Amazon Looking To Purchase Fox’s 22 Regional Sports Channels

Earlier this year, the US Department agreed to Disney purchasing 21st Century Fox on the condition that they sold 22 of Fox’s regional sports networks.  And now it looks like Amazon has emerged as a bidder, according to a report by CNBC.

These 22 channels have been valued at around $20 billion, though one of the channels’ New York’s Yes Network, maybe sold back to the New York Yankees, since they own 20% of the channel and have the first right to buy it back.  CNBC has reported that the Yankees have joined forced with private equity giant Blackstone in the effort to reclaim the channel that is the local home of Yankees, the NBA’s Brooklyn Nets and Major League Soccer’s New York City Football Club.

There are other bidders for these regional sports channels, including the  Sinclair Broadcast Group and Tegna.

While these networks would have fitted in with Disney’s ESPN network, being forced to sell these channels and its state in Sky, will reduce how much 21st Century Fox cost Disney, allowing them to put that money into other projects such as Disney+, Hulu or Theme Park development.