FRANKFURT (Dow Jones) – Speculation is growing that Comcast wants to sell Sky Germany. According to information from the Börsen-Zeitung, the US cable network operator has commissioned the M&A consultancy PJT Partners to explore the opportunities. Potential prospects for Sky Germany would have received a short presentation. According to the newspaper, 1&1 is said to be interested, but ProSieben is not. ProSieben did not want to comment on the report when asked by Dow Jones Newswires, and 1&1 was not immediately available for a statement.
The presentation was also sent to ProSiebenSat.1, according to the Börsen-Zeitung, citing voices in the media industry. An agency reported on this a few days ago. According to the Börsen-Zeitung, however, ProSiebenSat.1 is not interested in a purchase for a number of reasons: One of the reasons is that there are no or hardly any synergies between free-to-air private television and the pay-TV broadcaster. According to the Börsen-Zeitung, it is highly doubted that RTL would be a possible buyer.
Elke Walthelm, member of the management and head of programming at Sky Germany, did not want to comment on a possible sale in an interview with the Börsen-Zeitung. With a view to the growing number of streaming services and the increasing competition for Sky, she said: “I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a consolidation again at some point.”
According to the newspaper, media companies may only use the opportunity to get a deeper insight into Sky’s business. According to the Börsen-Zeitung, the most likely buyers would be telecommunications companies and cable network operators. Internet service provider 1&1 from United Internet is said to be interested in Sky.
According to information from the Bloomberg news agency, Comcast wants to get 1 billion euros for Sky Germany. That seems ambitious, since the offer of live football, a driving force for subscribers, has been reduced, according to the newspaper. In addition, it is expected that the rights for the Bundesliga will become significantly more expensive from the 2025/26 season.
DJG/hru
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
November 12, 2022 09:31 ET (14:31 GMT)
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