BSkyB has selected two investment banks to advise it on its next steps forward in its plan to acquire, or merge, with 21st Century Fox’s other European pay-TV operators, Sky Italia (100 per cent owned by Fox) and Sky Germany (57 per cent owned by Fox).

Morgan Stanley and Barclays have been hired to advise BSkyB.

The market is talking about a €10 billion commitment to wrap the deal up, and give Rupert Murdoch a long-held dream for a Europe-wide pay-TV operation, and 20 million subscribers into the bargain.

The trio of assets is seen as providing a unique benchmark for securing future TV rights, not least in sport and movies, as well as a growing portfolio of programming assets. Further potential cost savings are seen in technology and transmission.

Other posts by Chris Forrester:

1. Eutelsat buys back 59k shares
2. Are LEO operators risking too much?
3. SpaceX to launch Starship in October?
4. Samsung vs BOE: Patent dispute escalates
5. Bank: SES, Starlink partnering “makes sense”
6. SES vs Intelsat C-band payments: Court dates set
7. The end in sight for Geo-sats?
8. Kuiper 1 and 2 ready for launch
9. FAA to Musk: “Starship must first be fixed”

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