Why Comcast Is Paying Dearly for Britain’s Sky
Pay-TV subscriptions are still growing in Europe, and Comcast’s $39 billion purchase of Sky Plc gives it global reach.
Brian Roberts, chief executive officer of Comcast, attends the annual Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference on July 12, 2018, in Sun Valley, Idaho.
Photographer: Drew Angerer/Getty Images
Last November, Comcast Corp. Chief Executive Officer Brian Roberts was in a London taxi when he started chatting with the driver, who “was incredibly knowledgeable about the difference between Virgin and Sky in every feature,” Roberts told reporters earlier this year, referring to Britain’s pay-TV rivals. “We were learning a lot there.”
Sky’s surprisingly strong connection to U.K. customers, as demonstrated by the cab driver, helped convince Roberts that the European company was worth a princely sum. Over the weekend, Comcast outbid 21st Century Fox Inc. in an auction for control of Sky Plc—a satellite-TV company with a TV studio and valuable sports rights, including Premier League soccer. Its winning bid: $39 billion, more than double what media investors estimated the company was worth when it went on the block in 2016.