News Corp. today officially announced the acquisition of 49 percent of the YES Network cable TV station that carries Major League Baseball’s New York Yankees and National Basketball Assn.’s Brooklyn Nets in a deal cut with Goldman Sachs and the Steinbrenner family-controlled Yankee Global Enterprises.
Rupert Murdoch’s company holds the right to up YES ownership, which reaches nine million households in metropolitan New York, to 80 percent after three years. The network also negotiated a five-year extension to carry Yankee games through 2042.
“This is a tremendous opportunity to enhance News Corporation's industry-leading portfolio of sports properties, while also strategically re-entering the New York market,” said James Murdoch, deputy COO of News Corporation. He considers Yes Network the “gold standard for regional sports networks.”
Hal Steinbrenner said News Corp.’s “stature and acumen in sports broadcasting on a global scale is unmatched.
He promised that his family will retain a significant stake in the Yes Network for many years to come.
News Corp. is competing with Time-Warner to carry Los Angeles Dodgers game on a regional cable network in southern California.