Merger
On 17 September 2004, however, Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) and MediaCorp Singapore Pte Ltd (MediaCorp) announced that both companies had entered an agreement on merging the television operations of the two companies, of which operates the mainstream free-to-air terrestrial channels; MediaCorp TV Channel 5, MediaCorp TV Channel 8, MediaCorp TV TVMobile, SPH MediaWorks Channel U (优频道) and SPH MediaWorks Channel i.
The other free-to-air terrestrial channels, MediaCorp TV12 Suria and MediaCorp TV12 Central run by MediaCorp TV12 and MediaCorp News Channel NewsAsia by MediaCorp News remained wholly owned and run by MediaCorp Pte Ltd, in contrast to the channels owned by MediaCorp TV Pte Ltd under the holding company of MediaCorp Television Broadcasting Arm (A MediaCorp Channel) as of 1 January 2005; MediaCorp Television Broadcasting Arm were 80% managed by MediaCorp and 20% by Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) through SPH Multimedia Ltd. The merger was seen as a move to reduce the losses faced by SPH since the launch of SPH MediaWorks Channel U and SPH MediaWorks Channel I, and to reduce the losses in the free newspaper market of "Today" faced by MediaCorp.
Apart from the merging of local television operations, the merging package includes the merging of the free newspaper operations of both MediaCorp and Singapore Press Holdings (SPH). Streats, managed by Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) was merged into “Today”; Streats will cease its independent publication upon the completion of the merger. “Today” continues to be managed by MediaCorp solely.
The merger of the two companies was also the first of its kind in history; a merger between a government unit and a private organization. It is inevitable, as Singapore free to air television market is small. The fact that SPH MediaWorks keeps operating their broadcast business at a loss makes merger with MediaCorp, a larger more established broadcast giant a viable solution.
Read more about this topic: SPH Media Works