Altice will be launching the dedicated sports channel SPR Sport, while also consolidating its media assets into its SFR subsidiary.
The brand new sports channel will broadcast the English Premier League, whose live broadcast rights were picked up by Altice late 2015, as well as the Proi A league.
The operator will turn is current sports channel MCS, Ma Chaine Sport TV, into the new SFR Sport. This will bring a number of broadcast rights to SFR Sport, including basketball, handball, tennis, volleyball, and boxing…
According to French news reports, broadband and mobile operator SFR is to acquire Altice Media Group as early as April 27, 2016.
The move is aimed to create a combined media and telecoms group, inspired by the existing BT model.
Altice’s assets include a 49% stake in NextRadioTV, print titles such as the weekly L’Express and daily newspaper Liberation, as well as Israeli news channel i24news which Altice owner Patrick Drahi controls.
NextRadioTV owns and operates a number of TV channels, including BFM TV, BFM Business, RMC Sport l, and RMC Découverte.
The combined media assets are said to be valued at EUR100 million.