SEATTLE (CelebrityAccess) — Tech goliath Amazon has reportedly made a bid for all of the 22 regional sports TV networks put into play by Disney’s acquisition of Twenty-First Century Fox.
The channels include an 80% stake in the high profile New York-based YES Network, which carries games for the New York Yankees and the Brooklyn Nets games.
According to CNBC, which first reported on Amazon’s bid, private equity investors including Apollo Global Management, KKR, The Blackstone Group, as well as the conservative broadcasting syndicate Sinclair Broadcast Group, also made a bid for the full collection of networks.
Fox, which owns the YES Network with the New York Yankees, was also making a bid for the networks, according to CNBC.
Disney acquired the networks as part of an eye-popping 71 billion dollar deal.
As a condition of the deal completing, the U.S. Justice Department required that Disney, which also owns the ESPN network, to divest the sports the 22 sports channels to address anti-trust concerns in the sports broadcasting sector
A second round of bids is expected before the end of the year, and due diligence evaluations on the bids will begin next week, CNBC reported.
