Acunmedya, the Turkish media group, has finalized its purchase of a 50% stake in Germany’s multi-channel free-to-air (FTA) network Sport1.

The two parties had initially agreed a deal in late February, and now Sport1’s owner Highlight Communications has tied up a final version of the agreement with Acunmedya.

Through the deal, one of the two Sport1 co-chief executives, Matthias Kirschenhofer, has been elevated to managing director. The other, Robin Seckler, will remain as co-CEO.

Acun Ilicali, the Acunmedya Group’s founder and owner, has said: “As we collaborate with the Sport1 team, we see incredible opportunities to offer a wide range of sports and entertainment content for our German-speaking audience and create an inspiring success story with our partner.“

Bernhard Burgener, chair of the Sport1 Medien AG board, added: “With Acunmedya we have found an outstanding strategic investor and a great partner … The cooperation offers us excellent opportunities to further expand our offering so that we can deliver even more innovative sports and entertainment content that will inspire our viewers.”

The tie-up, both parties have said, will entail “an extensive content partnership,” with “sports entertainment formats” from Acunmedya to be brought into Sport1’s programming.

Highlight Communications first unveiled last June that it was assessing its options regarding Sport1, with these including either a partial or full sale. At the same time, a major reshuffle of the network’s structure was enacted, with five “independent profit centers” created.

Last June’s restructuring at Sport1 also involved chief executive Olaf Schröder leaving the company with immediate effect. He was replaced by Seckler and Kirschenhofer as co-chief executives.

In terms of its top-tier sports rights, Sport1 last season covered domestic soccer’s DFB Pokal cup competition, France's top-tier Ligue 1, and premium live action from the worlds of tennis, ice hockey, darts, motorsport, and basketball.

Acunmedya, meanwhile, most prominently produces reality-TV programming in Turkey, as well as in Greece.

In terms of the strategy behind its German expansion, the European Union's Office of Statistics found last year that there were at that point 1.9 million Turkish citizens living in that country.