Sinclair Finalizing $10.6B Purchase of 21 Fox RSNs from Disney

According to Law 360, Sinclair Broadcast Group has indeed won the bidding for the 21 Fox RSNs being divested by Disney as part of the Mouse’s acquisition of 21st Century Fox. An April report said a “handshake agreement” was in place for a $10 billion tag and that lawyers were finishing up negotiations as Sinclair worked to round up additional investors.

They were successful on all fronts, bringing Allen & Company LLC, Deutsche Bank AG, JP Morgan Chase, Moelis & Co., and RBC Capital Markets into the fold on what is now a $10.6 billion purchase. Six different law firms facilitated the deal, which means roughly another billion or so in billable hours.

This gives Sinclair a stake in 23 regional sports networks, with the Cubs’ Marquee Network and Yankees’ YES Network included. Exactly how this affects the Cubs remains to be seen, but check the link above for some additional thoughts on that. As for the tl;dr, it’s easy to assume this gives Marquee a little more clout and could mean broader streaming capabilities.