Comcast is identifying potential buyers for Twenty-First Century Fox'sregional sports networks in an attempt to ease antitrust concerns about a new bid to acquire most of Fox's assets, people familiar with the matter told Reuters.

Comcast hopes that preparing now for such divestitures will ease Fox's concerns over potential antitrust risks and boost the chances of its bid disrupting Fox's agreed $71 billion cash-and-stock deal to sell the assets to Walt Disney, the sources said on Monday.  

Last month, the U.S. Department of Justice gave the go-ahead to Disney's acquisition of the Fox assets, asking Disney, which owns sports network ESPN, to divest all of Fox's 22 regional sports networks, known as RSNs, on antitrust grounds. These networks could be worth as much as $20 billion, according to the sources.  

Comcast, which made a $65 billion all-cash offer for the Fox assets last month only for Disney to raise its bid, is talking to private equity firms, including Apollo Global Management and Blackstone Group, to gauge interest about acquiring the RSNs, the sources said. It is possible that a telecommunications or media company might also express interest in purchasing the RSNs, the sources added.