• Disney is selling 21 of the 22 regional sports networks it acquired from 21st Century Fox.
• Sinclair agreed to buy the networks in a deal valued at $US10.6 billion, the companies said on Friday.
• Disney had to divest the regional sports networks to receive regulatory approval for its $US71 billion acquisition of assets from 21st Century Fox.
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Sinclair Broadcast, one of the biggest broadcast-station owners in the US, is buying 21 regional sports networks from Disney in a deal valued at $US10.6 billion, the companies announced on Friday.

The networks were among the 22 regional sports networks that Disney bought from 21st Century Fox as part of a $US71 billion acquisition of many of the company’s assets earlier this year. The US Department of Justice required Disney to sell the regional sports networks to receive approval for the Fox deal.

Sinclair agreed to buy 21 of the networks, excluding the YES Network, for $US9.6 billion in cash, after adjusting for minority interests, the company said. The deal still has to be approved by the Department of Justice.

Sinclair is also reportedly partnering with the New York Yankees to acquire the YES Network in a separate sale, which has not yet been finalised, according to the Wall Street Journal, which first reported on Thursday that Sinclair was agreeing to buy the other networks.

Amazon, private-equity firm Apollo Global Management, and The Blackstone Group were some of the other bidders interested in Fox’s regional sports networks, CNBC previously reported.

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