SBS Broadcasting to Acquire Leading Nordic Premium Pay Television Provider CMore Group AB, Operator of Canal+ Channels, For Euro 269.6 Million

SBS Broadcasting to Acquire Leading Nordic Premium Pay Television Provider CMore Group AB, Operator of Canal+ Channels, For Euro 269.6 Million

LUXEMBOURG, February 9/PRNewswire/ --

- Significantly Expands Existing Television Footprint in Nordic
Region with the Addition of the Operator of the Canal+ and CMore Premium Pay
Channels



SBS Broadcasting S.A. (NASDAQ: SBTV; Euronext Amsterdam N.V.: SBS)
announced today that its wholly owned Swedish subsidiary Kanal 5 Holding AB
has agreed to acquire all of the shares of CMore Group AB for Euro 269.6
million in cash. The purchase price includes approximately Euro 20 million
in cash in the CMore Group at December 31, 2004. The acquisition, which is
conditional on approvals from local competition authorities, is expected to
close in the second quarter of 2005. The sellers are primarily private
equity funds represented by Baker Capital and Nordic Capital.



CMore Group is the leading Nordic pay entertainment provider with over
770,000 subscribers in Sweden, Norway, Finland and Denmark. The only provider
of both premium sports and premium movies in the Nordic region under the
Canal+ and CMore brands, CMore Group enjoys market leading positions in
Sweden, Norway and Finland. The channels are distributed primarily by
direct-to-home satellite (DTH), cable, broadband and increasingly by digital
terrestrial transmission (DTT). In 2004 CMore Group had revenues of Euro 181
million from channel subscriptions and other sources. CMore has had positive
net income for the last three years and has no financial debt.



Commenting on the announcement, Markus Tellenbach, Chief
Executive Officer of SBS Broadcasting, said: "With a developing pay
television market and increasing demand for digital entertainment, the Nordic
region is the ideal location for SBS to significantly strengthen its
television operations and expand its footprint. The addition of premium
digital pay television channels combined with our existing digital free and
basic pay channels creates a powerful digital platform for our viewers,
distribution partners and advertisers. We are also gaining an excellent CMore
management team that has delivered impressive returns across its operations.
These new channels will leverage our existing infrastructure creating
additional operating leverage and new opportunities to drive revenue. The
acquisition, which is immediately accretive to earnings, also significantly
diversifies our revenue streams through the generation of subscription fees.
As a result, following the closing of this transaction more than one-third of
our total revenue will be generated from non-advertising-related sources."



"The acquisition of the Nordic group of Canal+ channels
demonstrates SBS's commitment to its growth strategy and positions the
Company to further capitalize on the opportunities that digital technology is
creating," said Harry Evans Sloan, Executive Chairman of SBS. "By leveraging
our management expertise and operating infrastructure we are prudently
building upon our existing pan-European footprint to increase and diversify
our revenue streams, while utilizing the strength of our balance sheet."



CMore Group offers a variety of premium pay services to its
subscribers throughout the Nordic region, including popular sporting events,
movies and series. Subscribers in each of the countries currently have access
to five channels: Canal+ offers a local channel for each of the four Nordic
countries featuring first-run movies and live sporting events. Canal+Film1
and Canal+Film2 offer today's most popular films, and CMore Film offers
classic and library films. Canal+Sports offers premium national and
international sports. CMore also operates Kiosk, a pay-per-view channel in
the four Nordic countries. CMore has recently launched CMore a la Carte, a
subscription-on-demand service in Sweden.



CMore holds the broadcast rights for most leading national and
international sports properties, including the English FA Premier League, the
Italian Serie A, the top soccer leagues in Sweden and Norway, the premier
Swedish ice hockey league and the NHL.



CMore has exclusive film output agreements with most of the
leading Hollywood studios providing the latest in popular international
films.



SG Cowen & Co., LLC acted as the sole financial advisor to the
Company in this transaction.



Conference Call



The Company will host a teleconference today, (Wednesday,
February 9, 2005) at 10:00 a.m. (New York Time), which is 4:00 p.m.
(Luxembourg Time) to discuss today's announcement. To access the
teleconference, please dial +1-973-321-1100 ten minutes prior to the start
time. The teleconference will also be available via live web-cast on the
Company's Web site, located at www.sbsbroadcasting.com. If you cannot listen
to the teleconference at its scheduled time, there will be a replay available
through February 16, 2005 that can be accessed by dialing +1-877-519-4471
(U.S. callers) or +1-973-341-3080 (international callers), pass-code 5701997.
The web-cast will be archived on the Company's Web site for two weeks.



Forward-Looking Statements



Some of the statements in this press release are
forward-looking, including, without limitation: the statement that the Nordic
region is the ideal location for SBS to enhance its television footprint; the
addition of premium digital pay television channels creates a powerful
digital platform for our viewers, distribution partners and advertisers,
these new channels will create additional operating leverage and new
opportunities to drive revenue, that we continue to position the Company to
capitalize on the opportunities that digital technology is creating; and by
leveraging our local management expertise and operating infrastructure, we
are building upon our existing pan-European footprint. In addition, we may
make forward-looking statements in future filings with the Securities and
Exchange Commission, and in written material, press releases and oral
statements issued by us or on our behalf. Forward-looking statements include
statements regarding our intent, belief or current expectations or those of
our officers (including statements preceded by, followed by or that include
forward-looking terminology such as "may", "will", "should", "believes",
"expects", "anticipates", "estimates", "continues" or similar expressions or
comparable terminology) with respect to various matters.



It is important to note that our actual results in the future
could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking
statements depending on various important factors. Some of these factors
include: the effects of, and changes in, government policy and regulatory
requirements; the ability to receive governmental approvals necessary in
order to complete the transactions; the effects of changes in general
economic environment; the effects of changes in the advertising spending
growth; the effects of competition; and our success at managing the risks
that arise from these factors. A more detailed discussion of some of these
risks is set forth in SBS's annual report on Form 20F for the year-ended
December 31, 2003.



All forward-looking statements in this press release are based on
information available to us on the date hereof. We do not undertake to update
any forward-looking statements that may be made by us or on our behalf, in
this press release or otherwise.



SBS is a European commercial television and radio broadcasting
company with operations in Western and Central Europe. Countries where SBS
currently has broadcasting assets include: Belgium (Flanders), Denmark,
Finland, Greece, Hungary, The Netherlands, Norway, Romania and Sweden.



For further information visit: www.sbsbroadcasting.com



Source: SBS Broadcasting

Investors: Michael Smargiassi /Jon Lesko, Brainerd Communicators, Tel: +1-212-986-6667; Press: Jeff Pryor, Pryor Associates, Tel: +1-818-338-3555; Catriona Cockburn, Citigate Dewe Rogers, Tel: +44-207-282-2924


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