Old media buying old media
The week after old telco buys old media
So excited to see their innovation!
3
How in the world do our regulators let this happen? It’s monopolizing an industry and nothing less. It’s against everything capitalism stands for. Where’s the competition? Competition was meant to be between numerous companies and not just a few behemoths. But that’s what many of our industries are becoming. This is not in the best interest of the consumer. But the consumer seems to have been lost somewhere in the modern age of mergers and acquisitions. It raises prices by lowering competition. It invites abuse and results in lower customer satisfaction. After all, if you’re the only game in town then where else is the customer going to go? Alas, we live in the New Gilded Age where the average person doesn’t matter.
13
OK, we have Elizabeth Warren speaking of breaking up the large monopolies. Something most Progressives want. The brainless FTC has approved of AT&T merger with Time Warner and now Disney gobbling Fox.
Does this country never learn? Oops! Sorry, I forgot. No doubt , a LOT of big shots are getting paid off to approve this. A lot of money is changing hands, at our expense.
Brought to you by the folks who brought you ‘the Telecommunications Act.’ Which paved the way for the issue of Net Neutrality, something we would NOT need if it wasn’t for the Telecommunications Act.
Once again the consumer looses. How long must this go on? Elizabeth Warren, can I vote today?
19
I used to visit Disney world quite a bit. Its tilt to the right bothered me early on, when the Christian Right took over the park on certain nights. Now our divorce is complete. Making Murdoch richer has signed the papers. Bye-bye to the Mickey Mouse outfit.
11
It will all be good if Disney releases the original, unaltered versions of the first three Star Wars films on digital and Blu-ray, now that it presumably has the full rights to do so.
1
Unanswered is the only relevant question: is the payout to the old man from Iger and Co. in the form of shares in Disney? If so, Murdoch's malevolent reach actually got larger, not smaller.
So before some of you do your happy dance, consider that possibility.
5
@Unworthy Servant
I find it interesting that Sheryl Sandberg(COO of Facebook) is on the Board of Directors for Disney
5
What happened to antitrust and anti-competitive behavior? There is this misunderstanding that 'market economics' just let's businesses do what they want to, but an efficient market needs to have competition and regulations to counter the market failures, such as market power or lack of competition. The standard competition model presumes there are a LARGE NUMBER of SMALL entrepreneurs - we don't see that in most industries these days.
10
Hopefully they'll close (or completely revamp) Fox News.
@Don Jones Disney didn't buy that division.
3
@Don Jones
Rupert Murdoch still owns Fox News.
Disney does own ABC but ABC mostly provides television services to local news stations.
1
Just renew The Orville, whatever you do, Disney/Fox!
Why on earth was Paul Ryan rewarded with a seat on the board??????????????????????????????
Something is rotten in the Magic Kingdom!
11
@Grittenhouse Something is rotten at FOX, not the Magic Kingdom - Ryan is moving onto the Board at FOX - OMG! Ryan became so accustomed to disinformation as a lacky of Trump that he now can help spread the disinformation of Fox.
6
Whoaa!
Reminds me of the mega merger of AOL and Time Warner. Movies, cable, Internet, magazines. Remember how that was supposed to change everything?
Prediction: the final product will be worth less than the sum of its parts.
3
One would imagine that with that kind of money available they probably could have been paying their Disneyland employees a real living wage all along? It truly makes no sense. Why wouldn't they want to respect and reward the wonderful people that run the"happiest place on earth" for them? It's basic decency. And the employees seem to love the place and should be paid a good living wage. They should no have had to fight for minimum wage. It's beyond ridiculous.
5
This is a clear monopoly, with far too wide-ranging tentacles. Break the Mouse up!
5
Did you see Ryan cashed in his chip right quick - now on the board of this mess. His experience in entertainment or business being zero, he should be a HUGE asset to the company. /s
13
How much taxes will be paid by the Murdochs as they slither away with $12 billion "profit"? I'm betting none.
10
My kid is 21, the Mouse is officially outta my house! No more Disney channel. No more Disney movies. It's been that way for a while now. Disney is just denying the inevitable with this merger.
2
Target #3 for breakup under anti-trust laws.
#1 AT&T- content or distribution
#2 Comcast- content or distribution
#3 Disney -content monopoly
And add in an investigation to see if they have operated as a cartel with forced bundling of channels.
16
Now if we can just hold onto our jobs through yet another merger says the middle aged guy who works in the cable business living with this news. Corporate America is coming for all of us and we don't stand a chance. My greatest generation parents can't believe what has happened to America...neither can I. Just trying to feed your family is becoming a high wire act...with no net so it feels like.
19
Is there any chance Mickey Mouse or any of the Seven Dwarfs could join Fox News?
5
@mary Snow White was offered a position, but she refused to bleach her hair.
9
@Loren Grimes But Dopey said he felt he would fit right in...
4
@mary
I thought Grumpy and Dopey were already there.
3
Watch out, folks. In Hollywood it is known that the DIsney
people are absolutely the worst employers in Hollywood.
They are an unethical bunch in all ways.And anyone who has
ever had anything to to do with Disney will back me upon this.
So watch out folks. Be prepared for some shady practices on
the part of Disney/Fox that will certainly not benefit the poor consumer.
21
I believe Mickey has too many broomsticks fetching too much water! There is no wizard to save them.
9
The mouse has emerged as a media/entertainment giant. Bigger than a dinosaur. Hopefully Disney will not follow the lifecycle of the dinosaur. Too big to fail? We shall see.
1
RE: "The Murdochs are expected to receive roughly $12 billion in proceeds from the Disney deal, according to Bloomberg."
So evil, if not crime, does pay!
29
@Marie let’s rephrase this: “Some billionaires are expected to receive billions from other billionaires, according to a billionaire.”
2
The question is are they going to fix fox...?
1
Do they own the propaganda machine or just the entertainment side?
1
RIF. (Reading is fundamental - it’s right there in the article!)
2
@Mathias "since Mr. Murdoch retained ownership of the Fox broadcast network, a chain of local Fox television stations and his crown jewel, Fox News. Those businesses, along with the FS1 sports channel, were rolled into a new publicly traded company, Fox Corporation, on Tuesday."
Holy cow Mickey. You really are the Wizard!
If you believe "franchises" equal entertainment, this is for you.
If you believe monopolies are good for creativity, competition, wealth and the economy, this is for you.
Hey America! Yea, you with the loopy grin,rotating unpayable credit card debt, comicbook-lovin', low to middle income: meet your future. Cookie cutter bland time waste, tailor-made for world wide consumption lacking dialogue, plot, meaning, but Hella special effects. It's the Budweiser of entertainment: sells a lot and is worth nothing.
36
@AG
What 60s high school viewpoint of comicbooks do you have. Since its clearly not the actual Entire Media of work that created things like Monstress, or a character like Kamilia Khan, or the orgins of fightin against corrupted corporations that Superman has, and lets not forgot the slow build horror or Synder. Actually learn about something before you insult it.
👍 to eveything else you were getting at tho.
Expect the worse. Hope for the best. Maybe they'll shut down Fox News.
3
@Ron you need to read the article. They do not own Fox News. Murdoch kept it.
8
@Jessica So he gets to keep destroying our democracy with his tainted, poisonous well of "news."
1
Does this mean we'll see the real Mickey Mouse on Fox News now instead of all the imitators currently there?
1
Years ago the joke was that pretty soon there'd be just one company, DisneySoft, running it all. Are we there yet?
7
I can't be happy about another merger and an already huge company becoming more of a monopoly. In other times this acquisition might not have been allowed. Too bad Disney did not also acquire Fox News, fire everyone on it, and vow to be a channel for truth.
37
@CJ. Disney would not have rehabilitated Fox. Disney is also very right wing.
1
One tiny thing very few people outside of people who show older films will know. Disney has a policy of not allowing any theaters to show any older films in their library. Theaters, museums and other specialized film venues fear that everything from SUNRISE to
THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL will not be available to screen. Likewise Fox had taken great pride in recent years in restoring their early films in particular and making them available , Disney is notorious for not working with others on preservation and especially showings of their older films.
13
It was difficult to convince friends to watch Disney movies prior to this, now it will be impossible.
I will continue to refuse to stream movies, and only buy discs.
NPR isn't helping, by constantly reviewing movies which are available in streaming only. These are what my friends always ask to see. NPR is part of the problem.
1
Let us see Murdoch destroy his news business now. His stars have been taking significant hits recently.
1
We can only hope that Disney has learned to be different companies to different constituents/eyes...
In the past, Disney = Liberal/LA vs. FOX = Right Wing/NY-UK. Although I truly believe in terms of programming, the reverse is true. Years ago Disney started Touchstone for "edgier" films that they thought couldn't be part of the Mouse. Now they have the vehicles to do it all.. Hopefully they will keep the adult fare and ditch the the dumb-down propertied of both companies.
Mickey is probably grateful for the newly formed Fox Corporation, otherwise his contract would have had him appearing regularly on Fox News.
2
Not too shabby for a little mouse called Mortimer that was going nowhere fast!!
Keep up the family entertainment!
Walt would be impressed
Why was Paul Ryan added? The Republicans have lost power in the House. They will soon lose power in the Senate and the Presidency. Does Murdoch miss the Titanic?
12
"It is now an entertainment colossus the size of which the world has never seen."
Unless you include Netflix, Amazon, Apple, Google, and Facebook.
Every time I read the angst in these stories, I'm reminded of how worried people where about Blockbuster's monopoly status in 2004.
Don't fight the last war. The issue going forward is dominance of the FAANGs and mergers in old media to compete with these new media companies are not a bad thing. Apple has more cash on hand than the entire market capitalization of Disney.
18
@James Williams
None of those companies are anywhere near Disney's size in terms of total media assets (including rights to intellectual property, TV and cable networks, production studios, online platforms, etc). Disney owns several times more media assets that all those companies put together. The only thing the tech giants have is well-stablished infrastructure in the relatively new market of online content distribution and also fairly respected brands at this point (particularly Netflix).
Once Disney actually manages to get a viable streaming platform and service up and running they will bury the competition like an avalanche, like a thousand avalanches all at once, with the sheer volume of exclusive content they can offer in comparison to their competition.
Media analysts are right, this is reshaping the landscape of entertainment.
4
@James Williams
Cash ≠ competency.
Apple is soon to be humbled in the entertainment business like other rubes with lots of money to throw around. Hollywood types will always take your money.
1
@Joel
Netflix is synonymous with Streaming as Google is synonymous with Search Engines.
Prepare for anything remotely edgy, adult, or controversial (especially in China) to go away quietly yet completely. Disney simply cannot tolerate the kinds of creative risks that Fox made, making this deal portend a sad future for free expression.
25
@Casey Penk If that's the case, then Amazon Prime and
Netflix can (and will) easily step in to fill the void.
4
We are going back to the late 19th and early 20th century. Monopolies rule and everyone else loses. More formula programing, real talent-writers, actors and so on and will be squeezed out, higher prices and a dumbing down of the culture.
45
@Mott The latter has continued apace for the past 25 years and will continue interminably, regardless of any media deals. For that, we can thank an educational system that prioritizes raising graduation rates or teaching classes on soon-to-be-obsolete computer coding over reading, writing, or civics.
1
@Mott
I seriously doubt there is much room left for additional dumbing down of the culture.
8
@ANDY Don't be pessimistic, there is always room for dumbing down.
5
Paul Ryan joining the board one day before this $71billion deal is very cool and very legal. We love to see it.
9
@Frederic Ryan joined the Board of Fox yesterday when the spinoff closed. He didn't join the Board of Disney. I'll let you get back to Conspiracy Central at the NY Times. I didn't see liberals question Susan Rice joining the Board of Netflix or Obama's Netflix "production" deal, after they left the White House. Would seem like a nice payoff for pushing the bogus Net Neutrality agenda at the FCC, which benefited Netflix. Better yet, not even an investigation when Obama's antitrust team waved through the merger of the world's largest concert promoter (Live Nation) and the world's largest ticketing platform (Ticketmaster). I'm sure Ari Emanuel sprang for the Thanksgiving Turkey that year to thank his brother Rahm.
1
@TL So help me understand your argument because I hope it's not as simple as "liberals did it, so Paul Ryan can do it." Is it Bad or Good when a politician benefits in the private sector from favorable legislation while serving in Congress?
2
@TL So are politicians retiring into mega media corporation boards bad or good? Use that big noodle for me please.
3