beIN Sports to acquire Digiturk
June 24, 2015
beIN Sports, the Qatar-based broadcaster, is ready to pay $1.5 billion (€1.3bn) for Digiturk and is close to finalising a deal according to Bloomberg.
Previous reports in Turkish media had already suggested that Digiturk had been offloaded to Qatari beIn Media Group, the parent company of beIn Sports.
Digiturk is Turkey’s premier cable provider with 3.3 million customers. The operator holds the lion’s share of the annual profits from Turkey’s satellite platform services and has the rights to broadcast Turkish Football League matches until the 2016-2017 season.
beIN Media Group owns Al Jazeera, and also operates in Europe, Asia and the United States with its beIN Sports channel.