Long Shot For Comcast, Pays Off

In what a top executive called a "long shot," Comcast Corp. won the United Kingdom's Sky television service Saturday for $40 billion in cash in a dramatic sealed-bid auction in London, beating the Walt Disney Co. and Rupert Murdoch-controlled 21st Century Fox.

Speaking late Saturday from London, Comcast chief financial officer Mike Cavanagh said the Sky deal "sets Comcast up for decades,"  according to philly.com.

Michael Cavanaugh

"We couldn't be happier. Very proud for Philly and what it means for Comcast," Cavanagh said. "It is a fantastic move for Comcast. There will only be a handful of global media companies."

The U.K Takeover Panel in London disclosed Comcast as the victor over the combined Fox/Disney bid in the rare government-run auction about 15 minutes after the final sealed bids were submitted by Comcast and Fox/Disney to the agency, about 2:15 p.m. in Philadelphia.

The deal — which will now be taken to Sky shareholders for their consideration — would enable Philadelphia-based Comcast to access millions of homes in Europe through Sky. With 31,000 employees, Sky sells satellite-TV and high-speed internet services to 23 million subscribers in the U.K., Ireland, Germany, Austria, Italy, Spain, and Switzerland. Comcast has roughly the same number of cable-TV customers in the United States, though residential high-speed internet services are a bigger business now for the company.

The deal, which Roberts hopes to finalize by late October, would have no impact on American consumers through either lower prices or improved customer service as Sky is strictly a European offering. It would likely bring more cooperation and integration between Comcast operations in Philadelphia, which employ 8,000 to 9,000, and Sky's in the U.K.

Comcast's bid effectively stripped Sky from Murdoch, the company's founder, who wanted to retain control over its fate even as he agreed to sell off his entertainment assets, including his 39 percent ownership stake in Sky, to Disney this year. (Fox said Saturday that it had not decided whether to retain that 39 percent stake or to sell it to Comcast.)