7 ms·

This is going to be a huge mess. The bid was rejected last year due to doubts that the deal would go through, and also that the Murdoch family was much more com

This is going to be a huge mess. The bid was rejected last year due to doubts that the deal would go through, and also that the Murdoch family was much more comfortable with Disney, which has a solid reputation of dealing with acquisitions (Marvel, Lucasfilm, Pixar) as opposed to Comcast. This deal now being all stock is designed to cause a revolt from the rest of the ownership interest in Fox from the Murdochs, who want the Disney deal. Hulu is one of the crown jewels here. Because of the way the contracts are structured, whoever buys Fox, gets total control of Hulu. There were some court orders that recently expired on Hulu which is part of the behind the scenes reason this war is going on now. The breakup fee is a lot of cash here - Disney had made a similar guaranteed (2.5 billion), but Fox itself will be on the hook for 1.52 billion if they break off for Disney in favor of Comcast. There's been a lot of speculation that part of the deal with Fox was that James Murdoch would eventually be the heir apparent to Bob Iger. That speculation faded a bit, but still something to keep a eye on. What what happens with Hulu and with the Murdoch controlling interest in Fox. It may take a shareholder revolt to go with Fox over Disney. I don't see this deal as a must-win for Disney. They have the possibility to go over the top with their new Disney streaming service, and they have all the content in the world right now. Disney lawyers will probably find some event to use to justify yanking the Marvel rights from Comcast if this deal goes through.

dragonwriter 8y ago
> Disney lawyers will probably find some event to use to justify yanking the Marvel rights from Comcast if this deal goes through. Probably not that hard; licensing deals very often have change of ownership clauses exactly to prevent someone purchasing the licenses to get the license without the licensor having a say.
- InTheArena 8y ago
  The Marvel contract has proven remarkably difficult to deal with, and there are empires that have been funded in Florida as disney tries to find a way to undo it.
  - coderdude 8y ago
    Quite possibly the most interesting comment in this thread but no details. I'd much rather hear about the incredible hoops Disney may be jumping through to make all this work. I've always been fascinated by Disney's vast array of businesses spawned in Florida to take care of their interests. Really wish you'd have shared more insight if you have any.
    - ksec 8y ago
      Excuses my ignorance.... Why Florida?
      - coderdude 8y ago
        Florida is where Disney World is. It's huge. Bigger than you might imagine. That is, their stake in the surrounding area is much larger than the theme parks they operate. It's said that they control whole counties.
      - InTheArena 8y ago
        Disney wants to open up Marvel themed parks (gates)both at Disney Land and at Disney World. Disney Land (in California) is severely space restricted, so it may end up only being a "land" (or subsection) of the existing California adventures park. In orlando they have plenty of space, but the contract for Universal (who is owned by Comcast) keeps disney from using a ton of marvel IP.
    - giancarlostoro 8y ago
      Universal Studios owns a contract to Marvel that basically disallows Disney to do any Marvel COMIC shows or rides because their parks are just close enough (within 100 miles or something) to Universals parks to be part of the clause. Disney cannot cancel the contract in order for Disney to buy it out it has to be negotiated under Universals terms as well. I have a relative that works at Universal Studios who explained this to me. The only thing Disney can do is new marvel characters probably and stuff based off Marvel movies. I don't think the contract has an expiration date either... Marvel wasn't doing too good back in the day you could say.
slg 8y ago
>Hulu is one of the crown jewels here. Maybe for Comcast, but I doubt it is for Disney. Disney already purchased BAMTech which handles streaming for MLB, HBO, ESPN, League Of Legends, and many others. They have been working towards using that technology for a Disney streaming service that will debut sometime in 2019. That company is already closing in on Hulu in terms of value and would make integrating Hulu's tech and employees difficult. The only real value Hulu gives Disney is contracts for content, but those contract are only temporary and good content is still the core competency of Disney. It wouldn't surprise me if Disney proposed the original deal with the expectation that they would need to sell off Hulu to a competitor in order to get the political capital for approval for the rest of the deal.
- josephpmay 8y ago
  Hearsay, but... I’ve heard that last year Disney blocked an attempt from Apple to buy Hulu, which suggests that it is still pretty important to them
  - slg 8y ago
    Which would still fit in with my theory that they plan to sacrifice it to secure the rest of the sale. They won't get any political capital for selling Hulu until it comes up in negotiations with regulators.
  - realaz8282 8y ago
    Or it was important to Disney that Apple not have Hulu
  - iainmerrick 8y ago
    I’m curious, how would they go about blocking it?
    - syshum 8y ago
      Disney Owns 30% of Hulu today, Fox owns 30% and Comcast owns 30% If either Disney or Comcast buys Fox will become 60% owner, however being a 30% owner is likely enough power to have enough influence to block a sale to Apple..
paul7986 8y ago
Comcast just wants to be hated more by consumers... I mean Disney owns Marvel and as fan they need to control/movie rights to X-men, Deadpool, etc. I’d love to see a Wolverine vs. Hulk type of movie.
- ghaff 8y ago
  It's entirely possible that we're at peak superhero and/or Marvel superhero. But, sadly, probably not given that it's the sort of thing that works well in international markets.
  - oblio 8y ago
    There's an overabundance of super hero movies, but I'm not sure they'll ever go away, unlike Westerns. There's waaay too much source material, and waaaay too varied for it to not become a constant genre. And since now we actually have the special effects to present things properly, the draw will always be there.
    - megaman22 8y ago
      Have westerns gone away? I recently started Netflix, and there seems to be an enormous number of TV series and second-tier new movies that are western-themed available there.
      - krageon 8y ago
        This is no doubt Netflix in the US? Internationally, I've not picked up such a trend.
        ghaff 8y ago
        Westworld (HBO) isn't a Western per se but it is a Western setting (exclusively so in S1). Godless. Longmire. It's definitely not the staple that it was at one time in the US but it's certainly not extinct. Which is what I meant by my upthread comment. I don't expect or wish superhero movies to go extinct. I'm sure they won't as they have antecedents that are literally ancient. (Greek, at least, mythology.) I just wish there wan't such a glut of them and that they didn't tend to incorporate so many of the annoying features of typical modern action movies.
matt-attack 8y ago
I read that, as part of this latest bid, Comcast would be covering the breakup fee owed to Disney.
personlurking 8y ago
I'm always amazed when a person has the knowledge to make these types of comments. Kudos

dragonwriter 8y ago

> Disney lawyers will probably find some event to use to justify yanking the Marvel rights from Comcast if this deal goes through. Probably not that hard; licensing deals very often have change of ownership clauses exactly to prevent someone purchasing the licenses to get the license without the licensor having a say.

InTheArena 8y ago
The Marvel contract has proven remarkably difficult to deal with, and there are empires that have been funded in Florida as disney tries to find a way to undo it.
- coderdude 8y ago
  Quite possibly the most interesting comment in this thread but no details. I'd much rather hear about the incredible hoops Disney may be jumping through to make all this work. I've always been fascinated by Disney's vast array of businesses spawned in Florida to take care of their interests. Really wish you'd have shared more insight if you have any.
  - ksec 8y ago
    Excuses my ignorance.... Why Florida?
    - coderdude 8y ago
      Florida is where Disney World is. It's huge. Bigger than you might imagine. That is, their stake in the surrounding area is much larger than the theme parks they operate. It's said that they control whole counties.
    - InTheArena 8y ago
      Disney wants to open up Marvel themed parks (gates)both at Disney Land and at Disney World. Disney Land (in California) is severely space restricted, so it may end up only being a "land" (or subsection) of the existing California adventures park. In orlando they have plenty of space, but the contract for Universal (who is owned by Comcast) keeps disney from using a ton of marvel IP.
  - giancarlostoro 8y ago
    Universal Studios owns a contract to Marvel that basically disallows Disney to do any Marvel COMIC shows or rides because their parks are just close enough (within 100 miles or something) to Universals parks to be part of the clause. Disney cannot cancel the contract in order for Disney to buy it out it has to be negotiated under Universals terms as well. I have a relative that works at Universal Studios who explained this to me. The only thing Disney can do is new marvel characters probably and stuff based off Marvel movies. I don't think the contract has an expiration date either... Marvel wasn't doing too good back in the day you could say.

slg 8y ago

>Hulu is one of the crown jewels here. Maybe for Comcast, but I doubt it is for Disney. Disney already purchased BAMTech which handles streaming for MLB, HBO, ESPN, League Of Legends, and many others. They have been working towards using that technology for a Disney streaming service that will debut sometime in 2019. That company is already closing in on Hulu in terms of value and would make integrating Hulu's tech and employees difficult. The only real value Hulu gives Disney is contracts for content, but those contract are only temporary and good content is still the core competency of Disney. It wouldn't surprise me if Disney proposed the original deal with the expectation that they would need to sell off Hulu to a competitor in order to get the political capital for approval for the rest of the deal.

josephpmay 8y ago
Hearsay, but... I’ve heard that last year Disney blocked an attempt from Apple to buy Hulu, which suggests that it is still pretty important to them
- slg 8y ago
  Which would still fit in with my theory that they plan to sacrifice it to secure the rest of the sale. They won't get any political capital for selling Hulu until it comes up in negotiations with regulators.
- realaz8282 8y ago
  Or it was important to Disney that Apple not have Hulu
- iainmerrick 8y ago
  I’m curious, how would they go about blocking it?
  - syshum 8y ago
    Disney Owns 30% of Hulu today, Fox owns 30% and Comcast owns 30% If either Disney or Comcast buys Fox will become 60% owner, however being a 30% owner is likely enough power to have enough influence to block a sale to Apple..

paul7986 8y ago

Comcast just wants to be hated more by consumers... I mean Disney owns Marvel and as fan they need to control/movie rights to X-men, Deadpool, etc. I’d love to see a Wolverine vs. Hulk type of movie.

ghaff 8y ago
It's entirely possible that we're at peak superhero and/or Marvel superhero. But, sadly, probably not given that it's the sort of thing that works well in international markets.
- oblio 8y ago
  There's an overabundance of super hero movies, but I'm not sure they'll ever go away, unlike Westerns. There's waaay too much source material, and waaaay too varied for it to not become a constant genre. And since now we actually have the special effects to present things properly, the draw will always be there.
  - megaman22 8y ago
    Have westerns gone away? I recently started Netflix, and there seems to be an enormous number of TV series and second-tier new movies that are western-themed available there.
    - krageon 8y ago
      This is no doubt Netflix in the US? Internationally, I've not picked up such a trend.
      - ghaff 8y ago
        Westworld (HBO) isn't a Western per se but it is a Western setting (exclusively so in S1). Godless. Longmire. It's definitely not the staple that it was at one time in the US but it's certainly not extinct. Which is what I meant by my upthread comment. I don't expect or wish superhero movies to go extinct. I'm sure they won't as they have antecedents that are literally ancient. (Greek, at least, mythology.) I just wish there wan't such a glut of them and that they didn't tend to incorporate so many of the annoying features of typical modern action movies.

matt-attack 8y ago

I read that, as part of this latest bid, Comcast would be covering the breakup fee owed to Disney.

personlurking 8y ago

I'm always amazed when a person has the knowledge to make these types of comments. Kudos