Polish broadcaster TVN owners begin sale process, sources say

By Amy-Jo Crowley and Elvira Pollina

LONDON, Dec 20 (Reuters) - The owner of TVN Group has begun the process of selling the Polish media broadcaster, four people familiar with the matter told Reuters.

Shareholder Warner Bros Discovery WBD.O is working with advisers at JPMorgan on the sale of the company, the people said.

The investment bank has been in contact with potential buyers for the asset in recent weeks with sales materials to be distributed early next year, two of the people said.

A spokesperson for Warner Bros Discovery said: “As we evaluate a sale of TVN, we will prioritise its independent news status.”

JPMorgan declined to comment, while TVN Group referred requests for comment to Warner Bros Discovery.

TVN Group, which includes 24-hour news channels TVN24 and TVN24BiS, could be valued at above 1 billion euros ($1.04 billion) in a sale, two other people said. The four people were speaking on condition of anonymity because the matter was private.

The Polish government last week said it had decided to add several media and telecommunication firms, including TVN, to its list of strategic companies. This means that a takeover of these companies will not be possible without the government’s consent, the country's prime minister said.

Warner Bros Discovery is targeting domestic and international media groups as possible buyers for TVN Group, the first two people said.

U.S. media group Scripps Networks bought a majority stake in TVN Group in 2015 for $615.3 million, valuing the business at 1.8 billion dollars at the time, and bought the rest of the business later that year.

The company was brought into the Warner Brothers Discovery group after Warner Brother’s 2022 merger with the Discovery Channel, which owned Scripps.

Warner Bros Discovery earlier this month decided to separate its declining cable TV businesses, including CNN, from its streaming and studio operations. Under the new structure for Warner Bros Discovery, the cable TV business including TNT, Animal Planet and CNN will be housed in a unit called Global Linear Networks.

TVN Group revenues grew to 2.26 billion zlotys in 2023 from 2.14 billion zlotys ($522.01 million) a year earlier, due to higher advertising and subscriptions revenues, according to company filings in Poland. Net profit was 419.7 million zlotys, up from 331.8 million zlotys in 2022.

($1 = 0.9620 euros)

($1 = 4.0995 zlotys)

(Reporting by Amy-Jo Crowley and Elvira Pollina, with additional reporting by Anna Koper. Editing by Anousha Sakoui and Barbara Lewis)

((Amy-Jo.Crowley@thomsonreuters.com;))