Media Timeline: 2006-
2006
Viacom spins off broadcast, themepark, publishing and some cable tv interests as CBS Corporation
Takafumi Horie arrested for fraud
Disney buys Pixar for US$7.4bn
CBS and Warner Brothers Entertainment announcement that UPN and WB networks would combine to form youth-oriented CW network
Axel Springer abandons ProSiebenSat deal
Time Warner sells book publishing division (inc Warner Books and Little, Brown) to Lagardere for US$537.5m
InterMedia buys Thomas Nelson for US$473m
Disney announces agreement to merge its ABC Radio stations with Citadel in US$2.7bn deal
DMGT abandons plan to sell regional newspaper chain
Lagardere agrees to buy 20% of Vivendi Universal's French pay-TV business Canal Plus in exchange for its 34% stake in CanalSatellite and €525m
AT&T bids US$67bn for BellSouth
NBC Universal agrees to buy iVillage for around US$600m
VNU agrees to US$8.9bn takeover offer by Blackstone, KKR, Lee, Carlyle and Hellman & Friedman consortium
John Fairfax buys Trade Me for $625m
Knight Ridder agrees to sell itself for US$4.5bn to McClatchy
Hearst agrees to acquire 20% stake in Fitch Group for US$592m
Softbank agrees to buy Vodafone's Japanese mobile-phone unit for US$15.4bn
NTL buys Virgin Mobile Holdings for US$1.67bn
Media General agrees to buy four NBC television stations (inc WNCN Raleigh) for US$600m
Willis Stein & Partners sells Baker & Taylor to Castle Harlan for US$455m
Time Warner buys Liberty Media's 50% in Court TV joint venture for US$735m
GBL agrees to sell its 25.1% stake in Bertelsmann back to Bertelsmann for €4.5bn
McClatchy announces that it will sell San Jose Mercury News and The Contra Costa Times to MediaNews and partnership that includes Gannett and Stephens Group
McClatchy announces that Pioneer Press in St Paul and Herald in Monterey County will be sold to Hearst
McClatchy announces sale of Philadelphia Inquirer and Daily News to Philadelphia Media Holdings for US$562m
ITV sells stake in Seven Network
EMAP agrees to sell EMAP France to Berlusconi's Mondadori for £380m
Univision acquired by Saban consortium?
Orkla announces sale of newspaper operations to Mecom for €900m
European Court of First Instance annulls European Commission's approval of 2004 merger between Sony Music and BMG
Vivendi agrees to buy BMG Music Publishing for €1.63bn
Time Warner sells AOL France's internet access business to Neuf Cegetel for €288m
Apax Partners buys UK B2B publisher Incisive Media for £199m
Barclays sell handbag.com to Hearst for £22m
Google Inc pays $US1.65bn for YouTube
Air America network files for bankruptcy
US Equity buys Penton Media from Abry Partners for US$530m
Reuters agrees to sell its 50% in Factiva to Dow Jones for US$160m
Packer announces plan to transfer media operations to PBL Media joint venture with CVC Asia Pacific
Clear Channel agrees to be bought for US$18.7bn by Thomas H Lee Partners and Bain Capital consortium
Wiley agrees to acquire Blackwell Publishing for £572m
KKR and Seven form Seven Media Group
Komsomolskaya Pravda bought by Gazprom (owner of Izvestia) for US$70m
UK Press Gazette folds
Houghton Mifflin acquired by Riverdeep for US$3.36bn (inc debt)
Fairfax acquires Rural Press
News Corp and Liberty Media announce US$11bn swap
Seminoles buy Hard Rock for US$965m
VNU sells European business magazines in the UK, Germany, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands and Belgium to 3i for €320m
Texas Pacific and Apollo Management agree to buy Harrah's Entertainment for US$16.7bn