According to several media reports, Amazon is bidding on several regional sports networks. Specifically, Amazon is looking to buy 22 regional cable networks across the US, including the YES Network. YES Network is known for broadcasting New York Yankees games. The combination of all these networks is valued at more than $20 billion.
Amazon previously tested the waters with sports broadcasting for “Thursday Night Football” in September, but the e-commerce giant hit some road bumps with the US Open tennis tournament being live streamed for UK users.
Photo: Amazon’s campus in Seattle / Credit: Amazon.com
Disney gained ownership of the 22 regional sports networks through the acquisition of 21st Century Fox’s entertainment assets for $71 billion. However, federal regulators are forcing Disney to divest ownership in the regional sports networks due to antitrust laws. Disney has 90 days to sell the regional sports networks from the date that the deal closes next year. And Disney said that it wants to sell all the channels together, which limits the list of potential buyers.
According to The Washington Post, some of the other potential buyers for the regional sports networks include Sinclair Broadcast Group and several private equity firms. And the new Fox brand could buy the regional sports networks back as well. CNBC’s sources said that Apollo Global Management, KKR, Blackstone, Sinclair Broadcast, and TEGNA have also made first-round bids for the regional sports networks.
One of the biggest reasons why Amazon might buy the regional sports networks is so that it would be a selling point for more consumers to sign up for an Amazon Prime subscription. Amazon said in April 2018 that it surpassed 100 million Prime subscribers.
Bloomberg reported today that The New York Yankees are working with several partners like Amazon to buy back the YES Network. Some of the other partners that are reportedly being brought in include Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, RedBird Capital Partners, and Mubadala Investment Company. The Yankees own 20% of the YES Network and have the right of first refusal on the rest of it. Fox owns the other 80% interest.
