JoostTeam

In a March 12 deal, Italian entrepreneur Silvio Scaglia, the founder and largest shareholder of FastWeb, Italy’s second-largest fixed-line phone operator and a leader in broadband and entertainment services, accepted a $4.88-billion takeover bid from Swisscom, Switzerland’s state-controlled telecom operator.

Britain’s Vodafone and Italy’s Mediaset, controlled by former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, may still try to outbid Swisscom for Milan-based FastWeb, which was founded seven and a half years ago and has 22,000 kilometers of fiber-optic networks and more than 1 million customers.

FastWeb gave Mr. Scaglia a net worth of $1 billion even before the March sale, catapulting him into the top 400 of Forbe’s list of the world’s richest people.

…The 48-year-old has already invested $13.2 million of his own money in Babel Networks, a 2007 Red Herring Europe top 100 private company. The venture, which will use the brand name Babelgum when it launches later this month, is a free TV and video-on-demand service accessible over the Internet (see profile, p.

…And while Joost pursues deals with big media companies (it recently announced ones with Jump TV and Paramount studio-owner Viacom, which also owns MTV and Comedy Central), Babelgum plans to entice customers with professionally produced niche fare on topics such as sailing.

…“I learned how a technological transition can change an industry,” Mr. Scaglia adds, recalling how FastWeb became the first company to build a large-scale integrated IP network to carry voice, data, and TV.

…Thematic niche programming drawn from satellite TV will be combined with output from independent producers who will be able to upload their content directly onto the network.

…Mr. Scaglia says he is prepared to invest another €100 million ($130 million) to get the company up and running over the next few years.

Source: http://www.redherring.com/