RTL buys Sky's German-language operations
German media giant RTL announced Friday its acquisition of the activities of its rival Sky in the German-speaking world, with the hope of creating a European competitor to US streaming giants.
The acquisition will see RTL's existing news and entertainment services supplemented by the rights that Sky holds to major sports events such as Formula 1 and the German Bundesliga.
Together, the groups' German streaming platforms RTL+ and WOW will have a combined reach of 11.5 million subscribers.
RTL said it would pay US group Comcast a total of 150 million euros ($175 million) upfront for Sky's services in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.
Over the next five years, Comcast could receive an additional sum of up to 377 million euros linked to the development of RTL's stock.
The German media group's share price was up almost 14 percent on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange following the announcement.
The deal is the biggest in RTL's history, the Cologne-based media group said in a statement.
The addition of Sky's German-language offering would have boosted RTL's revenues by 30 percent in 2024 to 8.2 billion euros.
The two businesses said they "will continue to operate independently until regulatory approvals are obtained, which are expected in 2026".
Thomas Rabe, the CEO of RTL Group and its majority-shareholder Bertelsmann, said the planned acquisition of Sky was a "milestone... for the European media industry".
"The acquisition is a step toward strengthening the European media markets, which is essential in competition with global tech and streaming platforms," Rabe said.
The RTL Group on Friday also said the sale of its activities in the Netherlands to Belgian group DPG Media had been approved by Dutch authorities.
The reorganised media would enter into a strategic partnership that would see them share international advertising sales operations and give the German privileged rights to programming produced by the Dutch side.
The 1.1-billion-euro transaction, announced in December 2023, would also strengthen European media groups like DPG "to better compete with the global tech giants", Rabe said.
The European media landscape has so far lacked a competitor to US streaming companies, such as Netflix and HBO, which can marshall bigger investments in new content.
Czech investment group PPF and MediaForEurope (MFE), majority-owned by Italy's Berlusconi family, are currently putting forward rival bids for ProSiebenSat.1, RTL's German rival with 15 television channels.