Fox bid dropped, paving way for sale to Disney
Cable companies are buying content makers to compete with streaming services
NEW YORK» Comcast is dropping its bid for Fox’s entertainment businesses, paving the way for Disney to boost its upcoming streaming service by buying the studios behind “The Simpsons” and X-Men.
Comcast can now focus on its pursuit of European pay-TV operator Sky, a deal that would give the Philadelphia-based cable and media company a larger presence outside the U.S.
The moves come as the media landscape is shifting dramatically. Cable and telecom companies are buying content makers to compete with popular streaming services such as Netflix and Amazon. AT&T bought Time Warner last month for $81 billion.
Comcast had been dueling with Disney for Twenty-First Century Fox, but Comcast announced Thursday that it would not raise its $66 billion offer for Fox. The Walt Disney Co. had topped Comcast’s bid by offering $71 billion.
The U.S. Department of Justice has approved Disney’s bid as long as Disney — which owns the national sports network ESPN — sells Fox’s 22 regional sports networks. Fox shareholders are set to vote on Disney’s offer July 27.
Disney CEO Bob Iger said he was “extremely pleased” with Comcast’s announcement.
“Our focus now is on completing the regulatory process and ultimately moving toward integrating our businesses,” he said in a news release.
If the deal closes, Disney would get a controlling stake in streaming service Hulu and Twentieth Century Fox film and TV studios. Disney owns Marvel Studios, but some characters including the X-Men had already been licensed to Fox. A sale means the X-Men and the Avengers could reunite in future movies. With Fox, Disney would also have a larger library of movies and shows for a streaming service set to debut next year.
“This was the final chapter in this soap opera,” said GBH Insights analyst Daniel Ives.
Ives said Comcast’s focus now is on getting Sky “to build a strong beachhead content strategy in Europe.”
Sky operates in Austria, Germany, Ireland, Italy and the United Kingdom. It has 22.5 million customers, attracted by offerings such as English Premier League soccer and “Game of Thrones.”
Fox has been trying to buy the 61 percent of Sky it doesn’t already own. The idea was to sell Sky to Disney as part of the broader deal. Last week, Comcast made a bid that values Sky at $34 billion, compared with $32.5 billion in Fox’s offer.