With the proverbial Fiscal Cliff approaching in just a few days, Fox Sports and its owner, News Corp., was in a rush to get this deal done. It appears that Fox Sports will purchase Sports Time Ohio, owned by the Dolan family in the range of $200-250 million as reported this morning by Sports Business Journal’s John Ourand:
Source: Fox Sports is paying between $200-$250M for STO. Deal includes a long-term extension of the Indians’ TV rights.
— John Ourand (@Ourand_SBJ) December 28, 2012
As Ourand tweeted, the deal includes a long-time agreement for the rights to the Cleveland MLB Team. Still no word whether STO will be folded into Fox Sports Ohio which has the rights to the Cincinnati Reds, Cleveland Cavaliers, Columbus Blue Jackets and various colleges in the Buckeye State.
In addition to the Cleveland MLB Team, STO has rights to the MAC, Cleveland Browns programming and high school football.
We’ll post the press release when the deal becomes official.
