Greece's Antenna to buy News Corp's Serbian stake

ATHENS Dec 28 (Reuters) - Greek media group Antenna said on Monday it agreed to buy the 49 percent stake that News Corp (NWSA.O) owns in private Serbian television operator Fox Televizija.

Fox Televizija has a 9 percent share of Serbia's television market, Antenna's chief executive officer Thodoris Kyriakou said in a press release without revealing the transaction's value.

"Antenna Group's decision to expand into Serbia is based on the conviction that it is a rapidly developing television market," the Greek company said in the same statement.

The deal is subject to approval by Serbia's competition watchdog.

Antenna last year sold its Bulgarian unit Nova Televizia.

According to a report by Standard & Poor's, the Greek company posted an EBITDA loss of 26 million euros ($37.5 million) in the first half of 2009, from a loss of 5 million euros in the same period in 2008, as advertising revenue shrank. (Reporting by Harry Papachristou; Editing by Ruth Pitchford)