News Corp to pick up 49% in Yankees channel

MUMBAI: News Corp is believed to have concluded the deal for acquisition of 49 per cent stake in cable network channel Yes Network, the channel owned by baseball team New York Yankees and its partners.

The deal with Rupert Murdoch?s News Corp would value the sports channel at $3 billion.

While officials from News Corp and Yes Network have refused to comment on the deal, it is believed that the media conglomerate which runs 20 regional sports networks will have an option to increase its stake to 80 per cent in three to five years.

News Corp, which will have a share in the profits, will negotiate on behalf of Yes Network with the operators as part of a larger package of sports channels which would allow Yes to raise the subscriber fee.

As per the shareholding pattern of Yes, Yankee Global Enterprises owns 34 per cent while Goldman Sachs and Providence Equity own 40 per cent. The remainder 26 per cent is owned by former owners of the Nets.

As per the deal, Fox sports channels will not manage the channel nor will provide local or national sports programming to Yes.