Comcast Pulls Out Of Fox Bidding Clearing Way For Disney Acquisition

A huge relief was felt in Burbank this morning after Comcast announced it was pulling out of a high stakes bidding war for most of 21st Century Fox’s assets to focus on a separate transaction for UK broadcaster Sky.

In a simple statement the company noted, ““Comcast does not intend to pursue further the acquisition of the Twenty-First Century Fox assets and, instead, will focus on our recommended offer for Sky.”  This paves the way for the Walt Disney Company to bring 20th Century Fox, Fox Searchlight, FX, NatGeo and a controlling interest in Hulu into the fold.  Oh, yes, and bringing all your favorite mutant characters under Marvel Studios’ purview.

In a separate statement, Comcast CEO Brian Roberts noted, “I’d like to congratulate Bob Iger and the team at Disney and commend the Murdoch family and Fox for creating such a desirable and respected company.”  Of course, Roberts helped line the coffers of the Murdochs by forcing Disney to substantially increase its initial offer from $52.4 billion in cash and stock to $71.3 billion.  So, there has to certainly be some satisfaction in making the deal a bit more painful for their Mouse House competition.

READ MORE: Kevin Feige says Fox characters won’t join MCU for a handful of years after deal is done

With the Department of Justice already signaling their approval, the Disney acquisition should be sealed on July 27 when shareholders for both companies vote on the deal.  Outstanding questions remain about potential layoffs, but there is significantly less overlap than if Comcast had acquired the assets which is a minor silver lining.  Additionally, Disney will need to sell Fox Sports Regional Networks (Prime Ticket, Fox Sports West, YES) to avoid DOJ litigation.  With few major players in the national sports broadcasting business with ESPN and FOX out of the picture, Disney may be forced to sell substantially below the networks market value.

It’s unclear how long it will take for Disney to fully make its mark on its new assets.  Will Searchlight act as a standalone unit as rumored?  How will 20th Century Fox move forward?  Will 20th Chairman Stacy Snider remain in the fold?  What changes will Disney make to Hulu with their own standalone streaming service launching next year?  Will Disney give FX the money to avoid losing content creators to Netflix?  And on the flip side, how will the FOX network move forward with their number one content pipeline, Fox Television Studios, no longer under their control?  What 20th Century Fox franchises will Disney’s parks embrace first?  Will Disney’s marketing power breathe new life into the upcoming “Avatar” sequels?  And, yes, what control will Marvel Studios take over “planned” titles such as “X-Force” and the long delayed “New Mutants”?  Can Kevin Feige convince superstars such as Jennifer Lawrence to remain in a new Marvel Universe under Marvel Studios creative control?   Will NatGeo continue their jump into narrative content such as the Emmy-nominated “Genius”?

The only answer we know so far is it’s going to be quite a bumpy ride.