Comcast offer for Fox is expected after AT&T ruling
NEW YORK» Now that a federal judge has cleared AT&T’s $85 billion takeover of Time Warner, other companies are likely to rush to consolidate.
Tuesday’s ruling signaled that federal regulators might have a hard time stopping companies from getting bigger by gobbling up rivals and the content they own. Even if a company doesn’t need to get bigger right away, it might need to do so to prevent a competitor from doing so.
For starters, expect Comcast to make a bid for Fox’s entertainment business as early as Wednesday.
These mega deals — some in the works, some still to come — will transform the media landscape and change how people consume entertainment.
Here’s a look at some of the pending and possible combinations:
FOX WITH DISNEY OR COMCAST
Disney has made a $52.4 billion allstock offer for the bulk of TwentyFirst Century Fox, including the studios behind the “Avatar” movies, “The Simpsons” and “Modern Family,” along with National Geographic. Marvel would get back the characters previously licensed to Fox, reuniting XMen with the Avengers.
But Comcast has said it is preparing an allcash offer that is superior to Disney’s. It will likely to make an offer soon, now that the judge has ruled in AT&T’s favor, without setting any conditions.
SPRINT AND T-MOBILE
In April, the two telecom companies announced a $26.5 billion combination. The deal would combine the nation’s third and fourthlargest wireless companies and bulk them up to a similar size to Verizon and AT&T, the industry giants.
The worry is that with just three major carriers, there would be less incentive to keep innovating on prices and service. TMobile and Sprint might even raise prices now that they don’t have to try to poach customers off each other.
A 2014 attempt to combine fell apart amid resistance from the Obama administration.
CBS AND VIACOM
CBS has resisted pressure from its controlling shareholder, National Amusements, to merge with Viacom, which also is controlled by National Amusements. The two companies used to be one but separated in 2005.
A combination would reunite CBS’s television business with Viacom’s production studios, similar to the arrangements now in place at NBC owner Comcast and ABC owner Disney. (On the flip side, the Fox television network and studios would separate under a deal with either Comcast or Disney.)
VERIZON
Verizon, which bought AOL and Yahoo in recent years, could be on the prowl for other entertainment properties.