Discovery announces $14.6 billion deal to buy Scripps Networks

Discovery Communications announced on Monday that it’s buying Scripps Networks Interactive for $14.6 billion.

The deal will merge Scripps’s largely female-targeted programming with Discovery’s majority-male audience, and the combined company will account for about a fifth of cable viewership.

Discovery’s networks include the Discovery Channel, Animal Planet and TLC, while Scripps holds HGTV, Food Network and the Travel Channel among others.

{mosads}Together the companies say they will have a better standing to negotiate with content distributors.

“We believe that by coming together with Scripps, we will create a stronger, more flexible and more dynamic media company with a global content engine that can be fully optimized and monetized across our combined networks, products and services in every country around the world,” said Discovery CEO David Zaslav in a statement.

Scripps stockholders will receive $90 a share in the deal.