US media and entertainment company Discovery Communications is in talks to acquire Talpa Media’s 33-per-cent stake in Dutch commercial broadcaster SBS, according to the media company’s owner, Jon de Mol.
De Mol told Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf that both Talpa and fellow SBS shareholder Sanoma Media, which has a 67-per-cent stake in the broadcaster, had been in contact with Discovery.
Last year, Discovery acquired the SBS channels in Scandinavia, creating SBS-Discovery, and earlier this year the US media and entertainment company finalised a deal to acquire pan-European sports broadcaster Eurosport.
In July, SBS acquired rights to friendly matches played by the Netherlands national football team, along with highlights to the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of domestic club football, for the 2014-15 and 2015-16 seasons, in a sublicensing deal with pay-television broadcaster Fox International Channels.