Motive Television Plc Regulatory News (MTV)

25 Sep 2009 07:00



MOTIVE TELEVISION PLC (THE "COMPANY" OR "MOTIVE") 

CONTRACT WIN AND GENERAL MEETING

CONTRACT WIN

The Board of the Motive is pleased to announce that the Company's Dublin-based production arm has signed a three-year contract, worth €1.725m, with Irish commercial broadcaster TV3 to produce 38 live UEFA Champions League and Europa Cup football matches for the channel. The programmes will be co-produced with Asgard Media. Motive and Asgard Media already have a three-year contract with TV3, for the production of live GAA Championship football and hurling.

GENERAL MEETING

As part of the completion of the strategic review and repositioning of the Company to become a provider of digital terrestrial television technology as already announced, the Board has considered the loans made by Motive Television PLC to its subsidiary television production businesses. In light of the current low level of production commissioning, the Board has decided to take a prudent view as to the amount that may be recovered from these loans. As a consequence of this review the Company's net assets may be half or less than half of its called up share capital.

It is therefore a requirement that the Company convene a general meeting to consider whether any, and if so what, steps should be taken as a consequence of the Company's net assets being half or less than half of its called up share capital.

A circular has been sent to shareholders explaining the position and the general meeting will be held on 21 October 2009 at 11.30 am at the Company's offices at 21-25 St Anne's Court, London W1F 0BJ

For further information, please contact:

Motive Tel: 020 3086 9430

Mick Pilsworth

Throgmorton Street Capital

Jeremy Read Tel: 020 7070 0996

Dowgate Capital Advisers

Jo Turner Tel: 020 7492 4774

Note to Editors:

Motive Television (www.motivetelevision.co.uk) is a leading media investment company, specialising in digital television technology providers and television rights owners. Based in London, it is listed on the AIM and is led by television industry experts Mick Pilsworth and Len Fertig. 

Motive announced at the Interims that it moved downstream from television production into digital terrestrial television ("DTT") technology. Motive's new CEO, Leonard M. Fertig, is leading this new initiative. Len brings a wealth of contact and experience to the group, as he was involved in many subscription and video on demand ("VOD") channel launches in the USA (including A&E, Comedy Central, Request Television and DirecTV). Len was also the founding CEO of of Central European Media Enterprises Ltd, ("CME"). Len took CME from a start-up to a billion-dollar NASDAQ-listed broadcasting company with operations in eight countries covering 110 million viewers. 

Motive's first transaction in the DTT sector was the agreement of worldwide distribution rights, outside of Spain and Italy, for a DTT solution called BesTV®. BesTV®, powered by Adecq Digital S.L., is patented middleware that allows DTT broadcasters to offer hybrid DTT and internet set-top box solutions, providing VOD, pay-per-view ("PPV"), catch-up TV and live pause using their DTT bandwidth. Already in use in Spain and Italy, BesTV® is now well-placed to be rolled out globally by Motive, leveraging the extensive global contacts of the new management team. We are already in discussions with a number of broadcasters in Europe and the USA.

Motive's main investments include:

A 49.9% interest in comedy production company Brown Eyed Boy, whose most recent hit show, "How Not to Live Your Life", starring Dan Clark, was broadcast on BBC2 .

A 50.6% interest in Manchester-based Scarlet Television, whose recent credits include "Diana's Last Summer", "Britney: Speared by the Paps", "50 Greatest TV Endings" and "50 Greatest TV Couples", all for SKY 1; Richard E. Grant's "Elementary My Dear Viewer" and "Roald Dahl's Revolting Rule Book", both for ITV2; "The Making of a Monster" for Crime & Investigation Network, and "Beefcake: A Very British Sex Symbol", for BBC2. 

A 100% interest in Dublin-based production company Motive Television Ltd, whose recent credits include "No Place Like Home" and "Summer in the Sun" for Irish broadcaster RTÉ; "Part of What We Are", a major history of Gaelic games for Setanta Sports and 10 live GAA matches for Irish broadcaster TV3 (in association with Asgard Media).