Discovery Communications, the parent company of international sports broadcaster Eurosport, has rebranded as Discovery after completing its acquisition of cable-television channel owner Scripps Networks Interactive.
The deal to take over Scripps in a $14.6bn (€12.5bn) transaction was first announced last July. Scripps operates various entertainment channels and owns Polish media company TVN, a major sports broadcaster in the country.
“Today marks another critical milestone for Discovery, as we become a differentiated kind of media company with the most trusted portfolio of family-friendly brands around the globe,” said David Zaslav, Discovery’s president and chief executive. “As a new global leader in real life entertainment, Discovery will serve loyal and passionate audiences around the world with content that inspires, informs and entertains across every screen; deliver new ways for advertisers and distributors to reach highly targeted audiences at scale; and leverage our leadership position to create new value and growth opportunities for all of our stakeholders.”
Kenneth Lowe, the former chairman, president and chief executive of Scripps Networks Interactive, will join Discovery’s board of directors.
Discovery last week hailed the performance of its first Olympics as a major rights-holder, stating the Pyeongchang 2018 winter Games delivered on its commitment to engage more people, on more screens than ever before across Europe, leaving it in a strong position for the 2020 summer Olympics in Tokyo.
In June 2015, Discovery acquired Olympic Games rights in 50 European territories in a four-Games deal with the International Olympic Committee, from 2018 to 2024.