Does disney care about this news?

[boufa]

Stop reading the headlines. Most of the time there is MUCH more to a story. This one for example was simple business math. Comcast HAD to buy out blackstone. The initial contract with blackstone put them into a position that IF and WHEN Blackstone chose to sell its portion of the park, NBC(aka comcast) would have the first option to buy it. If comcast had passed on it, then whom ever Blackstone sold to would have had the option TO BUY OUT COMCASTS SHARE ALSO (without comcasts permission) at a price automatically calculated on the price that they paid to buy Blackstones piece.

So in English, if Comcast did not buy out Blackstone, then whoever purchased blacksotnes 50% could have FORCED Comcast to sell and then Comcast would have lost it all. That is the structure of the contract. Blackstone times their sale of their investment in Universal knowing that they would be able to push Comcast to buy, or if Comcast was unable to buy, they could have gotten a premium from whoever they sold to since that person would have been buying the right to acquire the entire thing if they wanted.

So you see, no Marvel, no ESPN, no Harry Potter. Just 1 stupid decision many years ago by NBC to structure their contract the way they did.

 

[Kamikaze]

Interesting, this came out the same day it was announced that Comcast was looking at selling their majority stake in the Philadelphia 76ers.

Wouldn't you want to sell that stake too?

 

[powlessfamily4]

"When speculation has done it's worst, two and two still make four." ... Samuel Johnson

 

[WDWFigment]

Wow, rude.

That said, I don't really think there is too much more to discuss about this. Lee said Disney doesn't care. Perhaps this should be moved?

No offense to Lee, but he's hardly the ultimate arbiter of a thread's value, much less the "thoughts" of a company.

I happen to think plenty in Disney do care about this news. Not from the perspective that they feel it will necessitate any occurrence in the theme park, but that they should always be abreast of the actions of a competitor, especially one that has had much of its vulnerability removed by this purchase.

To those saying Comcast may now attempt a takeover of Disney, I highly doubt this. Not only because Disney has (as is the case with most companies) more safeguards to protect itself from a hostile takeover than it did in 2004, but also because Comcast is probably not in the best position itself to purchase a Disney Company that is now likely valuated close to $100 billion.

With regard to the OT comments, I totally agree with Wdwprince.

 

[CoasterKing]

No offense to Lee, but he's hardly the ultimate arbiter of a thread's value, much less the "thoughts" of a company.

Agreed... but surely Lee was being a little tongue-in-cheek, I think. I hope. For anyone to think that whatever plans and dealings your competitor has goes unnoticed, then that person has no clue. I am sure Disney has certain resources devoted soley to keeping an eye on outside competition. It would not make any business sense not to!!

So when Universal burps, Disney hears it. Trust me!! And surely Lee knows this... :lookaroun.

CoasterKing
:king:

 

[boufa]

In an attempt to return this thread to the topic... the other issue is how extended is comcast at this point? Blackstone forced them into buying, so what does this do for the chances of a Harry Potter expansion? I think taking on additional borrowing for capital improvements would drop for a while. So is Disney listening, sure they are, they are drooling that their (sad) rival has had to dip $1 billion into purchasing something that they in effect already owned.

This deal was necessary but was a total waste of money for comcast, at a time when I would imagine they really would rather have not done it. I see some quiet cutbacks, or delays on projects (many of which we probably don't even know about). After this new putt-putt course and the new ride, I would bet we go through a quiet period at Universal.

 

[JT3000]

In an attempt to return this thread to the topic... the other issue is how extended is comcast at this point? Blackstone forced them into buying, so what does this do for the chances of a Harry Potter expansion? I think taking on additional borrowing for capital improvements would drop for a while. So is Disney listening, sure they are, they are drooling that their (sad) rival has had to dip $1 billion into purchasing something that they in effect already owned.

This deal was necessary but was a total waste of money for comcast, at a time when I would imagine they really would rather have not done it. I see some quiet cutbacks, or delays on projects (many of which we probably don't even know about). After this new putt-putt course and the new ride, I would bet we go through a quiet period at Universal.

Universal Orlando has its own budget, irrespective of what its parent company throws their cash at.

 

[Mickey is King]

I'm still entirely convinced that Disney bought marvel for film/tv content rights only....it's an income stream to them, nothing else....

Having said that, with potter facing possible expansion at iOA and as uni moves forward with other assets, there might very well be a time when uni doesn't need nor want current marvel characters in uni Orlando....however, at that point said assets won't be worthwhile for Disney to use anyway.....

So I'm thinking Disney needs to concentrate on things other than marvel.... If they wanted to spend a boatload of cash for the parks, they'd have a far greater roi if they contacted Egroeg Sacul about his very under utilized characters.....

I am forced to agree on this...it's about $$$$$...soon Disney will have milked the superhero movies dry, there are only a rare few Marvel heros that have really captured the hearts of the world- Spider man, hulk, x-men.......I'm sure there's a couple more... and attractons for the hulk & spidey already exist.

I would like to see more original attractions come from Disney anyhow, Marvel is great but to keep re-hashing......how many hulk movies are there? spidey?x-men??

Ya know original like - horizons, SM, EE, Soarin- stuff like that........

 

[mp2bill]

Comcast buying Blackstones half of USF probably had very little to do with Marvel. They wanted to own the rest of the property so they didn't have to split profits. And its not Disney Channel that would make Comcast balk. Its the local affiliates - and more importantly, ESPN. Disney has never played the card, but they could get cable/sat providers to bend over backwards if they really wanted to over ESPN. Can you imagine how many subscribers Comcast would lose if they could no longer offer ESPN?

Exactly what I was thinking.

 

[JWG]

I think Comcast gave up any Disney ownership dreams when it agreed to the NBC/Universal purchase. The idea of a major cable provider owning an actual network (or grouping of channels) raised some eyebrows. I firmly believe that "consolidation" stops at an organization such as Comcast being allowed to own majority control in multiple broadcast networks. Purchasing Disney would mean they'd have a controlling stake in NBC and ABC which I would hope the FCC/SEC would see some concern with.

That, and they don't need Disney. Outside of individual TM on a character set, they are Disney. They own various media outlets, they own a series of theme parks and they have their own distribution outlets as a major cable provider. Scoop up Dreamworks Animiation and then you're set on the character set.

Also, I don't think Disney cares. They care about their gate #'s, not the gate up the street. If Universal sees a 20% increase in attendance I can't see how Disney cares if they see 22%.

I think Disney proved they didn't care when there was no real response to the WWoHP. Competition fosters a better consumer experience, so I'm all for it.

 

[yeti]

No Disney doesn't care. This has no effect on the Disney-Uni relationship at all.

What relationship? :lol:

 

[MrMorrowTom]

This thread reminds me of The Daily Show take on the whole Comcast and NBC/Universal buy out. It even mentions the Disney trademark of Seal Team 6


http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/mon-may-16-2011/well--that-was-fast---comcast-nbc-merger

 

[flavious27]

I get to keep my 30% discount at usf, it is all good. Having the theme parks creates synergy between the different divisions and will elevate each one.

 

[boufa]

Universal Orlando has its own budget, irrespective of what its parent company throws their cash at.

Sure, they do, but their capital comes from the parents company to borrow money. If the parent needs cash, or is dumping cash somewhere than every division can suffer. Look at AOL/Time Warner. The magazine division suffered from all of the losses at AOL. I work for a company that made a bad deal and took on a large debt load to take over another company. We are all cutting back to make the operating expenses and the overall company financial results look more favorable to wall street.

Day to day expenses are budgeted, but capital is always a little more subject to change.

 

[lazyboy97o]

Stop reading the headlines. Most of the time there is MUCH more to a story. This one for example was simple business math. Comcast HAD to buy out blackstone. The initial contract with blackstone put them into a position that IF and WHEN Blackstone chose to sell its portion of the park, NBC(aka comcast) would have the first option to buy it. If comcast had passed on it, then whom ever Blackstone sold to would have had the option TO BUY OUT COMCASTS SHARE ALSO (without comcasts permission) at a price automatically calculated on the price that they paid to buy Blackstones piece.

So in English, if Comcast did not buy out Blackstone, then whoever purchased blacksotnes 50% could have FORCED Comcast to sell and then Comcast would have lost it all. That is the structure of the contract. Blackstone times their sale of their investment in Universal knowing that they would be able to push Comcast to buy, or if Comcast was unable to buy, they could have gotten a premium from whoever they sold to since that person would have been buying the right to acquire the entire thing if they wanted.

So you see, no Marvel, no ESPN, no Harry Potter. Just 1 stupid decision many years ago by NBC to structure their contract the way they did.

Actually, the decision is even stupider as it was not in the original partnership contracts but added a few years later. For whatever reason Universal and Blackstone went from a model where either could sell off any part of their share whenever they wanted to the one we just saw play out.

I too am not convinced that this was a show of interest in the parks and not just a business move. Now that Universal owns all of Universal City Development Partners they can restructure the licensing deal so that the Resort could be sold off while still retaining its valuable intellectual property. Such a structure is not without precedent as Tokyo Disney Resort, the Legoland parks and Universal Studios Singapore all operate under this manner. The announced Universal Studios South Korea and Universal Studios Dubailand were also going to be under similar arrangements.

I believe even Universal Studios Florida / Universal Orlando Resort has spent very little of its existence being wholly owned by Universal.

 

[boufa]

Actually, the decision is even stupider as it was not in the original partnership contracts but added a few years later. For whatever reason Universal and Blackstone went from a model where either could sell off any part of their share whenever they wanted to the one we just saw play out.

I too am not convinced that this was a show of interest in the parks and not just a business move. Now that Universal owns all of Universal City Development Partners they can restructure the licensing deal so that the Resort could be sold off while still retaining its valuable intellectual property. Such a structure is not without precedent as Tokyo Disney Resort, the Legoland parks and Universal Studios Singapore all operate under this manner. The announced Universal Studios South Korea and Universal Studios Dubailand were also going to be under similar arrangements.

I believe even Universal Studios Florida / Universal Orlando Resort has spent very little of its existence being wholly owned by Universal.

From Blackstone's part it makes sense. Its kind of like getting a divorce and then selling off only your 50% of the house. Maybe the new owner will want your exwife to stay, or maybe not. Having the option to find a buyer who could buy either half or all of the park made Blackstones piece much more valuable.

 

[AndyMagic]

Actually, the decision is even stupider as it was not in the original partnership contracts but added a few years later. For whatever reason Universal and Blackstone went from a model where either could sell off any part of their share whenever they wanted to the one we just saw play out.

I too am not convinced that this was a show of interest in the parks and not just a business move. Now that Universal owns all of Universal City Development Partners they can restructure the licensing deal so that the Resort could be sold off while still retaining its valuable intellectual property. Such a structure is not without precedent as Tokyo Disney Resort, the Legoland parks and Universal Studios Singapore all operate under this manner. The announced Universal Studios South Korea and Universal Studios Dubailand were also going to be under similar arrangements.

I believe even Universal Studios Florida / Universal Orlando Resort has spent very little of its existence being wholly owned by Universal.

Internally, I assure you Comcast has shown interest in the parks. The positive statements made about the parks in press releases are very similar to what is said to employees at Comcast and NBCUniversal. The "welcome package" had tickets to the Orlando parks as a "gift" and Burke mentions the recent success of Wizarding World every chance he gets in e-mails. Past owners didn't even say a peep about the parks internally. Obviously, Comcast and Burke will not be selling them any time soon.

 

[boufa]

Internally, I assure you Comcast has shown interest in the parks. The positive statements made about the parks in press releases are very similar to what is said to employees at Comcast and NBCUniversal. The "welcome package" had tickets to the Orlando parks as a "gift" and Burke mentions the recent success of Wizarding World every chance he gets in e-mails. Past owners didn't even say a peep about the parks internally. Obviously, Comcast and Burke will not be selling them any time soon.

While you may be right, I will say that you should never believe anything, internal or external, that goes through a marketing department first. Insiders are the primary source of information to the media, and the company would never give up any details to an insider. The exception would be if you were actually in the department making the decisions. Also, the company has to look happy and confident about all of its decisions no matter the actual feeling. It is sort of like a guilty man, with thousands of witnesses who pleads innocent... it is just part of the PR dance that is played.

I'm not saying that your information is not a true reflection of how leadership thinks, I am just saying that it could go either way. No one knows (at least no one who is talking) and time will tell.

 

[funkycold]

I am forced to agree on this...it's about $$$$$...soon Disney will have milked the superhero movies dry, there are only a rare few Marvel heros that have really captured the hearts of the world- Spider man, hulk, x-men.......I'm sure there's a couple more... and attractons for the hulk & spidey already exist.

to say only a rare few heroes capture people but take x-men alone...do you realize how many heroes are in x-men? and villains too (lord knows magneto is a villain but definitely captured MY heart). And while i loved the last hulk movie there's definitely someone i would think of before that as capturing the hearts that you neglected to mention who has no presence at universal: iron man. which i believe we have iron man related actions going on out on the west coast, so it must be profitable. And with the avengers coming out next year and people's attachments to iron man, even if they weren't as quick to pick up on thor or coming up captain america, they'll still see avengers simply bc of iron man.

and marvel has been around since 1939, in the format we know marvel as since 1961, so i don't think it's going to be "milked dry" simply bc of the excessive amount of movies that have come out in the past ten years. there will always be fans from other outlets than these movies, and if they were in parks you don't have to be familiar with a character to enjoy the ride. take mr. toad, how many people had actually seen the wind in the willows? yet people have/had a crazy attachment to that ride.

I would like to see more original attractions come from Disney anyhow, Marvel is great but to keep re-hashing......how many hulk movies are there? spidey?x-men??

in recenty ears? 2 hulk, 3 spidey with a 4th on the way, 5 x-men. and if you think x-men is milked at 5 movies, 2 weeks out making over $108,000,000 doesn't seem like anyone is losing interest there. and while i agree with the thoughts of disney coming out with original attractions, it's not like any of these marvel movies are clones of each other. there are plenty of story lines to keep marvel going on and on and on, and as long as the films are done well they won't be losing interest any time soon IMO.

 

[gljvd]

Everyone seems to forget DC . With Harry potter doing so well at universal , they might forgo Marvel and retheme with DC characters as Warner owns DC .