Sky buyout to affect millions of Sky TV customers in Europe

Sky has made the decision to sell a major part of its TV business to a rival.

It follows speculation a couple of years ago that parent company Comcast was looking for a buyer for its TV operations in a large European region. That seemingly didn't lead to much at the time, but an announcement has now been made on an agreement.

The RTL Group will be acquiring Sky Deutschland, which operates a pay TV service in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The combined company will therefore become a huge player in the region, with free TV, pay TV and streaming services under the same banner.

The new business will hit the ground running with approximately 11.5 paying subscribers already signed up.

This is unlikely to affect Sky customers in the UK, Ireland or Italy.

What will the new TV service include?

Sky Deutschland is particularly renowned for its sports coverage, including live broadcasts of Bundesliga, DFB-Pokal, and Premier League matches, plus Formula 1 Grand Prix. RTL is strong in the region too, specifically with its entertainment and news channels.

"The combination of RTL and Sky is transformational for RTL Group. It will bring together two of the most powerful entertainment and sports brands in Europe and create a unique video proposition across free TV, pay TV and streaming," said the CEO of RTL, Thomas Rabe.

The acquisition is subject to regulatory approval, although it is not expected to fave any issues.

Sky Deutschland offers Sky Stream boxes in region, which provide the broadcaster's channels and services over an internet connection (much like in the UK). It also operates Wow – a streaming service available across multiple devices, including mobile.

It's now currently known what RTL's plans are for each of the services, in particular the Sky Stream boxes, which are currently supported by Comcast's software platform.