Discovery buys Scripps

No, noggin, it's the other way round.


BBC Worldwide have the right to buy the other part of UKTV from Scripps before it's sold. If (as appears) Scripps sell to Discovery, then Discovery have no right to buy the BBC Worldwide share; but there is nothing to stop them offering to do so.

Yeah, even though it's 50:50 on paper, the clause gives the BBC first refusal. Think of the BBC as a homeowner renting out a room. Scripps decide to move out, but say they've found someone else to replace them. The Beeb don't have to accept this, they can rent it out to whoever they like.

Stretched analogy aside, you're right that the Discovery deal would have had to take into account the fact that they might not be getting their hands on UKTV -- but this will have all been factored into their bid. It's entirely possible they've had discussions with the BBC about it already, behind the scenes.

I'm pretty sure it was this clause that lead to the ntl/Telewest merger going through as Telewest buying NTL, rather than NTL buying Telewest.

As always in these deals only two Scripps Executives survive the merger and progress to the Discovery Board, The new structure of the company seems to infer that Discovery's lifestyle programming will be rolled into Scripps' going forward hence the Scripps exec survives. Other properties seem fixed but it seems that the Animal Planet brand is being strengthened. There's no mention of UKTV in the announcement released a few mins ago.

I wonder what this will mean for the Discovery and Scripps channels? Will there be mergers/rebrands/closures? Could we see HGTV launching in the UK?

Deal Complete

DISCOVERY COMMUNICATIONS COMPLETES ACQUISITION OF @ScrippsNet; CHANGES COMPANY NAME TO DISCOVERY. #Discovery #ExploreYourWorld https://t.co/YFEb4L82i0 pic.twitter.com/b11gtUAQh3

— Discovery Inc (@DiscoveryIncTV) March 6, 2018

Company renames to Discovery Inc



Promo Video