Media conglomerate News Corporation has struck a deal to acquire a 49-per-cent stake in US regional cable-television channel Yes Network, which shows games featuring Major League Baseball team the New York Yankees and National Basketball Association team the Brooklyn Nets.
Financial details have not been disclosed, but the Associated Press news agency reported that the deal valued the channel at about $3 billion (€2.36 billion).
The deal is reported to include an option for News Corp to increase its stake in the channel to 80 per cent in three years’ time. Yes Network’s other owners are the Yankees, financial services company Goldman Sachs and other investors.
The deal was finalised after the channel agreed a rights deal for Yankees matches through to 2042. According to the New York Times, the rights deal will involve News Corp paying the Yankees a rights fee of $420 million to activate three successive five-year extension options contained in the existing Yes Network-Yankees deal, and to add rights for another five years on top of this. The new deal is reported to run until 2042.
The rights deal is awaiting ratification by Major League Baseball.