Sony buys Turkish channels group

Sony Pictures Television has taken a majority stake in Turkey-based channels group Planet TV.

Pending regulatory clearance, SPT will own four Turkish free-to-air channels. These comprise drama and telenovela net Planet Pembe, Turkish movie net Planet Turk, cooking channel Planet Mutfak and Planet Cocuk, which focuses on local kid TV programming.

SPT has formed a joint venture with ad sales firm and former Planet TV majority owner Satis Ofisi to run the channels.

“Turkey is an incredibly vibrant market and we’ve been looking for the right opportunity to establish a footprint there for some time,” said Lyle Stewart, SPT Networks’ senior VP, central and eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa. “We look forward to bringing our expertise in building strong international channel brands to Planet TV to help the portfolio go from strength to strength.”

Following deal greenlight, Satis Ofisi will remain as ad sales house for the group.

The deal comes after SPT, Sony’ television arm, bought the Film1 channel from Liberty Global last year and CSC Media in the UK the year before.