It effects whether Disney can justify the price of their purchase because the assumption was FOX was going to fully purchase Sky before the deal closed. Essentially Comcast just devalued Fox after a purchase agreement was made by Disney.
I mean, I care about Comcast's relations with Disney and FOX. I highly suspect that Comcast would use the Sky plc (which Disney also pursue after Murdoch got rejected) to indirectly force Murdoch into the negotiating table regarding taking over 21st Century Fox from Disney.
Warner Bros. & DC Entertainment Could Be Sold If AT&T Merger Fails
If the AT&T merger fails, Time Warner will likely be broken up into parts and sold separately as Warner Bros., HBO and Turner, leaving the fate of DC Comics up in the air. It also will likely force Comcast to back off rebidding for Fox and focus on trying to get DC Comics if they wish, but at the same time, it would leave Marvel Super Hero Island at IOA much more worthless, if Comcast actually succeed to acquire DC Comics.
I honestly don't think Comcast or Universal would be allowed to buy any of those companies if AT&T isn't.Warner Bros. & DC Entertainment Could Be Sold If AT&T Merger Fails
If the AT&T merger fails, Time Warner will likely be broken up into parts and sold separately as Warner Bros., HBO and Turner, leaving the fate of DC Comics up in the air. It also will likely force Comcast to back off rebidding for Fox and focus on trying to get DC Comics if they wish, but at the same time, it would leave Marvel Super Hero Island at IOA much more worthless, if Comcast actually succeed to acquire DC Comics.
I honestly don't think Comcast or Universal would be allowed to buy any of those companies if AT&T isn't.
AT&T is in a completely different business than Time Warner, yet there's antitrust concerns. WB is a bigger studio than Fox and this would happen post Disney/Fox merger. I just can't buy the idea that a anti ATT/Time Warner DOJ would allow WB to merge with Comcast or Disney.
Then again, the idea of the number of major studios being cut in half terrifies me.
If it happens, which seems more plausible, I hope to God Universal strikes a deal for Potter, DC, Cartoon Network, and New Line, as that'd bring a heluvalot of material for Universal to work with.
I honestly don't think Comcast or Universal would be allowed to buy any of those companies if AT&T isn't.
AT&T is in a completely different business than Time Warner, yet there's antitrust concerns. WB is a bigger studio than Fox and this would happen post Disney/Fox merger. I just can't buy the idea that an anti ATT/Time Warner DOJ would allow WB to merge with Comcast or Disney.
Then again, the idea of the number of major studios being cut in half terrifies me.
I do find it interesting how business analysts are pushing the comcast stock down as they see a potential takeover of sky bad for universal with the reasoning that satellite is obsolete therefore bad for Comcast as they won't be able to deal with the issues to fix it but somehow magically Disney can?
There are a lot of possible wrinkles from here:
If Comcast gets 51% of Sky (let's just say 51% of the 61% non-Fox owned shares are sold to Comcast in their tender offer), then we could see a situation where Disney and Comcast trade with each other after the Disney-Fox sale:
Comcast could hold 51% of Sky and 30% of Hulu, while Disney owns 60% of Hulu and 39% of Sky.
It makes sense for some kind of trade where Comcast sells its 30% of Hulu to Disney (plus around $5-7 billion in cash) in exchange for Disney's 39% of Sky.
Then you end up with Comcast owning 90% of Sky while Disney owns 90% of Hulu. That's a reasonable outcome that would probably be a win-win for both Comcast and Disney.
It's possible, but Hulu's built up a decent following (17 million subs or so), and Disney's plan is to make Hulu the home of all their "adult stuff" like FX shows as well as Fox Searchlight movies and the like. Along with ABC shows and originals from studios such as MGM or Sony like Handmaid's Tale, that should be enough to sustain a decent subscription service.Hulu is soon going to die off. Thanks to Amazon, Netflix, CBS streaming service, Viacom's new streaming service, and Disney's new streaming service. The library keeps getting thinner as other companies get exclusive streaming rights to shows such as Netflix with most CW shows and Amazon with Universal Cable shows. That would decrease the power of Hulu down to essentially current NBC properties, Fox properties, old WB properties as they also have netflix streaming deals, and select ABC properties that didn't fall under the family realm.
Essentially the studios that bought into Hulu, effectively are destroying it due to consumers demands.
It's possible, but Hulu's built up a decent following (17 million subs or so), and Disney's plan is to make Hulu the home of all their "adult stuff" like FX shows as well as Fox Searchlight movies and the like. Along with ABC shows and originals from studios such as MGM or Sony like Handmaid's Tale, that should be enough to sustain a decent subscription service.
I do think Disney (or Comcast) would want to invest heavily in Hulu and maybe take it international to go head-to-head with Netflix around the world.
AT&T heads to trial in landmark merger fight | TheHill
Just to let everyone know, the AT&T-TW trial is tomorrow which might last up to six to 8 weeks (almost two months). So if this trial is successful for AT&T, Comcast might try and put a dent in the Disney/Fox deal, hoping such move would force Murdoch to deal with Comcast instead of Disney. Not likely gonna happen, but the stakes are in high in this, not just for AT&T and our government, but for other mega-mergers as well.