Pay-television broadcaster Fox Sports is set to cease operating its local version in Uruguay amid a change in business strategy.
The decision has been taken following the Walt Disney Company’s acquisition of Fox earlier in the year. Uruguayan newspaper El Observador, citing company sources, said that programming will cease at the end of the year.
The flagship Fox Sports Radio Uruguay programme, which airs each weeknight between 7pm and 9pm, is set to stop broadcasting on December 9. Some programmes on Fox Sports Argentina are also reportedly set to come off the air as part of the company’s business rethink.
Fox Sports Uruguay currently uses the studios and technical equipment of the Uruguayan station Canal 4.
Disney closed its $71.3bn (€64.4bn) acquisition of Fox’s media assets in March, absorbing the Fox film and TV studios, the FX networks, National Geographic and Indian broadcaster Star India.
Last month, Brazil’s Administrative Council for Economic Defence (Cade), the competition regulator, ruled that the planned acquisition of 21st Century Fox by the Walt Disney Company would be subjected to a review.
Disney in February agreed to sell its Fox Sports channels in Brazil and Mexico as part of the process to complete the takeover of Fox’s entertainment assets. Cade announced that the deal would be reassessed as the required sale of Fox Sports has not yet occurred.
Mexico’s antitrust regulator, the Federal Telecommunications Institute (IFT), agreed last month to hand Disney and Fox Sports a six-month extension to sell sports assets in the country. The IFT ordered an independent auditor to take sole responsibility for the sale or divestment of the sports business after Disney indicated that potential buyers for the sporting assets had requested more time to review the assets before making any formal offers.