US media and entertainment company Discovery Communications has held talks with potential partners over possible joint bids for premium sports rights, according to chief executive David Zaslav.
In January, Discovery fast-tracked a deal to increase its shareholding in pan-European sports broadcaster Eurosport to a controlling stake, and a bid for the next cycle of rights to football’s English Premier League has been mooted, with the league considering launching a sales process later this year.
“We have had a lot of conversations with a lot of players in local markets looking for partners as sports rights come up,” Zaslav said. "We will be keen to look at what is available. We are cognisant of the fact that this is a great brand… that could really emerge as a premier sports brand here in the UK and Western and Eastern Europe.”
He added: “Most of what's on Eurosport is locked in for next several years – tennis, winter sports and cycling – we have the core sports. We have a real advantage keeping the costs of second level sports manageable. The question is do we go up a level. In some cases taking a big swing might make sense to do in a joint bidding. In some cases might make sense to leave bigger high end sports to big broadcasters. We'll just have to see.”
Zaslav added that Eurosport is a “bigger platform” than pay-television broadcaster ESPN on cable-television in the US and “it reaches more people.” He added: “The question is what we do about that. If we look at big sports rights will be careful about it, we are going to be thoughtful about it.”