The Walt Disney Company has agreed to buy North American Sports Network (NASN), according to the online portal Wall Street Journal.

The move will help Disney televise more American sports in Europe and expand ESPN's presence in Europe. NASN says it has 6 million subscribers in 25 countries across Europe, the Journal said.

Terms weren't disclosed, though a person familiar with the deal said NASN was being sold for around £60 million including debt assumption, The Journal said.

The deal today also means that ESPN will gain exclusive access to sports NASN holds rights to including the National Hockey League and Major League Baseball games in Europe and the exclusive rights to the National Football League in some parts of Europe.

ESPN plans to put its name on NASN at some point and broadcast ESPN sports news and talk shows from the US., The Journal said it was told by an ESPN spokeswoman.

NASN was started in late 2002 by a New York lawyer, Amory B. Schwartz, who had moved to London for work and was unable to watch his favorite baseball team, the Philadelphia Phillies, on television, according to The Journal.

The channel initially targeted U.S. expatriates living in Europe but found it was drawing more European than American viewers, The Journal said, crediting the viewership in part to the rising number of European athletes playing professionally in the US.

Extracts from MarketWatch