The Disney-Fox Deal Will Finalize in March After All

Disney-Fox
Recently, there were some concerns that progress on the Disney-Fox merger would be stalled by the governments of Mexico and Brazil, both of which had concerns about the merger. This suggested that the merger, on-track to wrap up in March (Disney’s projection), would be pushed back to June (Fox’s projection) or later. However, Disney has made the necessary concessions and their acquisition of Fox is looking like it will still happen next month.

 

According to Deadline, the Disney-Fox corporate marriage is all but complete, thanks to Mexico and Brazil alike signaling that they’re about to give both companies the thumbs-up to proceed with their massive international merger. The big point of contention in both Latin American nations concerned Disney-Fox having access to both ESPN and Fox Sports, which would give them significant control over the sports market in regions where association football (read: soccer) coverage reigns supreme. Disney opted to provide concessions on the Fox Sports end of things, and is willing to divest with it to complete the merger ahead of Fox’s schedule.

 

The concerns that both Brazil and Mexico had actually line up with the ones facing the Disney-Fox merger in the United States. That resulted in a decision that Disney would have to divest some of the sports channels that Disney would gain from 21st Century Fox within a few months of the deal taking place. The so-called “New Fox” company (made up of the assets that weren’t sold) are likely to buy them back, given that their focus is less on entertainment now and more on news and sports, although other buyers are likely to compete for these networks as well. In all honesty, it’s not all that surprising to see the same situation play out in a different corner of the world, and the sooner that this merger happens, the sooner that Fox will be able to roll out new movies that aren’t already on their slate.