash injections
from two Hollywood-based studios.

Yes, which specialises in delivering video on demand via
conventional copper telephone lines, has confirmed that
Warner Brothers and Walt Disney’s Buena Vista will
respectively take a 10 per cent and nine per cent stake in
the company prior to its London based initial public offering
(IPO) this month.

The company expects to sell 81 million shares at between
225 pence and 275 pence each during the flotation and has
the option to sell a further 12.15 million shares if there is
demand. The sell off is expected to value the company at
around £670 million.

Yes has played down the risk of its imminent IPO, following
the dramatic fall in lastminute.com’s share price which
dropped below issue price at the beginning of open trading
last month.

“We’re not a dot com,” said Thomas Kressner, chief executive
of Yes. “We are very comfortable with our pricing.”

Currently, Yes only has around 300 viewers on a pilot scheme
but is planning a national launch of a service with BT in the
autumn when the telco switches on its ADSL service that
allows high-speed transmission over copper lines. A further
trial with 400 homes will begin in London at the end of this
month.

The share offer opens from 3 April for institutions and 4 April
for retail investors. Conditional dealing is slated to begin on
17 April, and the minimum retail application is £1000.

from VNUnet.com.