Sinclair Broadcast Group finalized its US$9.6 billion purchase of 21 regional sports networks from the Walt Disney Company on Friday August 23, completing a months-long transfer of the properties once owned by Fox.
Disney acquired the regional sports networks as part of its US$71.3 billion purchase of film and television properties from 21st Century Fox. Antitrust regulators required Disney to divest itself from the sports networks due to its ownership of sports media giant ESPN.
“In exercising its discretion, the Antitrust Division has a duty to ensure that competition will be preserved for the American consumer, here the sports fan,” said Assistant Attorney General Makan Delrahim of the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division. “Sinclair’s acquisition of the divested regional sports networks addresses the harm the Division identified in its review of the Disney-Fox transaction.”
Full Content: Variety
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