Chereads / I Become A Noble in England / Chapter 398 - Chapter 397 Back to the Starting Point

Chapter 398 - Chapter 397 Back to the Starting Point

 "It looks like the Crown Prince and Lady Camilla are both very happy."

  When the Crown Prince and Lady Camilla completed their marriage registration and walked out, Bonnie whispered to Barron.

  Although she did not attend the Crown Prince's second wedding ceremony, the Queen and Prince Philip still attended when the two went to St. George's Chapel to take the oath.

  Another point worth mentioning is that the late Princess Diana's title was Princess of Wales, because the title of the Crown Prince is Prince of Wales.

  After Camilla married the Crown Prince, her title was not Princess, but Duchess of Cornwall.

  Just as some nobles have more than one noble title, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince holds many titles including Prince of Wales and Duke of Cornwall.

  In the end, Camilla did not get the title of princess. On the one hand, the royal family was dissatisfied with her, and on the other hand, the image of Princess Diana was too deeply rooted in people's hearts. People often put Princess of Wales first, and the first thing they think of is Diana. By avoiding this, they will not always be in her shadow.

  Anyway, in the royal family's propaganda, it was Ms. Camilla who respected the late Princess Diana and chose not to use the title "Princess of Wales".

  Because the Crown Prince's wedding was not celebrated too grandly, after attending the ceremony and congratulating each other in person, Barron and Bonnie returned to their residence.

  Hearing the woman sigh, Barron held her in his arms and asked softly:

  "What's wrong, honey?"

  "It's just that I have some feelings."

  Bonnie whispered:

  "Thinking back to when the Crown Prince and Princess Diana were a perfect match in the eyes of others, it was clear that he was happier when he was with Lady Camilla. Sometimes a marriage that is forced upon you may not necessarily last happily. How could Princess Diana have known that this would be the case..."

  "So just enjoy the present moment. No one can know what the future will be like, but as long as you don't waste the present moment, many things will be resolved."

  After hearing what Barron said, Bonnie thought for a moment and said nothing more.

  Sometimes she wanted a promise, but then she thought, is a promise really important?

  …

  After a period of negotiations, the BBC finally got what it wanted. They will inject 200 million pounds into Digital UK and acquire 10% of the newly issued shares of this digital TV platform operating company.

  As a result, Digital UK's shareholding ratio was diluted from 51% to 45.9% by SEM Group, the BBC's shareholding ratio increased from 34% to 40.6%, and ITV's shareholding ratio decreased to 13.5%.

  Although ITV has been strongly opposed to the negotiation, the BBC argued that Digital UK's FReeview platform needs to compete with other cable and satellite TV networks and must increase its financial investment.

  And they claimed that if ITV wanted, it could also participate in the investment...

  However, ITV's operating conditions have deteriorated in the past two years, and it is difficult to convince the board of directors to agree to invest funds in Digital UK - due to the decrease in advertising revenue, their funds are extremely tight.

  So in the end the BBC got the chance to take a vacation.

  In order to get SEM Group to agree to BBC's share purchase, they also obtained certain compromises from the other party.

  Prior to this investment, Digital Future Investments, a subsidiary of Caesars Fund, bought 30% of the shares of DailyVedio website held by Digital UK for US$20 million.  

  In this way, Digital Future Investments' stake in DailyVedio increased from 40% to 70%, leaving only 30% of the website's remaining shares held by O2 Telecom.

  In addition, DailyVedio.com has also reached a three-year agreement with the BBC. During this period, the BBC's website will be provided with video technology and streaming services by DailyVedio, and DailyVedio.com will receive priority recommendations on its website.

  On the surface, it seems that DS Capital, the company behind SEM Group, has given up some of its interests in Digital UK and increased its investment in the Internet. But in fact...

  "We have communicated with ITV and proposed to merge Summit Media with ITV..."

  Fergal Hayden, who has been promoted to CEO of SEM Group, told Barron's:

  "We are willing to acquire ITV as a whole in the form of cash and stock. The other party has expressed that it will consider this proposal, but it needs to be approved by the board of directors."

  He also said:

  "But judging from Michael Gray's reaction, he is still very interested in this merger."

  Yes, facing ITV's current difficult business situation, SEM Group has the idea of ​​acquiring this company, which was previously one of the three giants of British television.

  Before the emergence of Summit Media, the British television landscape was generally dominated by the BBC, ITV and Sky.

  However, the emergence of Summit Media SDTV broke this pattern. The BBC was not affected too much because it was supported by the state and its entertainment content was not dominant. Sky TV had News Corporation behind it and they were indeed more flexible and efficient in their operations, so although it was affected, it still developed.

  Only ITV, as the largest commercial television station in the UK, which has a high degree of overlap with Summit Media in terms of content, especially in variety shows, has been the most affected.

  This has also caused ITV's revenue to continue to decline in the past two years, and its current market value is similar to that of Summit Media...

  Michael Gray is the newly appointed CEO of ITV. Interestingly, before this, he was the chairman of the BBC.

  In fact, Michael Gray himself comes from a media family, and his uncle is the founder of ITV...

  It can be said that his decision to jump from the position of BBC chairman to ITV was also motivated by the idea of ​​saving this declining commercial TV station.

  But it seems that after a deeper understanding of ITV's situation, he is no longer completely confident about this - or he thinks the option of merging ITV with Summit Media is more feasible than turning the tide.

  Of course, the most important thing is that SEM Group promised Michael Gray that if the merger was completed, Michael Gray would be able to take charge of the merged Summit Media and become the CEO of the new company.

  At present, their contact with ITV is only with the other party's CEO Michael Gray, and no further negotiations have begun.

  Everything is still kept confidential, otherwise if the BBC knew about it, it would probably be uncomfortable.

  After all, they have just injected capital and increased their shareholding in Digital UK to 40.6%, which is very close to SEM Group's 45.9%.

  But if SEM Group completes the acquisition of ITV, plus ITV's original 13.5% stake in Digital UK, then SEM Group's shareholding will be close to 60% again...

  Isn't this a return to the original point of 40%-60%?