DIS Walt Disney Co

By Maria Armental 

Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc. has reached a deal it valued at $10.6 billion to buy 21 regional sports networks from Walt Disney Co., the company said Friday.

The purchase price, the company said, is $9.6 billion, after adjusting for minority equity interests.

The 21 sports networks were part of the 21st Century Fox assets that Disney bought and agreed to sell to pave the way for government approval of that deal.

In 2018, the regional sports networks portfolio had $3.8 billion in revenue.

The networks will be acquired by a newly formed, wholly-owned subsidiary of Sinclair called Diamond Sports Group LLC.

The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday that the companies had struck a deal for the 21 networks and that Sinclair Broadcast had separately partnered with the New York Yankees to acquire the YES Network, another of the networks once controlled by 21st Century Fox. That sale, which hasn't been finalized but would be valued at $3.45 billion, also includes Amazon.com Inc. as a partner, The Journal reported.

Other suitors for the regional sports networks included Liberty Media Corp. and Big 3 Basketball LLC, whose management includes entertainment executive Jeff Kwatinetz and rapper and actor Ice Cube.

Joe Flint contributed to this article.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 03, 2019 17:30 ET (21:30 GMT)

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