US telco AT&T is considering selling its four regional sports networks as part of a wider plan to slash the company’s debts, according to Bloomberg.
The four networks are AT&T SportsNet Pittsburgh, AT&T SportsNet Rocky Mountain (Utah, Nevada and Colorado), AT&T SportsNet Southwest (parts of Texas and Louisiana) and Root Sports Northwest (Alaska, Washington and Oregon).
They have rights to more than two dozen professional teams, college programs and NCAA conferences, including the NHL Pittsburgh Penguins, the NBA Houston Rockets and MLB Seattle Mariners.
According to the report, the networks could fetch up to $1bn in an auction and Sinclair Broadcast Group – which agreed to buy 21 Fox regional sports networks from Disney for $9.6bn in May – could be among the potential suitors.
AT&T is looking to sell the RSNs after amassing more than $180bn in debt following the acquisitions of DirecTV and Time Warner Inc.