Comcast, the owner of NBC and Universal Pictures, has launched a bid for European pay TV broadcaster Sky that threatens to thwart a rival offer by media mogul Rupert Murdoch' 21st Century Fox.
The move appears not only opportunistic but aimed at disrupting the European expansion of arch-rival Disney, which is currently looking to take over Fox.
Comcast said on Tuesday it is offering GBP22.1 billion ($A39.5 billion) for London-based Sky.
The proposed cash deal values each Sky share at GBP12.50, which is 16 per cent more than what Fox had bid to buy the 61 per cent of Sky it does not already own.
"We think that Sky would be very valuable to us as we look to expand our presence internationally," Comcast chief executive Brian Roberts said.
Part of what makes Sky attractive to US companies wishing to expand in Europe is that it is an established brand across several countries in the region, where people are often used to paying monthly fees for pay TV.
Comcast's move appears timed to capitalise on the trouble Fox has had with British regulators.
The British competition regulator has said in a preliminary finding that a Fox takeover of the entire company would give Australia's Murdoch family too much control of Britain's media.
Fox's bid for Sky is part of a larger corporate network of deals, in which Walt Disney is trying to buy Fox for $US52.4 billion ($A73.4 billion).
That was made on the assumption that Fox would buy out the rest of Sky, which has been described as the "crown jewel" in the Murdoch empire.
So a Comcast takeover of Sky could require Disney to revise its proposed takeover of Fox.
