People pass near a poster of Fox at the Twenty-First Century Fox Inc headquarters in the Manhattan borough in New York. |Reuters
LOS ANGELES: Twenty-First Century Fox has agreed to sell its 39 per cent stake in Sky Television to Comcast, which won a bidding auction for the European pay-TV giant.
According to CNBC News, the decision was approved by Disney, which will soon acquire most of Fox and would have inherited the Sky stake.
Fox said in a statement: "In light of the premium Comcast has agreed to pay for Sky, we and Disney have decided to sell 21st Century Fox's existing 39 per cent holding in Sky to Comcast. We congratulate Comcast on their pending acquisition."
Disney also said that the sale of the stake, coupled with the divestiture of the Fox Sports Regional Networks, would reduce the amount of debt it will incur in buying the Fox assets and help it invest in its Disney-branded direct-to-consumer offering launching late next year
Another major part of Disney's streaming strategy is Hulu, which it will control as a result of the acquisition. Disney will own 60 per cent of the streaming service after the deal closes, which is expected to happen in 2019.
