City news, which is always fun on a Monday. Part of Music Choice Europe, the company who offer a number of genre themed audio channels via cable and satellite TV, has been sold to a small group of investors for a reported £2.7 million (GBP). It is unclear how much of the group those investors have bought, or whose stake in the company has been sold, although UK newspaper the Independent reports that BSkyB, Time Warner and Sony all reportedly maintain their respective 36%, 16% and 8% stakes in the business.
Either way, the £2.7 million price tag is disappointing for a company that was valued at £200 million during the peak of dot-com. Insiders say the investment community remains to be convinced that one of the network's key advertising models - selling visual ads that appear on screen when people tune in to Music Choice's audio streams - is viable in the long term.