Disney or Comcast buys Fox or Fox wants to sell to someone

[azrael]

Disney still needs to contend with overseas anti-monopoly laws but for the most part, Comcast lost this fight. It looks like Fox will take Disney’s offer.

Which means the Xenomorph queen is now a Disney princess. 

I would have preferred Comcast but I’m hoo-hum about the buyout. I see this more as a lost of another media company to go to. Less studios mean less riskier movies. Considering how mich Disney put forward, they’ll need a few more billion-dollar blockbusters to recoup the cost of buying out a competitor. 

[JB0]

I'm an american, and I'm cheering for Comcast. I just don't think one company should have that much power.

[kalvasflam]

8 minutes ago, JB0 said:

I'm an american, and I'm cheering for Comcast. I just don't think one company should have that much power.

Wait, if that's the case, why are you cheering on Comcast.  You can ignore Sideshow Bob and his wares.  But if you're in certain parts of the country, you really can't ignore Comcast unless you cut the land line cord, and tether everything off of the phone.

[Chronocidal]

6 minutes ago, kalvasflam said:

Wait, if that's the case, why are you cheering on Comcast.  You can ignore Sideshow Bob and his wares.  But if you're in certain parts of the country, you really can't ignore Comcast unless you cut the land line cord, and tether everything off of the phone.

That's kind of the bottom line for "which is worse" here.. people can ignore Disney all they want.  Disney buying Fox is like Ford buying out Pontiac.  Comcast?  That'd be more like Exxon-Mobil buying them, and producing their own cars that only run on their brand of gasoline.

On the other hand, with the deal blown up, watch as Comcast begins actively restricting access to Disney content out of spite.  

Edited June 28, 2018 by Chronocidal

[azrael]

1 hour ago, Chronocidal said:

On the other hand, with the deal blown up, watch as Comcast begins actively restricting access to Disney content out of spite.  

Without net neutrality, I can see that happening. Yeah, don't forget that part.

[JB0]

3 hours ago, kalvasflam said:

Wait, if that's the case, why are you cheering on Comcast.  You can ignore Sideshow Bob and his wares.  But if you're in certain parts of the country, you really can't ignore Comcast unless you cut the land line cord, and tether everything off of the phone.

As an internet provider, Comcast sucks super monkey balls, and in many areas enjoys a legally-mandated monopoly that gives them no incentive to improve and every incentive to gouge customers for all they are worth.

As an entertainment company, though? I haven't heard anything terrible about Universal Pictures recently, and Comcast owns them(as well as NBC, but who watches BROADCAST?).  

 

I would be more comfortable with Comcast owning Fox than I am with Disney owning Fox.

To be blunt, I'm surprised the justice department approved the merger, as I think Disney is ALREADY too big. (They apparently told Disney they had to sell the sports news portion off after the merger, but that is so small it seems like they threw it in just to pretend they care.)

 

Optimally, I would like to see Fox auctioned off piecemeal. Let Disney get the "missing" Star Wars and Marvel licenses, spread the rest out a bit. Let Comcast buy some for NBCUniversal, let ATT buy some for Warner, etcetera.

But there's no way that's happening. Fox doesn't want to spend the next decade selling off pieces, they want to get rid of everything but the news.

Edited June 28, 2018 by JB0

[Dynaman]

I'm happy Disney is getting it.  Maybe the 20th century fox logo can end up at the start of the new Star Wars movies now (the way it was always meant to be) and being a Comcast customer (no choice in the matter if I want high speed internet, well I could get DSL with a tenth the speed for the same price) I'm happy they are not getting access to more content since I firmly believe that content creation and who owns the last mile of delivery infrastructure should be strictly separate.  That is of course a pipe dream now.

[TangledThorns]

It wouldn't surprise me if they do it but I'm hoping Disney doesn't tier out their streaming service where you have to pay extra for certain content such as FROZEN and Star Wars for example.

[mikeszekely]

56 minutes ago, Dynaman said:

I'm happy they are not getting access to more content since I firmly believe that content creation and who owns the last mile of delivery infrastructure should be strictly separate.

This.

[troyness]

15 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

Australia.

Yeah, pretty sure you and @Old_Nash keep cheering on Comcast because you don't live here and don't get how truly heinous Comcast is. Sure, maybe you've heard stories. Maybe you don't quite believe them.

Guess what? The stories are true. Comcast is that bad. Worse, even!

Don't cheer them on. In fact, pray that Disney gets Fox. Because, especially without any Net Neutrality protections in the US anymore, I promise you that Comcast getting them will be much, much worse.

Seriously. You guys act like Disney kicked your puppy. Well, if you lived in a Comcast market they probably actually kicked your puppy, then added a recurring puppy-kicking fee to your bill.

Yeah, after hearing all the horror stories about Comcast from this thread I'm torn.

My sympathies to my American MWers. Comcast feels like an episode out of Black Mirror... F#*k I hope Comcast doesn't come after Australia otherwise it's gonna ave ta be Austraya king hittin' time.

[kalvasflam]

13 hours ago, azrael said:

Without net neutrality, I can see that happening. Yeah, don't forget that part.

honestly, without net neutrality, Sideshow Bob will just start making deals to get access to pipes.  Besides, if Comcast truly does that to Disney, you can bet the Justics.e Department will come right in..  You can throttle the little guys, it's much harder to throttle the big guy without getting a bunch of lawyers in your face.

[azrael]

6 hours ago, kalvasflam said:

honestly, without net neutrality, Sideshow Bob will just start making deals to get access to pipes.  Besides, if Comcast truly does that to Disney, you can bet the Justics.e Department will come right in..  You can throttle the little guys, it's much harder to throttle the big guy without getting a bunch of lawyers in your face.

And ISPs can say give us more money if you want a bigger audience. And since it took Apple and Samsung 7 years in civil court to come to an agreement, something can be arranged over time.

[Old_Nash]

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/07/16/comcast-unlikely-to-raise-fox-bid-focused-on-sky-sources.html

Ok Department of Justice of USA.

Block the Fox/Disney merge, like you trying to do with AT&T/Warner ¬¬

[Dynaman]

7 hours ago, Old_Nash said:

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/07/16/comcast-unlikely-to-raise-fox-bid-focused-on-sky-sources.html

Ok Department of Justice of USA.

Block the Fox/Disney merge, like you trying to do with AT&T/Warner ¬¬

It is not the same thing.  AT&T and Time Warner are a content creation company and a distribution company.  Disney would be one content creation company buying another content creation company, and there are still plenty of competitors. 

[Old_Nash]

4 hours ago, Dynaman said:

It is not the same thing.  AT&T and Time Warner are a content creation company and a distribution company.  Disney would be one content creation company buying another content creation company, and there are still plenty of competitors. 

But it still monopoly.

[Dynaman]

1 hour ago, Old_Nash said:

But it still monopoly.

Not if you have competitors, which they still will.  Comcast getting it would be a lot closer to one.

[Chronocidal]

Yeah, like I was saying earlier, Disney buying Fox and Comcast buying them are two entirely different sorts of mergers.

Fox and Disney are two companies that do (mostly) the same thing: make content for people to consume.  Media companies and film studios pop up and die out all the time.  It's a volatile market that will always have room for competition.  (Whether it's good enough to be competitive is a separate issue.  )

Comcast is a company that sells access to the content that companies like Fox and Disney make.  They own infrastructure.  That's an entirely different sort of organization that depends on stability to even function, and Comcast owns enough of the infrastructure across the country to ensure that certain areas have no other option when it comes to things like internet and cable access.

Comcast owning Fox could potentially cause all sorts of other ugly effects across the country, in terms of cable and internet rates.  For instance, say Comcast just decides that all Fox-owned content will now be exclusively available on Comcast service.  Sucks to be all those other cable companies that won't get any.  Or maybe they'll play nice and offer other cable companies a deal to purchase Fox content for their customers?  You know that cost will get passed along to the consumers, and then cable rates for everyone but Comcast will go up, and suddenly Comcast looks like a better deal than every other cable provider.

Not saying it would necessarily play out like that, and I'm no market expert, so that might just be tinfoil hat-level speculation.  It just sounds like that kind of situation would open the door for all kinds of unpleasant shenanigans.

[Old_Nash]

The dream is over...

https://variety.com/2018/biz/news/comcast-fox-sky-disney-bidding-war-drops-out-1202878103/

 

Thanks for the Justice Departament of USA because of AT&T and Warner...

[Old_Nash]

Well And Now?

https://www.cnbc.com/video/2018/07/27/disney-fox-deal-approved-by-shareholders.html

we still have B-Sides Hsuper-heroes movies?

Edited July 28, 2018 by Old_Nash

[007-vf1]

My question are;

Now that they are about to have these rights. Would it be better for Marvel to off holding Infinity Wars II release and add some new superheroes to the MCU timeline?

What will happen to Universal Studios now that Disney could become a potential competition with the same characters on their parks? Would rides like Spider-Man be “transfered” to a Disney location?

Are we about to see another franchise-theme-park ride war?

[no3Ljm]

[kalvasflam]

1 hour ago, 007-vf1 said:

My question are;

Now that they are about to have these rights. Would it be better for Marvel to off holding Infinity Wars II release and add some new superheroes to the MCU timeline?

What will happen to Universal Studios now that Disney could become a potential competition with the same characters on their parks? Would rides like Spider-Man be “transfered” to a Disney location?

Are we about to see another franchise-theme-park ride war?

no way, now Infinity War is just perfect to transit out the old, Goodbye RDJ, Goodbye CE, Goodbye MR, Goodbye CH... and bring in the new blood, find some new guys to be X-men, and oh, we can keep RR.  Cheap guys hopefully.  Transferrance will just happen.

[Dynaman]

9 hours ago, 007-vf1 said:

 

What will happen to Universal Studios now that Disney could become a potential competition with the same characters on their parks? Would rides like Spider-Man be “transfered” to a Disney location?

Are we about to see another franchise-theme-park ride war?

That depends on how the contracts are written.  If there are written to continue when rights are sold then Universal will keep the rights for now, if they are written to expire when the main rights are sold then it is up in the air.  I doubt Universal would have gone with the second option - they put too much money into it to have the rights disappear if the owner changed.  Finally even if they do have "permanent" rights Disney and they may decide to change the agreement later.  (feel free to give whatever motivation behind any changes you wish but I'm guessing royalty payments are a possible point of contention at some time in the future)

[sh9000]

https://variety.com/2019/biz/news/disney-march-20-close-21st-century-fox-acquisition-1203161135/

[Old_Nash]

 

https://variety.com/2019/biz/news/disney-march-20-close-21st-century-fox-acquisition-1203161135/

One HOoray to monopole^^