The deal is valued at more than US$10 billion, the Journal said, citing unidentified people familiar with the matter. An agreement could be announced as early as Friday, the newspaper said.

Disney and Sinclair didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

For Disney, the transaction would fulfill a key condition for its already-completed acquisition of 21st Century Fox Inc.’s entertainment assets. Bidders for the sports networks included John Malone’s Liberty Media Corp., which teamed up with Major League Baseball, and Ice Cube’s Big3 US basketball league. The entertainer lined up Will Smith, Serena Williams and Snoop Dogg as content partners for his unsuccessful bid.

Disney agreed to sell the properties to get clearance for its US$71 billion Fox takeover, a transaction that closed earlier this year. Regulators were concerned that the company would have too much control over sports television if it owned both ESPN and the regional broadcasters. Disney had to sell the networks within 90 days of the Fox deal’s completion in mid-March.

Yankees’ network
The New York Yankees decided to buy back their network from the group, removing a crown jewel that’s valued at about US$4 billion. And several deep-pocketed potential suitors, including Comcast Corp., Discovery Inc. and the new Fox Corp. itself, bowed out of contention for the remaining networks.

That hurt Disney’s ability to command top dollar. Analysts originally estimated that the collection could fetch US$20 billion to US$22 billion, but bids for the 21 properties – not counting the Yankees’ channel – were considerably lower.

Disney’s bankers suggested spinning off the networks to shareholders, rather than selling them. But the company remained committed to the auction.