Independent directors of the Rupert Murdoch-led 21st Century Fox have made a preliminary offer to acquire the rest of European pay-TV provider Sky, according to a Friday filing in the UK.

The company would pay 11.2 billion pounds — or $14.1 billion — to buy the 60.1 percent of the company that it doesn’t already own. That amounts to 10.75 pounds per share, 36% over Sky’s closing share price on Thursday.

At that price, Sky — which provides pay-TV service to 21.8 million customers across Austria, Germany, Ireland, Italy and the UK — would be valued at about $23 billion. Owning all of Sky would give 21st Century Fox a wholly-owned distribution platform in Europe for its networks and content, including the Fox Networks Group, FX and its sibling networks and National Geographic.

21st Century Fox, then News Corp., tried to buy Sky in 2010. The deal was derailed over the phone-hacking scandal that rocked Murdoch’s two newspapers in the UK, including the now-defunct News of the World. The scandal forced Murdoch son James, now CEO of 21st Century Fox, to step down as executive chairman of News International, and later as chairman of what was then called BSkyB. In January, Murdoch returned to the post of chairman of Sky after it merged with its Italian and German siblings.

News Corp. in 2013 split into two corporate entities, 21st Century Fox, which owns the TV and film assets, and the new News Corp., which owns the print assets, including the New York Post, the Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones.

Once the full boards of both companies have a chance to review and approve the offer, 21st Century Fox has until January 6 to file final paperwork.

READ MORE: Bloomberg, The Wall Street Journal

[Image courtesy of Reuters via the Wall Street Journal]

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