BSkyB takes over Robert Murdoch's pay TV companies creating Sky Europe in massive £4.9bn deal

The deal was announced along with the company’s annual results showing pre-tax profits dropping to £1.2bn from last year's £1.26bn.

14:46 25 July 2014

BskyB will take over Robert Murdoch’s TV companies in Germany and Italy. The move, which will create Sky Europe, was announced alongside the company’s annual results presentation which showed that pre-tax profits fell slightly to £1.2bn from last year's £1.26bn.

Meanwhile, BskyB confirmed revenues increased by 7per cent and that Sky Sports’ viewing share was at a seven-year high.

Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox owns 100per cent of Sky Italia and 57per cent of Sky Germany. The goal in selling these is for the company to buy Time Warner, the media giant that owns Game of Thrones maker HBO and news business channel CNN.

The company hopes the new structure will save it £200m by the end of the second financial year with further savings to come.

Shares of BSkyB fell almost 4per cent following the news as investors analysed that the move would account for higher debt levels and put an end to the current practice of buying back shares.