BALTIMORE & BURBANK, Calif.—The Sinclair Broadcast Group and Disney have finalized a deal that will see Sinclair acquire 21 regional sports networks, as well as Fox College Sports, from Disney for a total price of $9.6 billion, which the Department of Justice has given its approval. Disney was required to divest the RSNs following its acquisition of 21st Century Fox.
To acquire the RSNs, Sinclair created an indirect subsidiary, Diamond Sports Group LLC, with Byron Allen agreeing to become and equity and content partner. According to Sinclair CEO and President Chris Ripley, Jeff Krolik, president of the RSNs, as well as of the RSN management team and staff, will now join Sinclair.
“We are very excited about the transformational aspects the RSN acquisition will have on Sinclair and are eager to bring those opportunities to life,” said Ripley.
With the deal, Sinclair now have the exclusive local rights to 42 professional teams, including 14 for MLB, 16 NBA and 12 NHL teams. The deal excludes the YES Network.
Here is the complete list of RSNs acquired by Sinclair: Fox Sports Arizona, Fox Sports Detroit, Fox Sports Florida, Fox Sports Sun, Fox Sports North, Fox Sports Wisconsin, Fox Sports Ohio, SportsTime Ohio, Fox Sports South, Fox Sports Carolina, Fox Sports Tennessee, Fox Sports Southeast, Fox Sports Southwest, Fox Sports Oklahoma, Fox Sports New Orleans, Fox Sports Midwest, Fox Sports Kansas City, Fox Sports Indiana, Fox Sports San Diego, Fox Sports West and Prime Ticket.
