Looking to cash in on climbing demand for sports content, Comcast Corp. said Monday it will buy Cablevision subsidiary Rainbow Media’s 60 percent interest in FSN Bay Area and its 50 percent stake in FSN New England for an estimated $570 million in cash.
The deal will give Comcast 100 percent control of FSN New England and 60 percent of FSN Bay Area, with the remaining 40 percent owned by an affiliate of News Corp. Comcast will operate both regional sports networks.
Comcast's content networks and investments include The Golf Channel and four regional Comcast SportsNets. The cableco has a majority ownership in Comcast-Spectacor, whose major holdings include the NHL’s Philadelphia Flyers, the NBA’s Philadelphia 76ers and two multipurpose arenas in Philadelphia.
The transactions are the latest in an escalating battle for sports programming, which has even trickled down to the high school sports level. Verizon’s entry into the local TV market, FiOS 1 in Washington, D.C., includes coverage of high school and college sports teams. Earlier, DirecTV Inc. cut a deal with Major League Baseball to carry out-of-market games and invest millions toward the launch of a baseball only network on 2009.
"By growing regional sports networks in markets where Comcast has existing operations, we have a unique opportunity to reinforce our brand image and capitalize on our local presence," said Jeff Shell, president of Comcast Programming Group, in prepared comments.
Cablevision Systems Corp. www.cablevision.com
Comcast Corp. www.comcast.com
