The multinational News Corp media conglomerate is assessing selling off Foxtel, one of Australia’s most dominant pay-TV broadcasters in terms of sports rights.
Speaking around an earnings release yesterday, News Corp chief executive Robert Thomson said that during a review of assets, there had been “third-party interest in a potential transaction involving the Foxtel Group.”
He added that Foxtel has been “positively transformed in recent years.”
Aside from the Fox linear broadcast network, Foxtel as a group also includes the Kayo and Binge streaming services.
The Fox Sports division of Foxtel holds media rights across a wide range of top-tier leagues and competitions.
Thomson commented: “We are evaluating options for the business with our advisors in light of that external interest.”
Domestically, Foxtel covers sports and properties such as Aussie rules football’s AFL, home Australian national team cricket, and rugby league.
It also covers major international events from sports such as golf, motor racing (Formula 1), and mixed martial arts.
Additionally, it has a major carriage deal in place with international sports broadcaster ESPN.
Through that agreement, Foxtel can show ESPN’s portfolio of rights including basketball's NBA, American football’s NFL, baseball’s MLB, mixed martial arts promotion UFC, and US college sports on its Foxtel linear channels and Kayo Sports streaming platform.
In releasing its quarterly results over the last few days, Foxtel’s overall subscriber revenue was up 1%.
Reuters has reported that Foxtel could be valued - using a valuation of four to six times gross annual profit - at between $1.24 billion and $1.86 billion.
Foxtel’s most recent sports rights activity came in late July when it announced the extension of its deal with the Cricket South Africa governing body.
Through a multi-year renewal of their existing deal, Foxtel will cover all South African representative teams’ home fixtures (men’s and women’s), including test matches, one-day internationals, and Twenty20 internationals.
