Murdoch's 21st Century Fox agrees to buy Europe's Sky

NEW YORK (AP) — Rupert Murdoch may get all of European broadcaster Sky after all.

Sky said Friday that Murdoch's entertainment conglomerate 21st Century Fox has reached a preliminary deal to buy the rest of Sky for 10.75 pounds ($13.60) per share, the equivalent of about 11.2 billion pounds.

Fox already owns just over 39 percent of Sky, and the deal price values the entire broadcaster at 18.5 billion pounds. Shares in Sky jumped more than 25 percent in London on the news.

Sky said in a statement that some terms are pending and a definitive deal is still not certain.

Murdoch had previously tried to take full control of Sky but was sidelined in 2011 amid a phone-hacking scandal at his British newspapers that rocked the U.K. political and media establishment. The outcry has largely died down since then.

Taking control of Sky gives 21st Century Fox, which owns cable networks Fox News, FX and the Fox broadcast channel and a major Hollywood film studio, a distributor in Europe. Sky plc has 22 million customers in the U.K., Ireland, Germany, Austria and Italy.

There has long been speculation that another takeover deal was coming after James Murdoch, Rupert's son and the CEO of 21st Century Fox, became chairman of Sky in April. He had been CEO of Sky, then known as BSkyB, from 2003 to 2007 and chairman from 2007 to 2012.

The pound's 16 percent drop against the dollar since June, when Britain voted to leave the European Union, would have made the U.K.-based Sky cheaper to acquire.

Sky shares jumped 26.7 percent to close at 10.00 pounds on the London Stock Exchange after Friday's announcement. Stock of 21st Century Fox dipped nearly 1 percent to $28.38 in midday trading.

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Jill Lawless in London contributed to this report.