Comcast outbid Disney-owned Fox in a weekend auction for a majority share in European broadcaster Sky. The deal has large ramifications for international sports coverage.
Sky has 23 million subscribers across five countries—the United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany, Austria, and Italy—and a host of major sports rights including English Premier League soccer, cricket, golf, Formula 1, tennis, and rugby. Comcast ultimately bid £17.28 ($22.71) per share for the available 61 percent stake. That values the company at £30.6 billion ($40.0 billion).
Comcast and Disney recently bid against each other for control of Fox’s film and television assets, with Disney prevailing with a bid of $71.3 billion. Fox already had a 39-percent share of Sky and had been hoping to assume full ownership before selling to Disney. But now Disney will retain that 39 percent and be a minority owner alongside Comcast. The two media giants are partners in the ownership of Hulu as well, Comcast holding a 30-percent stake, while Disney is about to inherit 60-percent ownership through its purchase of Fox.
“This is a great day for Comcast. Sky is a wonderful company with a great platform, tremendous brand, and accomplished management team,” said Comcast Chairman and CEO Brian L. Roberts in a statement. “This acquisition will allow us to quickly, efficiently and meaningfully increase our customer base and expand internationally. We couldn’t be more excited by the opportunities in front of us. We now encourage Sky shareholders to accept our offer, which we look forward to completing before the end of October 2018.”
SportTechie Takeaway
Traditional media companies continue consolidating as they stave off overtures from the new digital players. AT&T acquired Time Warner, Disney purchased Fox, and now Comcast added Sky. All of these maneuvers are intended to keep those companies relevant (and solvent) in the face of increasing competition from Amazon, Netflix, Facebook, YouTube, and others. Comcast, which owns NBC’s stable of networks in the U.S., now has a foothold in Europe and EPL rights on both continents. Sky has already developed its own streaming technology and, just last week, announced plans for a content integration with Netflix.