Amazon among bidders for Fox sports channels, Murdoch holds fire

Amazon is among companies bidding for Fox’s (now Disney’s) 22 regional sports networks, it was reported on Tuesday.

CNBC was the first to report Amazon's bid but gave no details about the value of the bids. Reuters said these networks could be worth as much as $20bn.

An unnamed sovereign wealth fund and the New York Yankees are also bidding for one of the networks that focuses on New York, CNBC said.

Amazon’s bid is its latest move in its aggressive expansion into TV to bolster its Prime streaming membership service.

This summer Amazon picked up a package of 20 English Premier League games, breaking BT and Sky’s stranglehold on the league’s broadcast rights.

Jeff Bezos' company has also this year shelled out tens of millions of dollars for exclusive UK rights to the US Open tennis tournament, following a deal with Eurosport provided access to the Australian and French Open tournaments. Amazon has also won deals to stream NFL gridiron and NHL hockey games.

CNBC said Rupert Murdoch's New Fox, the company remaining after the Disney deal, is expected to also make a bid to buy back the 22 networks in the second round even if it did not make a bid in the first round. That will occur before the end of 2018, according to CNBC.