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Fox in talks to sell to Disney


The Frog

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I thought Fox was technically still the owner of the RSN's and would receive the proceeds.

 

The way the consent decree is set up, Disney will buy the RSNs (and run them separately from ESPN and their local TV/radio stations) and then turn around and immediately sell them (or, failing that, put any of them in a trust), thus keeping the profits.

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I've always been somewhat baffled that they'd get rid of them, given that they're hanging on to FS1/FS2. (I also don't think the Fox College Sports Atlantic/Central/Pacific channels were a part of the Disney sale either.)

 

IMO, I think their best option would be to keep all the sports properties with an eye towards potentially spinning off the Fox Sports Media Group as a stand-alone company. (Further, that company should look to expand as a pure-play sports media company, possibly by buying Sports Illustrated from Meredith.)

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Might as well. Disney can't have them, and the list of buyers is not entirely palatable.

 

I'm puzzled as to why Fox would sell them ... then buy them back. Wouldn't it make more sense to restructure the initial deal to remove the RSNs in the first place?

 

To re-write the original deal, Disney and Fox would have to change the cost, get another approval from shareholders, and go back to the Justice Department and overhaul the consent decree. This would be an administrative hurdle that no one appears to want at this point, especially since Fox is only discussing the possibility at this point.

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  • 4 months later...
43 minutes ago, oknewsguy said:

That only leaves Sinclair as the only bidder for 21 of the 22 FSNs (with Fox pulling out, it's now more than likely that the Yankees will buy back the YES Network) otherwise the RSNs will likely have to go piecemeal

 

Yankees already assumed full ownership of YES after the sale was approved. Their partnership with Fox had language that allowed them to take back Fox's stakes in the network if something like this happened.

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11 minutes ago, WCAUTVNBC10 said:

 

Yankees already assumed full ownership of YES after the sale was approved. Their partnership with Fox had language that allowed them to take back Fox's stakes in the network if something like this happened.

The point is though, it just makes it now definite that the Yankees will buy YES back. Even if New Fox decided to buy the RSNs back, I still think that the Yankees would still have boughten YES back, so either way, it's just not the matter of if but when.

 

And actually, that might be the other reason Fox pulled out because as it is the RSN business was slow growth. If New Fox had boughten the RSNs back without YES, it would be an even slower growth and it would drag down Fox's bottom line.

 

6 minutes ago, channel2 said:

How is Sinclair supposed to afford the Fox Sports Nets? I have no clue how they can afford any of this. They went from the verge of bankruptcy to a rabid buyer in roughly two years and I don't hear much about that.

From the reports I read back in November, Sinclair DID submit a bid for all 22 FSNs but the bankers who are holding proceedings of the RSN sales thought that Sinclair's bid was a low one at best

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2 hours ago, oknewsguy said:

The point is though, it just makes it now definite that the Yankees will buy YES back. Even if New Fox decided to buy the RSNs back, I still think that the Yankees would still have boughten YES back, so either way, it's just not the matter of if but when.

Yeah you missed what I was saying. They already did just that back in November. I do stand corrected that they haven't closed the deal as of yet from what I see.

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On 1/11/2019 at 9:34 PM, WCAUTVNBC10 said:

Yeah you missed what I was saying. They already did just that back in November. I do stand corrected that they haven't closed the deal as of yet from what I see.

 

Actually NY media has not reported a deal is done with the Yankees have bought back YES.  It is reported they are looking for a partner, with both Amazon and Sinclair (NFW) interested in partnering.  Even when the Yankees launched YES, they had a partner from the investment community.

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From the NY Post, a source told the paper that the DOJ might allow Disney to "spin-off" the Fox RSNs into a brand new entity where Disney wouldn't have operational control, instead of going through a fire sale process.

 

This would be better than giving the entities directly to Sinclair.

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1 hour ago, CircleSeven said:

From the NY Post, a source told the paper that the DOJ might allow Disney to "spin-off" the Fox RSNs into a brand new entity where Disney wouldn't have operational control, instead of going through a fire sale process,

 

This would be better than giving the entities directly to Sinclair.

I wonder, would the DoJ allow said potential spinoff company to maintain a marketing agreement with New Fox, allowing them to retain the Fox Sports branding and close ties with the rest of the Fox Sports entities? (I'm not sure if they'd *want* to do so, but that's what I'd prefer to see.)

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8 hours ago, LoadStar said:

I wonder, would the DoJ allow said potential spinoff company to maintain a marketing agreement with New Fox, allowing them to retain the Fox Sports branding and close ties with the rest of the Fox Sports entities? (I'm not sure if they'd *want* to do so, but that's what I'd prefer to see.)

It's highly doubtful Disney would enter into any agreement with New Fox as it wouldn't make sense for Fox to do it when they announced a few days ago that they weren't bidding for the RSNs.

 

Here's what I can tell you is that by the time MLB season begins all 21 or 22 Fox Regional Sports Networks will operate under either Sinclair or under a company with ties to Disney (which means that the FSNs will still rebrand as ESPN RSNs) one notable exception might be the YES Network

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7 hours ago, oknewsguy said:

It's highly doubtful Disney would enter into any agreement with New Fox as it wouldn't make sense for Fox to do it when they announced a few days ago that they weren't bidding for the RSNs.

 

Here's what I can tell you is that by the time MLB season begins all 21 or 22 Fox Regional Sports Networks will operate under either Sinclair or under a company with ties to Disney (which means that the FSNs will still rebrand as ESPN RSNs) one notable exception might be the YES Network

 

Highly unlikely this company would be intertwined to Disney in such a manor to have the ESPN branding, as what is being mooted is a spinoff of the RSNs to Disney shareholders. The Murdochs (as this would be after the completion of the main deal) would be the only major non-investment bank shareholders these companies would have in common.

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16 hours ago, AmericanErrorist said:

 

Highly unlikely this company would be intertwined to Disney in such a manor to have the ESPN branding, as what is being mooted is a spinoff of the RSNs to Disney shareholders. The Murdochs (as this would be after the completion of the main deal) would be the only major non-investment bank shareholders these companies would have in common.

Either way it's likely the biggest surprise of this whole thing and quite frankly I blame this on both Justice and Disney for being in the position they are now (Disney for not fighting the DOJ in order to keep the RSNs and Justice not targeting something that could net Disney the most money from the divestitures as the RSNs if Disney were to sell all of them together, they would lose billions of dollars just in a fire sale alone) now granted Disney would have too much influence on sports programming having ownership of both ESPN and the FSNs but the fact that big name companies like Fox and Comcast dropping out the way they did should alarm those that currently own the RSNs (such as Comcast and AT&T) and even in Sports Broadcasting in general that the Sports Broadcasting bubble is much closer to bursting than what it was a year ago, or even two years ago.

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On 1/15/2019 at 5:54 AM, CircleSeven said:

From the NY Post, a source told the paper that the DOJ might allow Disney to "spin-off" the Fox RSNs into a brand new entity where Disney wouldn't have operational control, instead of going through a fire sale process.

 

This would be better than giving the entities directly to Sinclair.

It is possible. I can imagine this: Fox Sports Regional Networks to revert name to Prime Sports.

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On 1/16/2019 at 5:54 PM, DonDonP1 said:

It is possible. I can imagine this: Fox Sports Regional Networks to revert name to Prime Sports.

That'd be one possibility but we'll have a much better idea on what will happen to the FSNs no later than early February (even though Disney wants to have that buyer identified by the end of February.

 

Keep in mind the only bidder right now for all or some of the 22 FSNs is Sinclair (in a joint bid with CVC) so, right now the ball is at the 10-yard line and its 1st & Goal

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