Sky in talks to create European TV empire

SATELLITE broadcaster BSkyB is in talks to acquire sister firms in Germany and Italy to create a £22bn pan-European pay television giant.

The media group is in ‘preliminary discussions’ with Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox to buy the American movie and television company’s interests in Germany’s Sky Deutschland and Sky Italia.

Fox owns all of Sky Italia and 55pc of Sky Deutschland, as well as 39pc of BSkyB. The deal will pool all of Murdoch’s pay TV interests in Europe.

But any deal could also require BSkyB to successfully acquire the 45pc of Sky Deutschland on the Frankfurt exchange.

The company said in a statement: ‘BSkyB has a clear set of plans to grow its business in the UK and Ireland… and expects to continue to achieve… growth and returns for shareholders.

‘At the same time, the company continuously explores ways to create further value for shareholders.

‘As part of this approach, the company initiated preliminary discussions with 21st Century Fox to evaluate the potential acquisition of its pay-TV assets in Germany and Italy.’

The pressure will be on independent directors to ensure BSkyB does not overpay for the assets owned by its biggest shareholder.

Murdoch’s News Corporation failed to take full ownership of BSkyB (down 21.5p to 868.5p) in 2010 after the News of the World phone hacking scandal.

The group has since split in two, with the broadcast assets hived off to Fox and publishing remaining with News Corp.

A tie up with European counterparts would give BSkyB a potential audience of 75m homes, rather than 14m.

The Murdoch family has previously stated a need to resolve their European pay-TV strategy.