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Digital TV Europe Euro 50 > Leaders in broadband and pay-TV
November/December 2008
Shane O’Neill Chief strategy officer, Liberty Global and president, Chellomedia
Liberty Global’s content arm has made strong the current “credit crunch” climate and can Positive thoughts for 2009 The wider tele-
progress in central and eastern Europe, face 2009 with confidence. Liberty Global coms and media industry has faced tough
capped by the acquisition of Spektrum from operates a portfolio model, with businesses in times before, notably the dotcom boom and
HBO Central Europe. As well as overseeing 15 countries. Therefore we have a good geo- crash of the late 1990s and the cable industry
strong organic growth for the division’s portfo- graphical spread with operations at very differ- in 2000. What we learned from those chal-
lio of channels, Shane O’Neill has helped to ent stages of development and growth. For lenging years was that by consolidating com-
launch the Chello Foundation to provide edu- Chellomedia, our 26 channels are distributed panies, brands and operations, we become
cational scholarships for HIV orphans in Africa. in more than 125 countries each of which have stronger as a result. What followed for the
different market dynamics. Overall for Liberty media industry was sustained and dynamic
Age 47 Global, whilst we may experience challenges in growth.
one market, we can at the same time find
Education MA (Law) Trinity college, Dublin, good growth opportunities elsewhere. We also Personal aims for the year ahead A key
FCA (Fellow of the Institute of Chartered have a very strong balance sheet, which is par- personal goal is to continue to contribute to
Accountants) ticularly important in the present climate. the growth and development of Liberty Global
Finally we are very clear about our goals and in my role as CSO. Although merger and acqui-
Years in industry 22 far from complacent. Although no business is sition activity has been very quiet since the
recession-proof, we think you will find that credit crisis started over a year ago, I think
Job description My role at Liberty Global is cable businesses are pretty recession-tolerant. that will change once the banking market has
to work with the board and CEO to set the Cable TV, broadband and telephone services stabilised (whenever that occurs!). There are
strategic course for the group and to oversee are not a discretionary or luxury purchase. It is some signs of distressed opportunities starting
our mergers and acquisitions activity. At part of the routine household budget and part to emerge and valuations are clearly much
Chellomedia, I lead the management team of daily life. I don’t envisage TV viewing shrink- lower now. Liberty Global has been a proactive
responsible for our portfolio of global and ing, although we will need to be very competi- consolidator of the cable industry internation-
regional thematic TV channels and associated tive on price and service in attracting and ally as we believe scale brings real competitive
TV businesses. retaining customers. advantages.
Last year’s highlights 2008 has been an
excellent year for both Liberty Global and
Chellomedia with both businesses delivering
on their revenue and OCF targets. For Liberty
Global this has been achieved through a com-
bination of good subscriber and revenue
growth and assiduous cost management. In
Chellomedia, our 26-channel portfolio showed
strong organic growth and we were once again
active on the mergers and acquisition front. A
key highlight for Chellomedia has been the
progress made by Chello Central Europe. This
business is on course to contribute significant-
ly to revenues in 2009 and beyond. We also
launched the Chello Foundation,
(www.chellofoundation.org) an international
charity dedicated to providing educational
scholarships for HIV orphans in sub-Saharan
Africa. It’s a team effort with immense support
from Liberty Global. By January 2009 we will
have 600 orphans in primary and secondary
school; we think this stuff is important too and
we have gained industry-wide support.
Reflections on the downturn Liberty Global
and Chellomedia are both well positioned for
Visit us at www.digitaltveurope.net
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