Sinclair to buy Fox Regional Sports

SamCdbs said:

Note that the WSJ has a picture of some talking heads from Fox Sports One. Which has nothing at all to do with the matter. Never sold to Disney, not sold to Sinclair, still a part of new Fox.

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SamCdbs said:

Correct, the "new Fox" retained four business groups:

- Fox Broadcast (AKA "big Fox" the broadcast network of 200 odd affiliates)
- Fox TV stations, which are the Fox and MY network affiliates in the bigger cities; the MY network diginet and 50% ownership in the Movies! diginet.
-Fox News. The Fox News Channel, Fox Business Network and some radio and streaming Fox branded news.
- Fox Sports. FS1, FS2, Fox Deportes, Fox Soccer Channels, 51% of Big 10 Network, and some international things.

Fox Sports One was never a part of any of this.

Never have officially seen how long the sold off "Foxes" get to use the brand name Fox.

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BALTIMORE and BURBANK, Cailf., May 3, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: SBGI) ("Sinclair" or the "Company") and The Walt Disney Company (NYSE: DIS) ("Disney") today announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement under which Sinclair will acquire the equity interests in 21 Regional Sports Networks (the "RSNs") and Fox College Sports, which were acquired by Disney in its acquisition of Twenty-First Century Fox, Inc. ("21st Century Fox"). The transaction ascribes a total enterprise value to the RSNs equal to $10.6 billion, reflecting a purchase price of $9.6 billion, after adjusting for minority equity interests. Completion of the transaction is subject to customary closing conditions, including the approval of the U.S. Department of Justice.

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[The RSNs will be acquired via a newly formed indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of Sinclair, Diamond Sports Group LLC ("Diamond"). Byron Allen has agreed to become an equity and content partner in a newly formed indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of Sinclair and an indirect parent of Diamond ("RSN Holding Company"). Mr. Allen, who bought The Weather Channel in 2018, is the Founder, Chairman, and Chief Executive Officer of Entertainment Studios, a global media, content and technology company.

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Last year, Disney and 21st Century Fox entered into a consent decree with the U.S. Department of Justice that allowed Disney's acquisition of 21st Century Fox to proceed while requiring the subsequent sale of the RSNs. Sinclair's purchase does not include 21st Century Fox's equity interest in the YES Network, the disposition of which is also required as part of the consent decree. Disney completed its $71 billion acquisition of 21st Century Fox in March.

The RSNs to be acquired by Sinclair are: Fox Sports Arizona, Fox Sports Detroit, Fox Sports Florida, Fox Sports Sun, Fox Sports North, Fox Sports Wisconsin, Fox Sports Ohio, SportsTime Ohio, Fox Sports South, Fox Sports Carolina, Fox Sports Tennessee, Fox Sports Southeast, Fox Sports Southwest, Fox Sports Oklahoma, Fox Sports New Orleans, Fox Sports Midwest, Fox Sports Kansas City, Fox Sports Indiana, Fox Sports San Diego, Fox Sports West, and Prime Ticket. Also included in the acquisition is Fox College Sports.

Sinclair expects to capitalize Diamond with $1.4 billion in cash equity, comprised of a combination of approximately $0.7 billion of cash on hand and a contribution of $0.7 billion in the form of new fully committed debt at Sinclair Television Group, Inc. In addition, the purchase price will be funded with $1.0 billion of fully committed privately-placed preferred equity of a newly-formed indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of Sinclair and direct parent of RSN Holding Company. The remainder of the purchase price is being funded by $8.2 billion of fully committed secured and unsecured debt incurred by Diamond. The transaction will be treated as an asset sale for tax purposes, with Sinclair receiving a full step-up in basis.

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dare2be said:

I'm glad my rsn isn't affected by this

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Don in CT said:

I would not be surprised if there is more consolidation coming as subscribers continue to plummet.

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zippyfrog said:

Do you mean RSN consolidation? I can't see how the RSN's that have long term deals with MLB, NBA, NHL teams can be consolidated when the deals go some 15-20 years out.

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eddie willers said:

All I care about are my Braves and my Dawgs. Let me know if this affects me.

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