Comcast’s $31 billion Sky bid crashes Murdoch and Disney show

US CABLE giant Comcast Corp has offered £22.5 billion for Sky Plc, threatening a plan hatched by Rupert Murdoch’s Twenty-First Century Fox Inc and Walt Disney Co to seize control of Europe’s biggest pay-TV group.

The world’s biggest entertainment company and owner of NBC and Universal Pictures said on Tuesday it proposed to offer £12.50 per share for Britain’s Sky, more than the £10.75 that Mr Murdoch’s Fox has agreed to pay for it.

Bob Iger’s Disney has agreed to buy Sky from Fox, along with other assets, in a separate £37.5 billion follow-up deal.

Comcast’s all-cash, unsolicited offer pits CEO Brian Roberts against Mr Murdoch, the 86-yearold tycoon who helped to launch Sky and pioneered pay-TV in Britain. Mr Iger is also a longtime rival after Comcast tried and failed to buy Disney in 2004.

“Sky and Comcast are a perfect fit: we are both leaders in creating and distributing content,” Mr Roberts said. Sky’s shares jumped more than 20 per cent, closing at £13.31, indicating that investors expect a bidding war. Shares of Comcast, Fox and Disney fell.

Comcast’s appearance in the already complex Sky drama could prompt Fox to make a higher offer or Disney to make its own direct bid for Sky. Fox remains committed to its cash offer announced in December, it said in a statement.

Media owners have been forced into increasingly aggressive deals after online groups Netflix Inc and Amazon.com Inc prompted many customers to ditch subscriptions.

Comcast bid £43 billion last year to clinch a deal with Fox, before losing out to Disney.

Sky, which provides sports programming, films and broadband to 23 million homes across Britain, Ireland, Germany, Italy and Austria, urged its investors to take no action since the approach did not represent a firm offer.

Mr Murdoch’s Fox agreed to buy the 61 per cent of Sky it did not already own in a cash deal in December 2016, but the takeover has been repeatedly held up by regulators over concerns the media tycoon wields too much influence in Britain.

The shares had been trading above the asking price since Sky this month agreed to pay less than expected for Premier League soccer rights, likely boosting its future earnings and prompting investors to demand a higher offer.