“This is an exciting new chapter for Discovery,” Discovery CEO David Zaslav said in a statement. “Scripps is one of the best run media companies in the world with terrific assets, strong brands and popular talent and formats. Our business is about great storytelling, authentic characters and passionate super fans. We believe that by coming together with Scripps, we will create a stronger, more flexible and more dynamic media company with a global content engine that can be fully optimized and monetized across our combined networks, products and services in every country around the world.”
The deal works out to be about $90 a share, according to the companies—up 34% from where Scripps Networks was trading before sales rumors started on July 18. Viacom had also expressed interest in buying Scripps Networks but ended up being out bid by Discover and pulled their offer last week.
Discovery and Scripps will make up about 20% of ad-supported pay-TV audiences in the U.S., according to Discovery and Scripps. Now Discovery will be the owner of five of the top cable channels for women and will account for over 20% share of women watching prime time viewing in the U.S.
Source: MultiChannel News
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