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Fox in talks to sell to Disney


The Frog

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So, now that the bidding war seems to be over, what will Disney do with all the assets? Keep the channels the same (names, content, etc) or not? Studio run separate and named different? Will be interesting. Hope they don't pull the plug on some of the shows being produced.

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So, now that the bidding war seems to be over, what will Disney do with all the assets? Keep the channels the same (names, content, etc) or not? Studio run separate and named different? Will be interesting. Hope they don't pull the plug on some of the shows being produced.

 

Well, there are two possibilities on what would happen to the 20th Century Fox brand name should the deal be approved on the 27th: either Disney would keep it as a brand and movie studio or Disney would merge 20th Century Fox Film and the currently-inactive Touchstone Pictures into a new movie label/studio called either--get this--

or--get this--21st Century Touchstone. Disney would fold 20th Century Fox Television into ABC Studios, 20th Television into Disney-ABC Home Entertainment and Television Distribution, Fox 21 Television Studios into ABC Signature, and 20th Century Fox Television Distribution into Disney Media Distribution. Oh, and Disney--if it merges 20th and Touchstone into 20th or 21st Century Touchstone--might rename Fox Searchlight by dropping the Fox reference. That is, in case only New Fox would continue to carry the Fox brand name.

 

lick
for what the closing logo sequence for The Simpsons would look like in fall 2019, should the Disney-21CF deal be approved. My apologies to those who believed that I was going off the topic.
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  • 4 weeks later...

I think were now down to just the tech giants (Google and Amazon) those who already own some of the RSNs (AT&T and Comcast) and if a broadcast group gets the RSNs it'll come down to a group like Hearst (they may have to sell their stake in ESPN depending upon how the DOJ feels about Hearst owning the RSNs and their stake in ESPN), TEGNA and Nexstar. But as of right now I think Google ends up with the RSNs

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Yeah, Sinclair owns Stadium and the Tennis Channel, but they are also in a lot of legal and financial shit right now.

 

And why would Amazon or Google want the RSNs? Unless it’s solely as a launchpad to create a non-linear platform for all those networks (which would result in a major boon for them; see what happened when Jeff Bezos bought the Washington Post) that’s like an automobile company in 1918 buying up the last remaining horse-and-buggy manufacturers. Google could use them as an exclusive linchpin for YouTubeTV and rewrite the rules on content delivery.

 

Thing is, someone has to buy those networks.

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Yeah, Sinclair owns Stadium and the Tennis Channel, but they are also in a lot of legal and financial shit right now.

 

And why would Amazon or Google want the RSNs? Unless it’s solely as a launchpad to create a non-linear platform for all those networks (which would result in a major boon for them; see what happened when Jeff Bezos bought the Washington Post) that’s like an automobile company in 1918 buying up the last remaining horse-and-buggy manufacturers. Google could use them as an exclusive linchpin for YouTubeTV and rewrite the rules on content delivery.

 

Thing is, someone has to buy those networks.

Also, Google/Amazon would still have to deal with providers like DIRECTV (AT&T), Dish Network, and other Linear TV cable providers, even though they can use these 22 FSNs as a launching pad for something bigger for their streaming platforms

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Is Disney interested in handing a tech giant a tool it could use to later kill them?

It'd be foolish if Disney did that but, by the same token Comcast or a media company (like Hearst, Nexstar or TEGNA) could very well do the same as well. So, really its a lose-lose situation

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I think were now down to just the tech giants (Google and Amazon) those who already own some of the RSNs (AT&T and Comcast) and if a broadcast group gets the RSNs it'll come down to a group like Hearst (they may have to sell their stake in ESPN depending upon how the DOJ feels about Hearst owning the RSNs and their stake in ESPN), TEGNA and Nexstar. But as of right now I think Google ends up with the RSNs

 

I feel like AT&T is the perfect fit because they already attained some of the previous RSNs with the acquisition of DirecTV.

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I feel like AT&T is the perfect fit because they already attained some of the previous RSNs with the acquisition of DirecTV.

AT&T would most definitely purchase all or parts of the 22 RSNs if they weren't tied up in their battle with the DOJ over Time Warner

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It'd be foolish if Disney did that but, by the same token Comcast or a media company (like Hearst, Nexstar or TEGNA) could very well do the same as well. So, really its a lose-lose situation

Okay, Tegna, Hearst and Nexstar are not buying these RSNs. Let’s put a stop to that immediately. Those RSNs are too expensive and loss leaders with all of the local play-by-play contracts they command... it would be utterly foolish for any of those chains to think of buying them. (That Hearst has a 20% stake in ESPN is a non sequiter.)

 

Is Disney interested in handing a tech giant a tool it could use to later kill them?

Money talks.

 

And wasn’t it a year ago that the Speculatron was going nuts over rumors of an Apple-Disney merger?

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Okay, Tegna, Hearst and Nexstar are not buying these RSNs. Let’s put a stop to that immediately. Those RSNs are too expensive and loss leaders with all of the local play-by-play contracts they command... it would be utterly foolish for any of those chains to think of buying them. (That Hearst has a 20% stake in ESPN is a non sequiter.)

Well look at it this if there is a media company that even attempts to purchase the RSNs, it's not going to be Sinclair. Period.

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Well look at it this if there is a media company that even attempts to purchase the RSNs, it's not going to be Sinclair. Period.

That would rule out any OTA broadcast conglomerate, because there is no reason whatsoever why Tegna, Nexstar or Hearst would want them or could afford them.

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That would rule out any OTA broadcast conglomerate, because there is no reason whatsoever why Tegna, Nexstar or Hearst would want them or could afford them.

 

Hearst maybe, but Nexstar only want them if they got Tribune. If Tegna were still operating NWCN and TXCN, I could have seen them trying to get the RSNs.

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So, maybe the RSNs will end up just going away.

Not when virtually all professional sports franchises in the United States depend on revenue from those play-by-play TV contracts in order to play players’ salaries.

 

Why do you think your cable bill is that high? It’s in part because of RSNs demanding that money so they, in turn, can pay the sports teams the contract money to carry the games.

 

They are total loss leaders, but someone is going to buy them. It just won’t be a terrestrial broadcast chain. Simple as that.

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Hearst maybe, but Nexstar only want them if they got Tribune. If Tegna were still operating NWCN and TXCN, I could have seen them trying to get the RSNs.

The current Tegna’s only experience with an RSN was when Gannett operated SportsTime Ohio, but that was only for the first 2-3 years of that RSNs existence and was controlled by the Cleveland Indians Baseball Company anyway (who wound up selling the RSN to Fox as it just didn’t work for them).

 

Nexstar would be taking on a ton of debt to get Tribune. If they did that and decided to get the RSNs it would totally cripple the company. Perry Sook can’t be that stupid.

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Is Disney interested in handing a tech giant a tool it could use to later kill them?

 

Disney already owns the company that's contracted to handle the web streaming distribution of MLB and NHL telecasts (among other things), which make up a bulk of most RSN broadcasts.

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