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MILAN/LONDON (Reuters) – German media group ProSiebenSat.1 and European pay-TV operator Sky have revived talks over a combination of their businesses in Germany, four sources familiar with the matter said on Monday.
German broadcasters are struggling to reshape their business to compete with online streaming players such as Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) and DAZN. Under a potential transaction, Sky would pay hundreds of million of euros to sell its operations in Germany to Prosiebensat.1, two of the sources said.
Shares in Prosiebensat.1 rose 3.2% in afternoon trading.
Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA), which acquired Sky Deutschland as part of a $40 billion buyout of European pay-TV broadcaster Sky in 2018, is working with advisory firm PJT Partners (NYSE:PJT), sources have previously said. Sky operates also in Italy and Britain. Prosiebensat.1 declined to comment. Sky declined to comment Comcast did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
If any deal goes ahead, it could represent a loss for Comcast, which bought Sky Deutschland as part of a $40 billion buyout of European pay-TV broadcaster Sky in 2018.
Sky Deutschland was worth roughly 4.44 billion pounds ($5.60 billion) in 2014 when BskyB took it over as part of a deal involving Sky Italia. Sky Germany has suffered partly because of competition from DAZN over football rights and a general decline in the television market.
Deliberations are ongoing and there is no certainty any deal will go through, the sources said. They added that no decision had been reached regarding the structure of any merger.
($1 = 0.7923 pounds)
