TV FOR SALE
Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp will sell bTV, the Bulgarian terrestrial broadcaster it owns, by the end of 2008, Council for Electronic Media (CEM) head Maria Stefanova told Bulgarian National Radio on August 25. News Corp will sell in parallel other TV broadcasters in Latvia and Serbia, as well as a Polish broadcaster it owns, Stefanova said, but bTV is the largest broadcaster for sale. Media reports in July claimed three investment funds – Warburg Pincus, Advent International and GMT Communications Partners – were all interested in buying bTV.

LAGARDERE IN VRATSA
The first shop from the French chain Lagardere Services, which sells news publications and gift items, opened in the northern Bulgarian town of Vratsa on August 18. The investment amounted to 25 000 euro; the shop is of the brand Inmedio, Lagardere Services Bulgaria category manager Alexandrina Georgieva told The Sofia Echo on August 25. Two more Inmedio stores will open in 2008 in Rousse, one in Montana and one in Stara Zagora. A sixth location in Varna could also be opened before the end of 2008, she said. Lagardere Services’ total investment in Bulgaria is expected to reach 130 000 euro for 2008.

TOYOTA SERVICES
TM Auto, one of Toyota’s dealers in Bulgaria, said it that had started the construction of a dealership and service centre in Sofia, but made no investment estimate. The 12 000 sq m site of the new Toyota centre is located on Evropa Boulevard. Toyota Sofia West will have a build area of 11 000 sq m, 400 parking spaces and the capacity to service 20 vehicles simultaneously. It should be operational by the second half of 2009. The first Toyota sales and service centre in Sofia is on Tsarigradsko Chaussee. Outside Sofia, Toyota dealerships operate in Blagoevgrad, Bourgas, Varna, Veliko Turnovo, Gabrovo, Dobrich, Pazardjik, Plovdiv, Pleven, Rousse, Sliven and Stara Zagora.

EXPANDING
The acquisition of Borba publishing house by New Bulgarian Media Group Holding (NBMGH) was approved by the state antitrust commission on August 27. NBMGH owns Bulgarian-language  dailies Monitor, Telegraf, and Politika Today. The commission found that the deal will have an insignificant impact on the market in print publications and advertisement revenues and will not impose competition barriers, as the NBMGH will remain with a relatively small market share. Borba owns regional daily Borba, distributed in the northern parts of the country.