According to a report by Josh Kosman and Richard Morgan in Thje New York Post, the Walt Disney Company was not pleased with the initial round of bidding for the 22 regional networks it acquired from 21st Century Fox. The company does not believe it can make the $20 billion it was hoping to by selling off all of the networks as a single unit. It will instead look to sell them off one-by-one.
Disney was reportedly anticipating broadcast companies to be the primary players for the networks. Instead, what it saw was “a low ball bid” from Sinclair Broadcasting, Nextstar enter a bid that “is not seen as a serious,” and more private equity firms than television companies throw their hats in the ring.
JPMorgan Chase and Allen & Co, the two banks overseeing the sale, are using interest in individual networks to generate some sales. Charter Communications, which already owns SportsNet LA, is reportedly interested in Sports South, which is the home of the Atlanta Braves and Hawks. Minnesota Twins owner Jim Polhad is reportedly interested in acquiring FS North, which has the rights to the Twins, Timberwolves, and Wild.
Kosman and Morgan spoke to a “RSN expert” for their piece that described the trepidation as the result of cord cutting.
“The RSN business is not a growth business, but a declining business,” an RSN expert told The Post. “There are a lot of subscriber defections [along with the rest of cable] and the RSNs do not own the digital rights.”
It is still possible that the giants Disney was anticipating seeing in round one come in for round 2 of bidding. Fox and Comcast have been rumored to be interested and now that word is out that they may not have to spend top dollar, it stands to reason that those companies could reassess their desire to be involved in the bidding.
