Chellomedia buys out Zone Vision

Chellomedia, a subsidiary of the Netherlands’ UGC Europe, has taken a majority stake in Zone Vision, the company with which it jointly operates the Reality TV channel.

The deal, the terms of which are expected to be announced imminently, extends Chello’s control not only to Reality TV but also the Romantica and Europa Europa channels Zone runs.

Zone’s international business interests, including that of Reality TV Japan, a joint venture with Jupiter Programming announced earlier this week, will now fall within the Chello portfolio.

Zone, which was set up in 1991 by Chris Wronski in London, has operations in 18 countries and its channels reach 134m pay-TV subscribers worldwide.

Chello, meanwhile is ultimately owned by the US-based UnitedGlobalCom and is a sister company to UPC Broadband. Together the two firms operate under the banner of UGC Europe, supplying a variety of internet access and digital TV services.

No one from UGC nor Zone would comment on the deal at the time of writing.