Bein Media has completed the acquisition of Digiturk, giving the Qatari company a significant presence in the Turkish market, and what its chairman described as the largest deal in the history of the company.
The pay-TV operator has 3.3 million subscribers but had stalled under the debts of its previous owner Çukurova Group.
A deal had been on the cards since at least April 2015.
Nasser Al-Khelaïfi, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Bein Media Group, said: Our expansion into Turkey is an essential next step for Bein Media Group. Digiturk positions us as a leader in the fast growing Turkish market and offers tremendous business opportunities in the years ahead. We look forward to further strengthening the Digiturk platform and advancing the exciting dynamics of the digital publishing and Sports market in Turkey with our global experience.”
The company behind Al Jazeera and Bein Sports will now hold a platform that broadcasts over 200 channels, with all of Turkey’s leading channels in the high definition format.
In sports it holds the rights to Spor Toto Super League, La Liga, France Ligue 1 and ATP Masters 1000 Tennis and several others. There are also output deals with Disney, Paramount, 20th Century Fox, Warner Brothers, Universal, HBO and Lionsgate.
