The board of 21st Century Fox will meet with Comcast next week to discuss the latest bid to purchase the assets of the former company. With nerd culture bigger than ever and many franchises owned by multinational conglomerates, fandom in recent years has taken to following the ins and outs of various business dealings. This became especially true when 21st Century Fox announced it was selling off many of its film and TV offerings, and Disney swooped in with what seemed like a winning bid. For fans of Marvel, this meant that the X-Men and Fantastic Four might finally join the MCU, but the ink isn’t dry on the deal yet.
Comcast made a bid for Fox recently that outshines the one on the table from Disney. Even if the Disney deal were approved, it would still be some time before it was potentially finalized and any properties could be properly developed at the House of Mouse. With Comcast in the mix, however, it’s far from certain that Marvel will regain some of their most famous characters. And next week, another wrinkle may be added when Comcast and Fox meet face to face.
Variety is reporting that next week will see a meeting between 21st Century Fox and Comcast take place that’s been on the books for some time. But with Comcast’s recent bid, the tenor of the summit will be very different. Already, Fox shareholders are scheduled to vote on the Disney deal on July 10, but if Comcast has their way the results won’t be in their competitor’s favor.
Though the Comcast offer is higher from a monetary standpoint, it’s not quite so simple. The Disney/Fox deal was already one that could have been held up by regulators, but a distributor like Comcast trying to purchase a media company could be more troublesome. The waters of such a deal were recently tested when AT&T’s buyout of Time Warner was approved, so there’s certainly hope for Comcast. But even if things were to work out in the company’s favor, the holdup could be something Fox shareholders will want to avoid.
The other option that’s been bandied about is a split of assets between the two bidders. Comcast seems much more interested in European broadcaster Sky, though Disney certainly has international aims as well. Still, we could see Comcast gain Sky and some other assets while Disney secures things like the rights to Fox’s Marvel characters and some potential other franchises such as Avatar. In a month’s time, everything could very well go Disney’s way, but the meeting next week may also prolong this particular chapter in the entertainment industry.
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Source: Variety
