According to Charles Gasparino of Fox Business Channel, there is a handshake agreement in place between the Sinclair Broadcast Group and the Walt Disney Company. The deal would give control of the Fox regional sports networks that Disney acquired in its $71.3 billion purchase of 21st Century Fox’s entertainment assets to Sinclair in exchange for as much as $10 billion.
Sinclair owns more local broadcast stations than any other company in America. Lately, it has grown its footprint in the sports world. The company already owns the Tennis Channel and OTT service Stadium. Earlier this year it announced plans to launch Marquee, a Chicago-based RSN in conjunction with the Cubs, next year and purchased a minority stake in the YES Network.
There are still some potential road blocks to the deal being finalized. Liberty Media, BIG3, and other bidders still have the opportunity to make one last push for the regional sports networks. Federal regulators also need to sign off on the sale.
No firm purchase price has been stated. Gasparino says the deal between Sinclair and Disney is for “up to” $10 million. That is significantly less than the $20-22 billion that Disney was hoping to fetch for the networks.
