NBC Universal CEO Jeff Zucker has his sights set on global growth.
The company is close to a deal to acquire U.K.-based Sparrowhawk Media for $350 million in a bid to expand its international TV presence.
Sparrowhawk, which is owned by private-equity backers 3i, Providence Equity Partners and British television executive David Elstein, controls the international distribution rights to the Hallmark Channel as well as a library of almost 600 made-for-TV movies, including classics like “Moby Dick” and “Gulliver’s Travels,” and other video titles – rights previously owned by Crown Media Holdings.
Sparrowhawk is also home to internationally distributed channels that make use of the Crown Media rights: Movies24, KidsCo, and Diva.
NBC Universal currently distributes CNBC, the Sci Fi network and 13th Street outside the U.S. but has been looking to expand.
Zucker has said he wants the international part of NBC Universal’s business to account for 30 percent of income.
In picking up Sparrowhawk, NBC would gain a valuable asset to help achieve that goal. Sparrowhawk distributes the Hallmark Channel in 160 countries to almost 53 million subscribers. The deal will also reportedly make NBC one of the biggest pay-TV outlets in Britain.
Hallmark’s U.K. channel, which broadcasts U.S. hits like “House,” “Judging Amy,” “The District” and “Law & Order,” claims almost 10 million subscribers.
The bid to buy Sparrowhawk marks the latest move by NBC to go global.
Last September Zucker tapped Peter Smith, the former Universal Pictures International Entertainment president, to head NBC Universal’s international operations
And in July the company launched a TV production division in London and hired Angela Bromstad – president of NBC’s television studio since 2005 – to run it.
The division has been tasked with developing scripted and reality programming for the U.K. and other overseas markets and with licensing U.S. television brands for foreign market adaptations.
Sparrowhead acquired the global rights to Hallmark and Crown Media two years ago. Crown Media continues to maintain U.S. distribution rights to those assets.
Both NBC Universal and Sparrowhawk declined to comment.