"Every time we get a new chancellor, public stations make an approach to take over the board's media assets," he said.

"But their management doesn't have a track record of managing these kinds of media assets."

Surely, such thinking goes, the breakup value of those media assets alone is worth far more than $15 a share.

Segel is an active investor in financial services and media assets.

The state has relinquished other media assets, including newspapers and a news agency.

He has respected media assets across the board and imbued life into them.

By 2002, the company expects to see a shift in the balance of its revenue, with 45 percent coming from the media assets.

The company was formed in 2006, through acquisitions of media assets.

Berlusconi has often been criticized for using the media assets he owns to advance his political career.

But Liberty is more than just a play on the capital appreciation of media assets, analysts say.