News Corp Is Coming for Your Yankees
News Corp is reportedly in talks with the New York Yankees to acquire a minority stake in the confidently named YES Network. The $3 billion media property is always blinking on flatscreens in the back of practically every Manhattan sports bar, and that seems to be exactly why News Corp wants a piece. At the moment, Rupert Murdoch and company currently own 20 regional sports networks, but they don't own any in the New York City area, the nation's number one media market. And if there's anything that New Yorkers like to watch on TV, it's their boys in pinstripes. It's so far unclear how much New Yorkers like watching the Brooklyn Nets on TV, but News Corp would get to broadcast those games, too. There might even be a Jay-Z sighting or two.
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It's really a pretty good gig for News Corp. Not only do they win the rights to broadcast nearly all of the New York sports teams. They also win the right to keep their rival, Time Warner Cable, from buying those rights. If the idea of Rupert Murdoch clutching the puppet strings of yet another network makes you nervous -- especially the one with the sacred sports team -- we've got bad news for you. James Murdoch, News Corp's deputy chief operating office and the villain supreme of the company's phone hacking scandal, already sits on the board of Yankees Global Enterprises, and his boss, News Corp president and chief operating officer Chase Carey, apparently sits behind the Yankees' dugout on the regular.
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Not enough corporate evil for you? News Corp would be buying the stake from Goldman Sachs and friends.
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