Manchester Utd takes control of MUTV

Manchester United is acquiring the one third stake in the English Premier League football club’s TV channel, MUTV, that it did not already own from pay TV group BSkyB.

MUTV originally launched in 1998 as a three-way venture between the club, commercial broadcaster ITV and BSkyB, with Manchester United buying ITV’s stake in 2007.

Manchester United said it intended to expand MUTV, which is currently available in 57 countries, when the buyout was complete.

The football club said it had made a strategic decision to own all of the channel’s production and distribution business.

Richard Arnold, commercial director of Manchester United, said: “Sky has been an active and highly-valued partner since the channel’s inception and has helped to build the best and most watched club football channel in the world. We will continue to have a close relationship with Sky in the future.”