(Reuters) - Comcast Corp <CMCSA.O> on Wednesday confirmed that it is considering and is in advanced stages of preparing an offer for the businesses that Twenty-First Century Fox <FOXA.O> has agreed to sell to Walt Disney Co <DIS.N>.
The U.S. cable operator also said any offer for Fox assets would be all-cash and at a premium to the value of the current all-share offer from Disney.
Disney in December offered to buy the film, television and international businesses from Fox for $52.4 billion (39.4 billion pounds) in stock to beef up its offering against streaming rivals Netflix Inc <NFLX.O> and Amazon.com Inc <AMZN.O>.
Comcast is in talks with investment banks to increase a bridge financing facility by as much as $60 billion so it can make an offer for Fox's media assets, three people familiar with the matter told Reuters earlier this month.
"While no final decision has been made, at this point the work to finance the all-cash offer and make the key regulatory filings is well advanced," Comcast said on Wednesday.
Fox and Disney were not immediately available for comment.
Comcast shares were down 1.5 percent at $32.01 while Disney was down 0.6 percent at $103.48 in premarket trading.
(Reporting by Sonam Rai in Bengaluru; Editing by Bernard Orr and Sriraj Kalluvila)
