US group Discovery is in talks about a deal to partner with BT Sport, in a move that would top $600 million to liquidate the British television network to DAZN.
As the Financial Times reported, Discovery Group, which owns Eurosport channels, has offered to create a joint venture with BT group, with the aim of creating an important player in the world of television rights. Sports in the United States is a kingdom. BT Sport, among others, has the rights to broadcast matches from the English Premier League and Champions League in the UK, while Discovery has a long-term agreement to broadcast the Olympic Games across Europe.
BT executives have begun taking the option of partnering with Discovery more seriously in the past two months, after talks about divesting its sports channels from DAZN, owned by billionaire Sir Leonard Blavatnik, who got stuck in commercial details. BT Sport is a service tied to the company’s broadband subscribers, which has led DAZN to ask for revenue guarantees if the streaming platform is to buy the sports channels. In the meantime, BT wants to ensure that its subscribers will continue to have access to DAZN’s services.
Thus, negotiations over these details ended. However, BT has plans to decide whether to sell to DAZN or partner with Discovery later this year. Discovery is also seeking a multi-billion dollar deal to acquire WarnerMedia, the group currently owned by AT&T. The move, led by Discovery CEO David Zaslav, would create the world’s second largest media company after Disney.
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