Disney/FOX Acquisition Thread

[Viator]

In breaking news, Disney and Fox has begun talks to be purchased by the Walt Disney Company.



This is to be updated, but it has major implications for a huge aspect of not only Disney, but Universal and I will try to give better information when I can.

That said, what do you think? Comment down below!

 

[Scott W.]

I look forward to @Brian G. article discussing that darn Simpson’s contract.

 

[Brian G.]

The deal has to be completed first. I don’t see it, as that would give Disney 2 major networks and may cause some problems with others.

 

[Ryan]

Very, very tentative stuff here, but this is important: "The company could not own two broadcast networks and would therefore not buy the Fox broadcast network. It would not buy Fox's sports programming assets in the belief that combining them with ESPN could be seen as anti-competitive from an antitrust standpoint and it would not buy the Fox News or Business channel. Disney would also not purchase Fox's local broadcasting affiliates, according to people familiar with the negotiations.

The company could not own two broadcast networks and would therefore not buy the Fox broadcast network. It would not buy Fox's sports programming assets in the belief that combining them with ESPN could be seen as anti-competitive from an antitrust standpoint and it would not buy the Fox News or Business channel. Disney would also not purchase Fox's local broadcasting affiliates, according to people familiar with the negotiations."

The only property Universal owns that's entrenched with Fox is obviously "The Simpsons", which is co-produced by 20th Century Fox Television, 20th Century Fox Animation and Gracie Films. That last component is extremely important. Given that Disney can not own the Fox station, and "The Simpsons" is such a viable franchise it remains to be seen that Disney may absorb 20th Century Fox TV (which produces shows for other networks), 20th Century Fox the studio (good news for Avatar I guess) and parcel out 20th Century Fox Animation, because Gracie Films is not owned by Fox. In other words, either Gracie or the remaining Fox entities will walk away with the facets that manage Simpsons production. The dicey thing for them is that distribution gets tricky as they do not own their own distribution wing anymore. This puts something like a Bob's Burgers movie (already announced) or a future Simpsons movie into a bit of a bind.

That's good news for Universal, as it keeps their Simpsons rights safe and sound. If this even happens, of course.

 

[Parkscope Joe]

 

[GadgetGuru]

I'm calling it right now: no way this happens.

I can see Fox selling out, but it won't be to Disney. Disney doesn't get anything out of the deal. Fox's franchises are way too varied, most of them are decently merchandised, and they don't have any with a ton of future potential. Disney is at a point where they look at franchises with decades long potential. Fox's franchises have more churn.

This is probably Fox trying to create a scare to get a different studio to buy them out.

 

[ThemeParks4Life]

This would never happen in a million years. Thank god the talks have stopped.

 

[Ryan]

"Member when Comcast was going to buy Disney?"
"Oh, oh I member!"

 

[zg44]

I'm wondering whether Comcast would put a bid in or try to take those assets.

It sounds like the assets that Fox would sell would be 1) the movie studio, 2) the non-sports/news cable nets like FX and National Geographic, and 3) the international operations like Sky and Star.

I can see why Disney would want all of that; it gives them larger heft in their cable operation so they can hold better terms, it gives them more content for their streaming services, and it gives them an international component in Europe/Asia that they don't have in terms of overseas nets. They could use the overseas content to help sell their streaming services in Europe and Asia.

And of course, in the movie studio, they'd get back X-Men/F4 and then other stuff like the Avatar sequels.

That's a lot of good content. I'd imagine that Comcast, Verizon, and maybe Sony would like to get a hold of all of that. For Comcast, that'd provide some other franchises for the movie studio (like how they bought DreamWorks for an additional 2 animated movies each year).

 

[epcyclopedia]

My first hope was it’d be all-in deal.

First thing Disney would end/change would have been Fox News.

 

[Scott W.]

My first hope was it’d be all-in deal.

First thing Disney would end/change would have been Fox News.

Imagine

 

[Parkscope Joe]

As quickly as it started.

 

[Ryan]

 

[Bobharlem]

New rumor (after the Disney one from the other week)

Comcast is in talks with 21st Century Fox about buying major assets, sources say

 

[Viator]

New rumor (after the Disney one from the other week)

Comcast is in talks with 21st Century Fox about buying major assets, sources say

I don't buy it, mainly as that there isn't really that much of a need for Fox Assets IMO when it comes to Comcast.

 

[Mad Dog]

Oh my. Comcast just can't stop trying to upstage Disney. :thumbsup:

 

[GAcoaster]

Media consolidation is good for the media companies. The bigger your catalog of content, the more power you have as a media company. Comcast is getting back into the phone business offering Xfinity cell service (they used to do cell phones, which they sold and became Cingular, which AT&T bought out), and the more the content they can provide the more they can compete with Netflix, Disney, Hulu, etc.

 

[ThemeParks4Life]

This would never pass for the same reasons the Disney merger wouldn't.

 

[GadgetGuru]

Comcast would just want to buy these assets so that somebody else couldn't.

I'll bet money that you'll hear a rumor about Netflix's interest in the next week.

 

[JoeCamel]

This would never pass for the same reasons the Disney merger wouldn't.

Seems the FCC threw out the rule against owning multiple outlets in the same market today. (Paving the way for Sinclair IMO) but maybe it will backfire with this.