Liberty Latin America said Wednesday that it has agreed to combine its VTR mobile operations in Chile with America Móvil’s Claro Chile in a 50-50 joint venture.

According to Liberty Latin America, VTR has about 3 million mobile subscribers in Chile while Claro Chile has about 6.5 million customers. The combination, the companies said, will create a business with greater scale, a more diversified product line and a more flexible capital structure that will enable it to expand its fiber footprint and offer 5G service. By 2025, the JV said it expects its fixed network to pass 6 million homes with the majority having access to fiber-to-the-home infrastructure.

Liberty Latin America said the JV will have about $180 million in synergies, mostly related to network and operating efficiencies, 80% of which are expected to be achieved within three years of completing the deal. The transaction should be completed in the second half of 2022. 

This is the second deal Liberty Latin America has reached with America Móvil in the past two weeks. On Sept. 15, Liberty’s Cable & Wireless Panama subsidiary agreed to buy America Móvil's Panama operations — Claro Panama — for about $200 million. 

Liberty said that executive leadership for the JV will be agreed upon prior to the close of the transaction, with the board consisting of eight members, four from each of Liberty and American Móvil. The role of chairperson will rotate between the shareholders and certain actions of the JV will be subject to the consent of both parties.

Coverage in English and Spanish of the 2015 Copa America tournament in Chile by beIN SPORTS delivered winning results from a tied contest on Monday.

The 3-3 match between Mexico and Chile's national teams averaged nearly 1.5 million viewers across the two networks, which have exclusive rights to the South American international soccer tournament, the programmer said, citing Nielsen live plus same day figures. The results broke down to 1,056,287 viewers on beIN SPORTS en Español, one of the highest-rated telecasts in the channel’s history, and 422,318 viewers on beIN SPORTS, the English-language channel.

Collectively, the two contests that have featured the Mexican National Team (the first was on June 12 vs. Bolivia) have netted close to 2.5 million viewers across the two beIN SPORTS outlets.

Mexico’s next match will be on June 19, versus Ecuador, for a chance to advance into the quarterfinal round. The Copa America final will be played on July 4 and can be seen on the two beIN SPORTS channels and the beIN CONNECT app.

More than 1.3 million viewers have also watched The Express XTRA Chile 2015, the programmer’s daily sports wrap-up show featuring highlights and analysis, since the tournament's opening on June 11-14. The Spanish show features hosts Ana Cobos, Miguel Serrano, Carmen Boquin, and Pablo Mariño, joined by Francisco "Kikin" Fonseca, Sergio Goycochea. In English, host Terri Leigh is joined by analysts Ruud Gullit, Christian Vieri, Juan Pablo Angel, Andy Gray, Richards Keys and Tony Meola, beIN SPORTS said.

“We are thrilled with the results of this match so early into Copa America, but more so, that fans are happy with beIN SPORTS’ programming and coverage from our studios in Chile, Miami and Doha,” Antonio Briceño, deputy managing director of beIN SPORTS, said in a release. “We are pleased with the viewership results thus far and expect continued improvement as the tournament marches along."

The 44th edition of the Copa America tournament kicks off in June from Chile, and the host nation has received a favorable draw.

beIN Sports and beIN SPORTS en Español on Monday night provided live coverage of the draw for the 2015 Copa América from Viña del Mar, with Chile, ranked 13th in the FIFA world rankings, heading Group A, where it will square off against México (17), Ecuador (27) and Bolivia (103). The tourney begins with Chile batttling Ecuador in Santiago on Thursday, June 11.

The networks hold the U.S. rights to the competition, featuring the 10 CONMEBOL South American teams, plus El Tri and Jamaica.

Group B comprises Argentina (2), Uruguay (8), Paraguay (76) and Jamaica (113), while Group C houses Colombia (3), Brazil (6), Peru (54) and Venezuela (85).

The top two sides from each group, and the two best third-place finishers, advance to the quarterfinals and the event’s knockout stage.

 “We are thrilled to be the exclusive provider of the 2015 Copa América tournament in both English and Spanish, across all platforms and devices,” said Yousef Al-Obaidliy, deputy CEO of beIN Media Group. “Copa América is among the most-viewed and popular soccer events for fans worldwide. In the U.S. specifically, we will provide original content and coverage showcasing the best selected teams for true soccer fans in their preferred language and anywhere they would like to watch it.”

The final group matches are scheduled for Sunday, June 21. The knockout round begins on Wednesday, June 24 ahead of the final on Saturday, July 4.