[ad_1]
According to the Wall Street Journal, Sinclair Broadcast Group has reached an agreement to purchase Disney's 21 regional Fox sports networks for more than $ 10 billion.
The agreement is expected to be announced on Friday, the WSJ announced. The Disney or Sinclair representatives did not immediately respond to TheWrap's request for comment.
Disney was to unload the 22 regional sports networks it acquired as part of the acquisition of 21st Century Fox's film and television assets to obtain approval from the Department of Justice. Last week, Fox Business Network announced that Sinclair and Disney had a "bargaining agreement" for the price.
In March, Disney sold YES, based in New York, to the New York Yankees, with Amazon as a minority partner, for $ 3.47 billion. Sinclair was separately associated with Yankee Global Enterprises (the company owning the Yankees) and Amazon for this transaction. This agreement gave Amazon broadcast rights to the Yankees' games in the team's regional territory, which includes New York and parts of New Jersey and Connecticut. Brooklyn Nets games from the NBA are also offered by YES Network.
Read also: Fox will not try to buy regional sports networks, it's sell to Disney
The other 21 regional sports networks collectively hold local television rights to 42 NHL, NBA and Major League Baseball professional sports teams in markets such as Detroit, Southern California, Dallas, Cleveland and Miami. Major League Baseball, TEGNA and a large number of private equity firms were among the other bidders.
This purchase makes Sinclair, already the largest owner of local TV channels (170) in the country, an even bigger player in the local game show. Sinclair also owns Tennis Channel and launches a regional sports network with the MLB Chicago Cubs.
Sinclair had to buy local TV stations from Tribune, but the deal was canceled last summer.
[ad_2]
Source link