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Television production giant Endemol has signed a deal to take a 33 percent stake in Reshet TV, one of the companies behind leading Israeli commercial broadcaster Channel 2, according to local media reports.
The deal, which will still have to get regulatory approval from Israeli authorities, will see Reshet’s current shareholders, the XT Group and Israeli businessman Udi Angel, dilute their holdings but retain majority control.
Endemol has yet to comment on the reports. A spokesman for Angel told Israeli news service Globes that “in the past two months, several parties were interested in investing in Reshet. Without going into rumors, we wish to make it clear that (the Angel-XT Group) will keep control of Reshet.”
This past April, Endemol’s acquired Israeli production company Kuperman, which produces the Israeli version of Endemol’s reality TV format Big Brother for Keshet TV, the other main commission for Channel 2.
Israeli has become a hot territory for new innovative drama and reality TV formats, following the success of shows such as Homeland and In Treatment, based on Israeli originals.
Reshet and Keshet currently share airtime on Channel 2 but the two companies’ broadcasting licenses will change in 2015, after which both firms will have full control of their own separate TV channels.
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