Facing the toughest market conditions in its 25-year history, BSkyB plans to acquire 21st Century Fox's 57 percent stake in Sky Deutschland and Sky Italia to create a European powerhouse with 20 million subscribers.

While the Sky Deutschland business is growing strongly in terms of subscriber numbers and revenue, due to the appeal of its football programming, it has not made an operating profit in recent years and is only expected to turn positive next year, according to Reuters data.

(Reporting by Kirsti Knolle; Editing by Ludwig Burger)