Eurosport Owner Discovery Considering Premier League TV Rights Deal

Eurosport's new majority shareholder, Discovery Communications, "is considering using its deep pockets to take on BSkyB and BT in the next multibillion-pound war for Premier League TV rights," according to Mark Sweney of the London GUARDIAN. The owner of the Discovery factual channel, which has a market capitalisation of $28B, "is eying up the UK sports rights market after a deal last week to fast-track its acquisition of a controlling stake in Eurosport." Bidding for the next three-year EPL TV rights deal "is expected to start later this year." Discovery Communications CEO David Zaslav said that "his company is considering a bid." Zaslav: "We will look opportunistically at everything, strong sports rights can be very compelling and 'must have' content for viewers and advertisers" (GUARDIAN, 1/24).