Comcast to buy Sky with $39B bid, beating Fox

LONDON — Comcast has emerged as the top bidder for European broadcaster Sky after a rare auction held by British regulators.

After three rounds of secret bidding on Friday and Saturday, Comcast offered the higher price of $22.58 per share for Sky, the equivalent of nearly $39 billion. Rival 21st Century Fox offered $20.47 per share.

In a statement, Sky recommended that shareholders accept Comcast’s offer and sell their shares immediately. Comcast said it hoped to complete the takeover by the end of October.

“Sky is a wonderful company with a great platform, tremendous brand and accomplished management team,” Comcast Chairman and CEO Brian Roberts said in a statement. “This acquisition will allow us to quickly, efficiently and meaningfully increase our customer base and expand internationally.”

Philadelphia-based Comcast is one of the largest cable television providers in the U.S. Around 29 million customers get cable television and internet access from Comcast.

Britain’s regulator, the Takeover Panel, set up the auction to reduce uncertainty for Sky after months of offers and counteroffers from the American media giants. Sky is Europe’s largest pay-television operator, with 22.5 million customers in seven countries and popular programming including English Premier League soccer and “Game of Thrones.”

Fox owns 39 percent of Sky. Fox had been trying to acquire the 61 percent of Sky it doesn’t already own.