Ericsson completes Red Bee buyout

Ericsson has completed its acquisition of Red Bee Media, adding 1,500 new employees to its business and establishing the UK as a “major global media hub” for the firm.

The news comes after the UK’s Competition Commission formally cleared the deal on March 27 of this year. Ericsson first announced its intention to buy Red Bee on July 1, 2013.

Red Bee is headquartered in the UK and also has media services and operations facilities in France, Germany, Spain and Australia.

Ericsson said the deal will further strengthen its own broadcast services business, which it launched in 2007 after signing a services deal with C More (formerly Canal+) in the Nordic region.

Red Bee’s broadcast service customers, which Ericsson will inherit, include the BBC, BSkyB, BT Sport, Canal Digital, Channel 4, EE, UKTV, UPC and Virgin Media.

“We’re very happy to welcome our new employees to Ericsson and are confident they will help to take our broadcast services business to the next level and extend our global presence,” said Magnus Mandersson, executive vice president and head of business unit global services at Ericsson.

“We now have more than 5,000 employees in the UK and close to one-third of them work in broadcast services. As a result, the UK is now a major global media hub for Ericsson.”