Ericsson buys Red Bee Media

Press release here:
http://www.ericsson.com/news/1713075

So now that's BBC, ITV and Channel 4 playout handled by the same company.

So, they ditched mobile phone business in favour of Red Bee?

Think they only ditched their handset business. They are still involved in the distribution and mast stuff I think.

http://www.ericsson.com/ourportfolio/telecom-operators

Ericsson have been getting into the media business in the past few years. Other recent acquisitions include Tandberg Television, a manufacturer of professional satellite receivers and MPEG encoders; and Technicolor Broadcast Services - as well as being ITV's playout provider, they also have a presence in the Netherlands and France. On top of that, they also claim to be the number one independent playout service provider in the Nordic countries.

While I can see Red Bee's playout and access services being a good fit, it'll be interesting to see if the creative side will in the longer term.

They hived their handset business off to a joint venture with Sony way back in 2001, though they only recently sold their share in that to give Sony full control. As mentioned above they're still a major player on the networks side.

Wonder if there is scope to bring it back in-house?