The manager of Hurry, Juan Luis Cebrián, thought that this group of communication will invoice about 4.000 million euros in 2008 and the gross development result was confident of limiting his debt to three times (ebitda) of the company, almost half of the current one.

In the forum of the New Communication, Cebrián thought that appellant will close the company in the present exercise with an ebitda between 700 and 800 million euros. According to the manager, the current Hurry debt promotes to 6 times his ebitda and "we will not remain satisfied until we limit it to 3,5 times".

Cebrián pointed out that the debt of this group of communication, coded at present in more than 5.000 million euros, is "raised", consequence of a stage of "easy financing and cheap credit".

In this sense, he told that nearly 1.000 million euros come from the merger of Digital and Telephone Route, while the rest is a consequence of the obligatory OPA to Sogecable. Nevertheless, he denied that the possible possibility of selling assets - between them, the platform of Digital payment +-is destined to repair this debt.


It values Digitalis + for 3.850 million euros

To today, the company "is satisfied at the offers level" received by Digitalis +, whose value estimated in approximately 3.850 million euros. The process will enter the second phase, in which the bank in charge of this negotiation will must select the "better offers", he told.

"Digitalis + is the most profitable business of Spain in these moments", emphasized the manager, who pointed out that this platform has overcome 300 million benefits in his development results.

On the other hand, he affirmed that the sales for publicity in the newspaper 'The Country' will go down this year concerning 16 per cent. In this sense, it pointed out that the press will be "the biggest harmed one" by the crisis of the sector and highlighted the fall of 70 per cent of the announcements for words - relative principally to real estate publicity - in his newspaper.

With regard to the audio-visual business, he emphasized that the television openly Four has increased 4 per cent the income for publicity throughout this year. Also, it valued the growth of other channels in Colombia, Mexico, Chile and Portugal.


He asks the Government for an organization of the audio-visual model with "the clear rules of the game and without favoritism"

The manager of Hurry, Juan Luis Cebrián, requested the Government that he organizes the current audio-visual sector, to his understanding "a big ocean", to reach a model "with the clear laws of the game and exempted of favoritism".

In his intervention in the forum of the New communication, Cebrián trusted that in this second term solve the conflicts related to the called 'War of the soccer', a future TDT of payment and the development of a new Law General Audiovisual.

This way, he affirmed that Hurry will grant the "second opportunity" to the Government of the socialistic leader, josé Luis Rodrígez Zapatero, after his commitment in the previous one and also in the current term of starting a law for the sector. "We take twelve years waiting and believe that the moment has come", he affirmed.

Nevertheless, he made sure that this definition of the audio-visual model will have to be done "without patronage system, without exchange and without favoritism, finally, a few clear rules of the game that we do not see that they reign at present in the sector".

Cebrián indicated that the merger between Digital and Telephone Route - "responsible" on behalf of the Digitalis debt + - "it cost the audio-visual peace to Sogecable". In this sense, it pointed out that "it will be necessary to hope that the same should not happen with Miguel Barroso (ex-secretary of the state for the communication) and Antonio García Ferreras (the director of LaSexta)". 


Impossible agreement with Mediapro in the "war of the soccer" 

The manager denied the possibility of reaching an extrajudicial agreement with Mediapro, producing property of Jaume Roures to whom he claims 200 million euros, on having understood that it incurred a nonperformance with Sogecable in the contracts to exploit the rights of the soccer.

Also, it pointed out that the Catalan television TV also has had 3 "direct responsibilities in the conflict of the soccer". For Cebrián, the model of agreements of development "it has broken with the complicity of the public televisions, which get dearer the price of the rights".

According to the estimations of the manager of Hurry, the soccer clubs deposit a whole for 600 million euros proceeding from the public television, although "without results, since these teams continue in crisis".

"The political class, between intelligence and emotion, is unable to tackle the soccer topic, which is being financed to a great extent across the public resources and taxes of the citizens", it concluded.


(EP, 25/09/08)