British Sky Broadcasting, the UK satellite group, is considering making a bid of more than €2.5bn for Digital+, the Spanish pay-TV platform, which would mark its first foray outside the UK and Ireland since an ill-fated move into Germany in 2000.

Digital+, which Grupo Prisa is expected to auction this year, had been in the sights of News Corp, the US media conglomerate which owns 39.1 per cent of BSkyB.