Digital OOH Firms Up for Sale

Two of the nation's largest digital out of home companies are on the block. Cinema rep firm Screenvision and Premier Retail Networks, which operates in-store digital networks, were put up for sale Thursday (Jan. 29) by their owner Thomson. Faced with mounting debt and the likelihood it would breach covenants, the Paris-based company said it would look to divest businesses that don't fit with its core media technology businesses, singling out both PRN and its 50 percent stake in Screenvision. In total, Thomson is targeting divestitures equal to about one billion Euros in 2008 sales.National CineMedia would seem to be the logical buyer for Screenvision. Together, the two rep firms account for 82 percent of the cinema business.
As for PRN, a number of companies would be good prospective buyers, such as CBS Outernet, which operates in-store grocery networks and is expanding into in-store retail, and NBC Everywhere, which has also identified digital out of home as a growing media space.

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