Paramount Global is reportedly seeking buyers for its businesses in Argentina and Chile, which includes Argentinian national television channel Telefe, which Paramount (then Viacom) acquired in 2016, and Chilean free-to-air (FTA) channel Chilevisión, which the company (then ViacomCBS) purchased in 2021. The company is aiming is to obtain between US$100 million from the sale of its local businesses.
The North American company has granted a sales mandate to the consulting firm Quantum Finanzas, led by economist Daniel Marx, to search for a buyer for Argentina's leading broadcast television channel.
The list of candidates is extensive, but like recent major mergers and acquisitions, it is comprised of all local players. Among the interested parties are several groups that bid a few months ago to acquire Telefónica Argentina, such as the Los W group, owned by the Werthein family; Corporación América, owned by Eduardo Eurnekian; and Alpha Media, the media holding company led by Marcelo Fígoli. Sources close to the transaction also confirmed that other businesspeople are closely monitoring the purchase, such as Tomás Yankelevich—the son of Gustavo Yankelevich, Telefe's longtime programming manager—and Martín Kweller, owner of the production company Kuarzo Entertainment.
The Paramount group has already informed the candidates that it intends to obtain US$100 million from the sale of its local businesses. "They are asking for US$100 million, but I wouldn't be surprised if it closes at a lower figure, closer to US$80 million. And they are open to accepting offers for the businesses in Argentina and Chile, or selling Telefe separately," explained a company that reviewed the portfolio.
The figure sought by the sellers is far from the US$345 million that Viacom paid for Telefe in 2016, before ultimately merging with CBS, which gave rise to Paramount Global.
The sale of the assets in South America come as Paramount is in the midst of merging with the American production company Skydance Media. This latest transaction was announced a year ago, but has yet to be fully approved by US antitrust authorities and the FCC.
Rumors of Telefe's sale have been circulating for some time. Darío Turovelzky, executive vice president of Broadcast and Latin American Studies for Paramount Global, spoke to LA NACION about the matter in May of last year. While he did not fully confirm the claim that "Telefe is for sale," he did assure that there were many interested parties in the channel and that he had been in charge of putting them in contact with Paramount executives in the U.S., who are responsible for making this decision.
On the other hand, in the last two years, Telefe has also been reducing its staff through voluntary redundancies and early retirements, and has been changing its business model to make it more profitable and attractive to potential buyers. Other Paramount brands in the region, including Nickelodeon, have also seen big changes in recent years. Nickelodeon Latin America and Nickelodeon Brazil mainly share their programming feeds with Nickelodeon's Central & Eastern pan-regional feed, with only Nickelodeon Mexico retaining a fully-localised feed.
The hiring of the consulting firm Quantum Finanzas earlier this year accelerated what was already an open secret and put the channel's assets on the map. At that point, offers officially began to be received, one of which now appears close to being finalized.
It's currently unknown whether Paramount Global will also be looking to sell 5, the company's British FTA channel.
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Originally published: June 14, 2025.
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