News Disney and Fox come to terms -- announcement soon; huge IP acquisition

[Rodan75]

Its a bit odd that Disney hasnt offered concessions to CADE yet. They were quick to do so with the EU.

They have been pretty quiet with everyone, only going public when they have to, or have something significant to announce. I wouldn’t read too much into this.

 

[happycamperuni]

Here we go. If this is genuine then there's hope.

Even if that's real, the problem is it's too easily worked around these days.

Any corporate lawyer worth even a pinch of salt could work around such a loose clause like that.


For example, if Comcast wanted to buy Sony Pictures from Sony with those restrictions, then Sony could spin out Sony Pictures as its own company, and then they would perform a reverse merger where Sony Pictures takes over Universal Pictures before being absorbed by Comcast.

Thus, Sony Pictures would be the surviving movie studio entity and bypass the restrictions despite changing ownership from Sony to Comcast. Then Sony Pictures would change its name to Universal while keeping ownership of the Marvel rights.

In fact, we've seen mergers the past decade or two that have happened in such a way to avoid contractual obligations or payouts to others.

 

[Darkprime]

Disney will need to divest fox sports in Brazil.

Disney will have to sell sports channel, says Cade
The company announced the purchase of Fox in a deal valued at more than $ 50 billion; the merger leaves with one owner two of the main sports channels of pay TV.

To approve the purchase of Fox by Disney, the Administrative Council of Economic Defense (Cade) requires that the company dispose of sports channels. According to the Broadcast / Broadcast, the sale is under negotiation between the board and Disney and the trend is for an agreement to be reached between the parties.

Disney announced the purchase of Fox in December last year in a deal valued at more than $ 50 billion. In Brazil, the merger leaves two of the main sports channels for pay-TV, ESPN and Fox Sports with only one owner - only Globosat's SporTV would not be in the group.

https://www.terra.com.br/noticias/t...18d4b1747292600b31fd38fd5869efa8uoe8fofd.html

 

[Slpy3270]

CADE now saying Disney must sell sports channels to get approval for deal. (Can't post link because of non-english material.)

The question is if Disney will have to sell *all* of the channels. That would probably be a nonstarter since ESPN Brazil may need some of that Fox Sports Brazil talent.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

I wish they would hurry up. I know Uncle bob will spill all the beans on what’s happening with Fox in the next earnings call but it would be nice for some official news.

I definitely think Star Wars movies will go to every 2 years and Avatar 2 will take the Christmas 2020 slot.

I think there will be a home alone reboot somewhere too

Home alone doesn’t fit the same niche...but I agree they would look to reboot.

What Star Wars movies are gonna move the bar every 2 years? That’s a serious question. The trend is “not good”...and they have put all their eggs in the JJ basket and he isn’t a “closer”

Agreed. Disney is already partners with Sony on the Spider-Man deal. It'd be interesting to see if their next acquisition will be Sony Pictures. Especially since the former haven't been doing well in recent years and Marvel would want complete ownership of Spider-Man. It'd be interesting to see Ghostbusters, Resident Evil, Underworld, Stuart Little,
Hotel Transylvania, Bad Boys, Men in Black and Robert Langdon under the Disney banner.

. Those are all farmed out though...so I don’t know what kind of benefit it would provide to Disney strategically

I think after spending a huge amount of money on buying Fox, and already subject to enough anti-trust scrutiny that Disney will prob not try to buy Sony.

yep...this is Igers last major ip move

The chances of Disney buying Sony Pictures are slim to none. To them, it would make no financial, legal or strategical sense. Besides Sony has been clear that their entertainment business isn't for sale.

agree

Brazilian Congress is in recess until February 2.

...probably working on hammering out that deal for the Epcot pavilion...which verified insiders swear has been under construction for like 21 years

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

I think I am starting to dislike Brazil ant-trust laws since Disney/Fox would have to go before the vote of the councilors. I just hope something works out so it can get approval.

Fear not...the proper people will receive their bribes

 

[ABQ]

Fear not...the proper people will receive their bribes

75% off pavilion space at Epcot

 

[Slpy3270]

My bet: Disney agrees to spin-off FS Brazil, but is allowed to keep at least one of its channels and poach some of its talent and sports rights over to ESPN Brazil and away from the spun-off/sold FSB (which, as I've said, isn't going to US-focused Fox Corp.).

 

[AnotherDayAnotherDollar]

Fear not...the proper people will receive their bribes

It's funny because it's true.

My bet: Disney agrees to spin-off FS Brazil, but is allowed to keep at least one of its channels and poach some of its talent and sports rights over to ESPN Brazil and away from the spun-off/sold FSB (which, as I've said, isn't going to US-focused Fox Corp.).

I don't know about that. I think if it wasn't for Comcast they'd still be fighting to keep the RSNs. Sports is arguably a bigger deal than anything else, especially as they try to take ESPN+ global.

 

[Slpy3270]

I don't know about that. I think if it wasn't for Comcast they'd still be fighting to keep the RSNs. Sports is arguably a bigger deal than anything else, especially as they try to take ESPN+ global.

Well it's either that, or the deal gets blocked.

 

[AnotherDayAnotherDollar]

Well it's either that, or the deal gets blocked.

I'm assuming they can appeal to Brazil's supreme court like they would be able to here. That or they have a deal in place. Comcast pushed their hand to sell the RSNs in the US. A&E in Europe is not a huge deal to them and they might come out with a higher equity on ESPN if Hearst indeed is the buyer of that asset. This is the first one that I think Disney might be willing to fight over.

 

[Slpy3270]

I'm assuming they can appeal to Brazil's supreme court like they would be able to here. That or they have a deal in place. Comcast pushed their hand to sell the RSNs in the US. A&E in Europe is not a huge deal to them and they might come out with a higher equity on ESPN if Hearst indeed is the buyer of that asset. This is the first one that I think Disney might be willing to fight over.

Shareholders would beg to differ. Disney wants to close to deal the deal by the summer, and if Disney's willing to delay closure to fight the Brazilian government, that could hurt their stock price badly.

And that's not even getting into the financial hit they could take this year because of the legal battle, which could affect their long-term strategy.

 

[AnotherDayAnotherDollar]

Shareholders would beg to differ. Disney wants to close to deal the deal by the summer, and if Disney's willing to delay closure to fight the Brazilian government, that could hurt their stock price badly.

And that's not even getting into the financial hit they could take this year because of the legal battle, which could affect their long-term strategy.

I disagree. ESPN has been called out in every quarterly call for the past 5 years or whatever. Even when other pieces were doing well, ESPN was still the focus. Even now when C&P struggles and is the red headed step child, no one is really paying attention because ESPN and DTC efforts. Shareholders are definitely interested in sports and programming and how it affects the bottom line. Wall Street will be okay with it if waiting an extra few months will bring in more ROI in the long term.

 

[Lafayettecalboy]

I think it would be absolutely silly for Disney to tank their own deal because of some cable sports issues, they should just divest Fox Sports in Brazil but keep ESPN for obvious reasons. The fanboy side of me is not happy at Disney wanting to keep the sports networks in Brazil than rather divest them because I want my X-Men and FF in the MCU badly rather than cable sports in Brazil.

 

[Darkprime]

They wont appeal the Brazil decision if it gets approved with conditions. Getting the deal done before the Disney+ demo in April is more important they need to have the Fox content in the demo. And hasnt ESPN been losing money the last 4 years? They need to let it go.

 

[doctornick]

And hasnt ESPN been losing money the last 4 years? They need to let it go.

It's kind of an aside to the topic, but my understanding is that has not been "losing money" in recent years. It just has not been making the craploads of profits that it had in the past. So, of course Wall St isn't happy with trajectory and their are concerns about the rights payment that are contracted for the future, but ESPN is far from an anchor at this point.

 

[Darkprime]

But if they sold ESPN wouldnt they have been allowed to keep the RSN's? Both locally and internationally. It should have been a day and night choice RSN's are more valuable than ESPN.

 

[brodie999]

CADE now saying Disney must sell sports channels to get approval for deal. (Can't post link because of non-english material.)

The question is if Disney will have to sell *all* of the channels. That would probably be a nonstarter since ESPN Brazil may need some of that Fox Sports Brazil talent.

Remember, the Brazilian Congress doesn't meet annually until February 2. And Disney is gonna get interviewed on the 5th of net month during the Q1 2019 Earnings Call. So they might announce Brazil approved the deal with remedies that sold off the sport channels.

 

[Slpy3270]

It's kind of an aside to the topic, but my understanding is that has not been "losing money" in recent years. It just has not been making the craploads of profits that it had in the past. So, of course Wall St isn't happy with trajectory and their are concerns about the rights payment that are contracted for the future, but ESPN is far from an anchor at this point.

Disney letting go of ESPN is a fantasy. It's one of Media Networks' core revenue generators. It would be like Sony spinning off their entertainment business even though it and their Playstation units are the only units making money.

 

[AnotherDayAnotherDollar]

They wont appeal the Brazil decision if it gets approved with conditions. Getting the deal done before the Disney+ demo in April is more important they need to have the Fox content in the demo. And hasnt ESPN been losing money the last 4 years? They need to let it go.

No it's not. Iger himself said they are ready to move on without National Geographic. The demo will show functionality and a glimpse of some of the original shows. They don't need Fox for that.

You also have a lack of understanding on what ESPN has done and hasn't done for the past few years, and how much they are worth. That's pretty clear.

Disney letting go of ESPN is a fantasy. It's one of Media Networks' core revenue generators. It would be like Sony spinning off their entertainment business even though it and their Playstation units are the only units making money.

I think Playstation is separate from entertainment unless they shuffled again, but your point still stands.