British Sky Broadcasting Group shareholders overwhelming approved the purchase of European satellite TV providers Sky Italia and Sky Deutschland from 21st Century Fox, a move that brings the $9.3 billion transaction another step closer to completion.

About 96% of BSkB shareholders voted in favor of the deal in a special meeting held yesterday. 21st Century Fox announced its intention to sell its stakes in the European satellite companies – it also owns a 39% stake in BSkyB – in July. The deal already has received approval from the European Commission, but is awaiting the green light from German regulators.

Fox will receive about $8.6 billion in cash ($7.2 billion after taxes) from the deal, money that was initially expected to be used in its unsolicited bid for Time Warner Inc. Fox abandoned that pursuit in August  after being rebuffed by Time Warner management, and has said instead that it will increase its planned repurchase of its own stock and invest in its existing operations. Time Warner, which said that it believed its growth opportunities were better if it remained independent, said yesterday that its Turner Broadcasting System unit would lay off about 1,475 employees, or about 10% of its 14,000-member workforce. 

Turner earlier had said it would spend about $10.8 billion over nine-years for rights to National Basketball Association games.

Looking to expand its international presence, Roku has launched a program aimed at helping it connect with pay-TV operators.

The company’s Roku Powered program, announced ahead of the IBC show in Amsterdam, will provide those operators with access to Roku hardware as well as the ability to customize user interface themes and promote their own services and apps, and gain control of the streaming content, including local channels, that is delivered via the platform. 

Roku said it pioneered the approach in 2012 when it collaborated with BSkyB on the NOW TV Box, which was launched last summer. Roku said that it marked the first time it had licensed its streaming platform, enabling Sky to pipe in over-the-top video using hardware running Roku’s software.

“There has been incredible demand from Pay TV providers for a simple way to address the increasing consumer interest in Internet-delivered entertainment,” said Steve Shannon, general manager of content and services at Roku, in a statement.

“The innovative licensing approach we developed with Roku dramatically reduced our time to market, enabling us to capitalize on the growing demand for Internet TV by launching a powerful and great value streaming box,” added Emma Lloyd, director of corporate business development at Sky, in a statement. “The NOW TV Box is already a key component in our over-the-top leadership, giving customers another simple way of accessing Sky content and further extending our distribution footprint.”

British broadcaster ITV called for major U.K. TV platforms like BSkyB and Virgin Media to pay for transmission of free over-the-air content after a recent report said that so-called retransmission consent helped fuel the current “Golden Age of Television” in the United States.

According to the report, Delivering for Television Viewers: Retransmission Consent and the US Market for Video Content, and conducted by NERA Economic Consulting, retrans has “contributed significantly to the overall health of the U.S. broadcasting industry.”

According to the report, commissioned by ITV in partnership with Germany’s VPRT and Free TV Australia, free-to-air broadcasters received about $3.3 billion in retrans payments in 2013, accounting for less than 3% of cable operator revenue – but about 15% of total broadcast revenue – and “having little or no impact on pay TV prices.”

ITV estimates that UK commercial Public Service Broadcasters invest around $4.8 billion on programming – and that it alone spends almost $1.6 billion annually – most of which is pumped back into original content. Under the current regime, no payment is made by the pay TV platforms to PSBs who fund this programming.

In a statement, ITV chief executive Adam Crozier said that introducing retransmission fees would have clear benefits to the UK creative industries and the wider economy by enabling PSBs to continue to invest in original programming.

“The majority of viewing on these pay TV platforms is PSB programming yet ITV, whether as producer or broadcaster investing in creating that content, doesn’t receive any payment – despite the fact that pay TV platforms pay commercial terms for other channels,” Crozier said in a statement. The impact of this wholly outdated regime is that UK Public Service Broadcasters are forced to subsidise major pay TV platforms. In today’s highly competitive media marketplace that is simply wrong – and to the detriment not just of the PSBs, but the consumer and the wider UK creative economy.”

“It is in the interests of all broadcasters that we encourage the regulator and government to look again at this issue for the benefit of the industry and viewers,” he concluded.

As expected, 21st Century Fox said Friday that it would sell its interests in European satellite companies Sky Italia and Sky Deutschland to British Sky Broadcasting Group, in a deal valued at $9.3 billion, including a hefty cash component that could help fuel another bid for Time Warner Inc.

Analysts have expected Fox to sell the European assets to BSkyB, of which it owns 39% -- for months. With the deal, Fox also receives $8.6 billion in cash ($7.2 billion after taxes), money that could be used to beef up another bid for Time Warner. Fox had made an $80 billion offer for Time Warner in June, which was rejected as too low.

That deal involved about $35 per share in cash and $50 per share in non-voting Fox stock.

With the additional funds, Fox could theoretically increase the cash component by as much as $8 per share without having to increase its leverage ratio.

Time Warner shares were up slightly on the news – they rose 1% (96 cents each) to $84.97 each in early trading July 25.

Fox has been said to be fiercely protective of its investment grade debt rating.

In announcing the deal, Fox said it still intends to continue its previously announced share repurchase program. In a statement, Fox chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch said that repurchase program will go on regardless of any other activity at the parent company.

"Our renewed authorization for our share buyback program will be executed regardless of any potential acquisition or investment activity by the company," Rupert Murdoch said in a statement. "21st Century Fox's number one priority is increasing shareholder value in a disciplined manner and, as a result, we will only consider transactions that fully support this objective."

In the end, Fox will transfer its 100% interest in Sky Italia and its 57.4% stake in Sky Deutschland to BSkyB. In return, Fox will receive the cash and will participate in a previously announced BSkyB equity offering, purchasing about $900 million in additional BSkyB shares to keep its stake at 39.1%. The deal will create a Pan-European satellite giant with about 20 million customers in Germany, Italy, Austria, the United Kingdom and Ireland.

"We have always believed that a combination of the European Skys would create enormous benefits for the combined business and for our shareholders," said Fox co-chief operating officer James Murdoch in a statement. "Ultimately, a pan-European Sky is good for customers, who will benefit from the accelerated technological innovation and enhanced customer experience made possible by a fully integrated business."