The arrival of Javier Bardaja as Atresmedia’s new CEO could accelerate the company’s plans to further develop its audiovisual business. And it can do this hand in hand with one of its most important partners: Telefónica. The information conglomerate and the telecommunications company have always maintained a close relationship, which is reflected in joint venture created in 2020, Buendia Productions.

In fact, according to the annual financial report of Telefónica Audiovisual Digital, a content production and production subsidiary, the operator indicates that Buendía has become the main partner in this division.

“AD formed together with Atresmedia, Buendía Estudios and Buendía Production, which meant an unprecedented alliance in the Spanish audiovisual industry and an impetus for creativity, talent and content in Spanish, promoting them around the world, developing most of its activities. for third party operators, national and international”, extracted from the document and that it Five days.

But apart from this alliance, Atresmedia has in recent months become one of the possible allies that Telefónica is looking for for its television. The company, led by José Maria Alvarez-Pallet, scoured the market for several blocks looking for a partner who could invest new capital to promote its product.

One of them, the paper reported, was Vivendi. The French conglomerate was in talks with telecom, although the government ultimately discouraged the operation as it saw part of the strategic company could end up in the hands of foreign investors.

This option won whole numbers in the Vivendi offices as the government also opposed land acquisition in Prisa, a company it had controlled for months with the arrival of Pedro Sánchez’s ropers.

The French conglomerate has announced its intention to leave Prisa to focus on Movistar+. However, sources from the telecommunications sector confirmed to this newspaper that Moncloa once again vetoed the group because of its far-right political leanings.

In this context, as lainformacion.com intended, Atresmedia positioned itself as the reference partner of Telefónica in its television. Getting on television operator would mean that the owner of the conglomerate Sixth or Antenna 3 position itself even more on pay TV. Like Mediaset, it has been trying to adapt to the new on-demand consumption over the past three years with its own payment platform (Atresplayer Premium), where it streams exclusive content and premieres.

However, according to telecommunications sources, Bardagi intends to buy a stake in Movistar+. While Telefónica’s position is not to comment on possible corporate moves, sources consulted explain that the operator would be comfortable with a partner with a percentage of around 15% stepping in.

A good relationship

Movistar+ is one of the most important assets of the operator, which has 4.6 million Fusion customers with an ARPU of EUR 89.6 per customer. Television was one of the main pillars of his commercial strategy.

In all this lace, it is convenient to emphasize the wonderful relationship that exists between Jose Maria Alvarez-Pallet and Javier Bardagi. Meetings between the two directors are common, according to people familiar with the matter, with production company Buendía being the main topic of conversation. In fact, Atresmedia’s new CEO was already close to heading the Movistar+ project, although negotiations did not take place and the telecommunications company appointed Christina Burzako as CEO of Pay TV.

In turn, the Board of Directors of Planeta, Atresmedia’s majority shareholder group, welcomes this new possible alliance between Telefónica and the owner La Sexta, Antena 3 and Onda Cero.

Advantages

Bardaji’s arrival comes at a good time for the company.
Atresmedia Received net profit 23.1 million euros in the first quarter of the year, which is 15.2% more than in the same period in 2022. In addition, the company received a net profit of 209.3 million euros.

This figure represents a 2.6% year-over-year increase for the media group. In addition, gross operating income was €35.2 million compared to €34.6 million in 2021.