Comcast Confirms Plan To Buy 21st Century Fox and Control of Hulu (arstechnica.com)

Comcast is reportedly preparing an offer to buy major portions of 21st Century Fox, which would give it majority control of Hulu and other media properties. Ars Technica reports: Walt Disney Company already has a $52.4 billion all-stock deal to buy the 21st Century Fox properties. But Comcast was rumored to be lining up $60 billion in financing in order to make a hostile bid for the Fox assets, and Comcast's announcement today confirms it. Comcast "is considering, and is in advanced stages of preparing, an offer for the businesses that Fox has agreed to sell to Disney," Comcast's announcement said. Comcast is working on the offer in preparation for shareholder meetings in which the Disney/Fox deal will be considered.

The Fox properties for sale do not include assets such as the Fox News Channel, Fox Business Network, and Fox Broadcasting Company. Those properties would be spun off into a company being referred to as "New Fox," and Comcast would acquire 21st Century Fox after the spinoff. The Fox sale to either Disney or Comcast would include 21st Century Fox's film and television studios; cable entertainment networks; the Fox Sports Regional Networks; and international properties including Star in India and Fox's 39-percent ownership of Sky across Europe. The sale would also include Fox's 30-percent stake in Hulu, the popular online video streaming service. Comcast already owns 30 percent of Hulu, so a deal with Fox would give the nation's largest cable company majority control over the online video provider.

Comments

I feel sorry for you streaming-media people

[Rick Schumann]

Wow, you 'cut the cord' on companies like Comcast and went to streaming services like Hulu, and now guess what? You'll be giving your money to Comcast again anyway, if this deal goes through.

Re:I feel sorry for you streaming-media people

[Zaelath]

People cut the cord because the pricing model sucks, it's not like any of these companies aren't ultimately on a scale between immoral and malevolent.

Re: I feel sorry for you streaming-media people

[bursch-X]

This!
I hate to quote Steve Jobs, but when he launched the iTunes Music Store he said the way to compete with piracy is to offer a service that is easier and better than Snapster, or at least easy and good enough that people think it's worth paying for, and I think he hit the nail on the head.

Let that be a warning that if offers start to suck again, we'll easily revert back to torrenting, if you don't make it worthwhile.