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

[Anonymous Coward]

They keep the price and service the same, can keep enjoying our money. They try and treat Hulu like they did their Cable or Internet stuff, can cut Hulu too.

I can do without just fine and plenty more have no issues starting up PirateBay and torrents again if the price or the content is too out of whack.

Re:I feel sorry for you streaming-media people

[Streetlight]

No, you won't be giving your money to Hulu. Comcast will shut Hulu down.

Re:I feel sorry for you streaming-media people

[Actually, I do RTFA]

You'll be giving your money to Comcast again anyway, if this deal goes through.

Comcast already owns like 30% of Hulu. Disney and Fox each also own like 30% apiece.

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.

Re:I feel sorry for you streaming-media people

[jwhyche]

Sounds like a good excuse to cut Hulu lose.

This will be really bad for all involved parties

[stikves]

If I read correctly that do not actually have the *cash* to pay for this takeover, but will finance the operation. Given how recently ToysRUs had a very slow and painful death due to a similar leveraged buyout, I do not expect this one to go well either.

According to their financials, Fox made ~3bn last year in profits:
https://finance.yahoo.com/quot...

This means it will take 20 years for them to pay off the 60bn debt. This assumes no investment in R&D, staff, or paying dividends. (That is why ToysRUs become unable to compete, they had no profit margin left after payments).

Comcast is in a better position with 20bn in profits:
https://finance.yahoo.com/quot...

However will they skim from shareholder dividends to pay for Fox operations? It looks like they are already down by about 2%, meaning the idea is not liked on the market.

And this is before anything about the customers. They would want to milk every *value* out of current customers, meaning worse service and/or higher prices across the board.

I do not have any shares in any of these companies, however if I had one, I would have voted against such a merger. (for clarification, I'm no financial expert, this is my personal opinion, don't act on it)

Re:Hulu is up for grabs

[AvitarX]

With that in mind, Disney would be a fool not to match/beat Comcast.

Get the X-Men back into the Marvel fold, and have a platform for their streaming service.

With Disney, Hulu would be super relevant to families with children, and likely eat into Netflix/have more double purchases. They also would have a lot of power over Comcast if they have another way to monitize casual watching of their content.

As a Hulu subscriber, I'd also rather Disney than Comcast (don't want either), as Disney has a vested interest in not being beholden to Comcast for the "channel flip" dollars.

Jokes on you, we have Net Neutrality to protect us

[goombah99]

Good thing we have net neutrality or this would be a major problem. Whew! crisis avoided!

Re:Prediction

[slaker]

Marvel's license deal for its properties is actually non-transferable. If Fox is sold to some other party, the agreement that gave Fox rights to stuff like X-men and Deadpool is voided. Those rights will be returned to Disney/Marvel regardless. I'm sure there will be legal wrangling over it but as I understand it, that happens regardless of any other deal.

But will Comcast be a decent steward of other Fox IPs like the Simpsons or Avatar? I sincerely doubt it. Look what it did with the Universal Monsters.

Re:Prediction

[Dynedain]

Non-transferable means that Fox can't sell the rights to someone else. Whatever business unit owns the rights can be bought and sold wholesale however without negating the licensing rights. Fox can be sold with the rights can go with Fox in the sale. Rupert Murdoch isn't the license holder, some random business unit within 21st Century Fox is the license holder.

Good. I am glad

[youngone]

This is a very good thing for Americans because choice is confusing and just makes people angry.
This is another step towards that glorious future when there is one business in every market so Americans don't have to spend their valuable time trying to decide what to buy.
Merge the banks next.

Re:This will be really bad for all involved partie

[houghi]

So you say this will break the company? I fail to see the "bad" part you talk about in your subject.