BSkyB could buy Sky Deutschland, Italia in next fortnight - Sunday Times

LONDON, July 20 (Reuters) - BSkyB could agree a deal in the next two weeks to buy Rupert Murdoch's Sky Italia and his stake in Sky Deutschland (Other OTC: SKDTY - news) , the Sunday Times reported.

The process has so far faced obstacles from minority shareholders of Frankfurt-listed Sky Deutschland, the paper said, citing sources.

The deal would create a European pay-TV powerhouse with 20 million subscribers, with analysts giving an acquisition a likely price of 7-10 billion euros ($9.5-13.5 billion).

Murdoch's 21st Century Fox owns 100 percent of Sky Italia and 57 percent of Sky Deutschland. Murdoch currently owns a 39 percent stake in BSkyB, the British pay-TV firm.

Both Sky and Fox declined to comment. BSkyB is to report its results on July 25, and is likely to provide more details about the deal then.

Murdoch's empire has a history of bold, if expensive, gambles. Last week 21st Century Fox revealed that its attempts to buy Time Warner (Xetra: A0RGAY - news) had been rejected.

A source put the price of a deal at around $80 billion - which would have made it the 83-year-old magnate's largest-ever takeover.

($1 = 0.7391 Euros) (Reporting By Freya Berry and Kate Holton, editing by Rosalind Russell)