ZON Multimédia to offer satellite Pay TV in Angola

LISBON — ZON Multimédia – Serviços de Telecomunicações e Multimédia, SGPS, S.A. (Lisbon:ZON) is pleased to announce that it has signed a sale and purchase agreement with Kento Holding Limited (100% controlled by Ms. Isabel dos Santos). The agreement relates to 14.006.437 own shares, representing 4.53% of ZON Multimedia’s share capital, at a price of 5.3 euro per share. This price represents a 26.4% premium over the closing price of the last trading session and an 18.9% premium over the average closing price of the past 3 months. As a result of this agreement, ZON will sell all its own shares.

ZON’s own shares were purchased within the share buyback programme. The transaction announced today has been approved by the Board of Directors and is subject to final approval from the General Meeting of ZON Multimedia’s Shareholders.

ZON’s expansion into Angola will be materialized through a joint venture to be owned 30% by ZON Multimedia and 70% by SOCIP — Sociedade de Investimentos e Participações S.A., (100% controlled by Ms. Isabel dos Santos), with the purpose of developing a satellite based Pay TV offer. ZON has repeatedly stated its ambition to explore international growth opportunities and this move represents a first step in a broader strategy to develop operations in the African Continent.

The underlying business model will be similar to the one that ZON currently manages in its Portuguese DTH operations, primarily in terms of content offer, terminal equipment used and conditional access systems. The satellite that will broadcast to the African Market, “W7”, was successfully launched by Eutelsat on 24 November and the core management team is already working in Luanda to prepare for commercial launch in 1Q10.

Key agreements have been negotiated for a broad variety of channels that will have a strong element of Portuguese speaking content, some of which tailored specifically for Angolan audiences. ZON Multimedia will also leverage its key position in content production and distribution in Portugal, with the sale to the Angolan market of its own production “TVCine” movie channels, as well as channels produced through joint ventures, namely the 4 channels recently included in the “Dreamia” partnership with Chello Media (“Hollywood”, “Panda”, “Panda Biggs” and “MOV”) and the premium Portuguese speaking sports channels, “Sport TV”.