Amazon is Now Bidding for Disney’s Regional Sports Networks

It was this week that Disney announced it had received unconditional approval from China for its acquisition of Twenty First Century Inc.’s entertainment assets, paving the way for the deal to close next year.

As part of the deal however, Disney is required to give up its newly acquired regional sports networks as the company already owns ESPN and some sports programming through ABC.

A CNBC report has revealed that one of the contenders bidding for all 22 regional sports network that Disney acquired from Fox, is e-commerce giant Amazon, that has some deep pockets to shop with.

The CNBC report has said also that Blackstone, Apollo Global Management, the Yankees, and an unidentified sovereign wealth fund are also bidding.

“I’ve always viewed Amazon’s video strategy as having three elements to it – Prime Instant Video, the Channels business and live ad-supported TV,” Atlantic Equities analyst James Cordwell said. “The latter is the least built-out, but the RSNs (regional sports networks) would fit well in terms of establishing this part of the offering.”

The second round of bids is expected before year-end and due diligence on the bids begins next week. The amount of the bids is unknown.

Disclaimer: We have no position in any of the companies mentioned in this article nor have we been compensated for them.