RTL buys Sky Deutschland
RTL buys Sky Deutschland for a price of 150 million euros. With this deal, RTL wants to close the gap to streaming services such as Netflix and Prime Video.
(Image: Sky Deutschland)
RTL wants to buy Sky Deutschland. This was announced by the media group on Friday morning. According to the announcement, a binding agreement has been signed with Sky. The purchase price is said to be 150 million euros. Official approval for the planned deal is still pending. RTL expects the takeover to be completed by 2026. Until then, RTL and Sky will continue to operate independently of each other.
Under the agreement, RTL Group will take over Sky's business in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. RTL is therefore not taking over the entire Sky Group, which will continue to be owned by Comcast. The US company paid the equivalent of 33 billion euros for Sky in 2018. Even if RTL is now only buying part of Sky Group, the price for the deal is very low compared to the sum paid by Comcast in 2018.
RTL wants to establish itself as a major streaming power with the deal. In its press release, the media group emphasizes that the combined subscribers of Sky and RTL+ will make it the number 3 behind Netflix and Prime Video. RTL speaks of “over 6 million subscribers” at RTL+, and together with Sky, the total number of subscribers is 11.5 million. In addition to the content, RTL is also acquiring the Sky brand and the streaming service Wow.
“Unique offer”
“The acquisition of Sky Deutschland is a unique opportunity for RTL: we are bringing together two major European media brands and creating a leading streaming and TV platform,” commented RTL Germany CEO Stephan Schmitter on the deal. “We are creating a unique offering in Europe, which we will continue to develop together – from free to premium, from linear TV to streaming. For our audience, this means even more choice of content – on all channels and devices.”
Videos by heise
Sky has secured an extended rights package for the Bundesliga for the upcoming Bundesliga season: In addition to the Saturday matches already available, Friday matches will also be available to watch live in the future. Sunday matches can be watched after the final whistle. To mark the increased package, Sky recently increased the price of its streaming subscription Wow. In addition to soccer and other sports such as Formula 1, Sky also offers series and films. In Germany, Sky offers content from HBO, among others.
(dahe)
