Quote:
Originally Posted by Jayfar
Takeover battle: Disney/Fox reach $71B deal, blowing away Comcast | Philly.com
In a surprisingly aggressive preemptive strike, the Walt Disney Co. reached a new agreement to buy the entertainment assets of 21st Century Fox for $71 billion in cash and stock, topping Comcast Corp.’s $65 billion all cash offer.
Disney’s new offer is 36 percent higher than the one it reached with Fox in December.
The announcement comes as Comcast had made it clear that it would like the Fox assets to expand globally and add to its content library — the same aims as Disney.
Comcast had no immediate comment.
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As a cord-cutter, this is probably the best thing for consumers. Disney is launching it's own rival Netflix OTT app sometime next year that, if this merger goes through, will include: live streaming of all cable channels owned by Disney/Fox (FX, FXX, Disney Channel, Fox Sports regional channels); a vast library of already produced original content for Disney/Fox/Lucasfilm/Marvel/ABC movies and television shows that they will fully control; new content exclusive to this OTT app (similar to Netflix originals); oh and this small thing you may have heard about called ESPN.
Combined with Netfllix - for around $25/mth - this is going to be enough content for most people to handle. I think this will further accelerate the cord cutting phenomenon.
Comcast is still in decent shape b/c it owns a ton of the pipes across the country - a brilliant investment that at this point is basically straight cash homey - but will be at a massive disadvantage from a content standpoint and since investors still see it as a "Cable" company will worry about stock price sliding as their subs continue to dwindle.