International sports broadcaster Eleven Sports Network is close to agreeing a takeover deal for troubled North American sports broadcaster One World Sports, according to multiple reports.
News of a potential deal was first reported by sports website World Soccer Talk, which noted One World began rebranding itself as Eleven Sports on Saturday.
Eleven Sports spokeswoman Colleen Lynch told the Multichannel News website that the company “will have more details later this week,” but until then it had no further comment.
In November, One World Sports chief executive Sandy Brown said the broadcaster was in talks over a takeover and retained an “extremely bright future” amid reports of its employees being sent on periods of leave.
The Awful Announcing website said One World Sports had “furloughed” most of its staff, while organisers, vendors and talent had not been paid.
One World Sports was formed in 2010 and primarily offers North American Soccer League games, along with other football content. It also televises the England national cricket team’s home internationals, ice hockey’s Kontinental Hockey League and Champions Hockey League, Chinese Basketball Association events and the OneAsia golf tour.
Awful Announcing added that while One World Sports is still carried on many providers, its programming has been mostly repeats for months, while its website and programming schedule hasn’t been updated since November 28.