Disney buying Sky (amongst other things)

[Jericoke]

https://www.engadget.com/2017/12/14/disney-could-soon-own-sky/

Disney is buying 21st Century Fox, which is the parent company of Fox Stuidos (X-Men, The Simpsons, Planet of the Apes, distribution rights to Star Wars), numerous sports channels, and Sky TV.  (The deal does not include Fox News nor the American broadcast network).

Obviously in the context of F1, since ESPN (also owned by Disney) has American TV rights, and Sky has British (and other areas) TV rights, then that's a concentration of programming.  I would assume that this mega company would produce a single broadcast for all their English speaking markets. 

(The Canadian rights are held by TSN, which is 50% ESPN (therefore Disney), and 50% Bell Canada, so presumably we'll end up with whatever ESPN does)

I would imagine that we're looking at a few possibilities. 

• There is less competition for TV rights, so the money Liberty gets from Disney may drop
• There is an economy of scale:  Disney can produce a single show for millions of viewers, bringing greater quality and therefore improving the value of the product, and F1 attracts fans, sponsors and money
• Disney may decide to just buy F1 from Liberty.  I don't know what Liberty's goals for F1 are, but if Disney is willing to up the stake 10%, then I'm sure they'd sell out in a heartbeat

[cosworth151]

I wonder how the anti-trust folks down here will look at this, especially merging ESPN and Fox Sports.

[lkjohnson1950]

Don't think the deal includes Fox Sports. That would be part of the American TV network, wouldn't it? Some comedian remarked that it would make John McLane (Die Hard) a Disney Princess. 

[cosworth151]

According to the N.Y. Time, it would include all of them except for FS1.

Under the current contours of the discussions, which could always hit a last-minute snag, Disney would buy the 20th Century Fox movie and television studios; 22 regional cable networks dedicated to sports; Fox’s stake in the Hulu streaming service; cable networks like FX and National Geographic; and stakes in two behemoth overseas television-service providers, Sky of Britain and Star of India.

That would leave Mr. Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox with three properties: Fox News, the relatively young FS1 cable sports channel, and a broadcasting unit formed by the Fox network and local TV stations.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/12/business/media/disney-21st-century-fox.html

[Jericoke]

I wonder how the anti-trust folks down here will look at this, especially merging ESPN and Fox Sports.

The same FCC that is going to allow multi tiered data throttling for Comcast (i.e, the end of 'net neutrality')?  I don't see them stopping Fox News from making a few billion dollars.

Politics aside, my understanding is that the Fox Sports channels are seen as 'regional' and ESPN as 'national', and thus not the same thing.

[cosworth151]

It would be as much on the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) as it would the FCC. They are currently trying to block the very similar Comcast-Time Warner merger. That said, it wouldn't surprise me a bit it Fox gets far more favorable treatment from Fearless Leader's minions than CNN parent company does.

[Jericoke]

It would be as much on the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) as it would the FCC. They are currently trying to block the very similar Comcast-Time Warner merger. That said, it wouldn't surprise me a bit it Fox gets far more favorable treatment from Fearless Leader's minions than CNN parent company does.

Disney acquiring Fox is like joining like, Disney is mostly a content creation company, as is Fox.  Given that new content creation companies, such as Amazon and Netflix, are adding to the number of players, it's not all that anti-competitive.  If Fox doesn't disappear, then it's likely another studio, like Universal or Sony would feel the pinch.

Comcast-Warners is a distribution company joining a content creation company.  That's where the 'anti trust' issues come in.  Like Standard Oil controling the petroleum from underground until the moment it entered your car, or Paramount owning the cameras, the sets, the theatres and the stars for all their movies.  A company like Comcast could very easily only show Warner Brothers properties.  No more Netflix when you you've got HBO, no more Fox News when you've got CNN etc.

[Alianora La Canta]

Liberty is planning its own solution for F1 (for every language market, not just English), rather than relying on outside suppliers. That's the reason the USA is getting a different broadcaster next year.

[Jericoke]

Liberty is planning its own solution for F1 (for every language market, not just English), rather than relying on outside suppliers. That's the reason the USA is getting a different broadcaster next year.

That is a bad idea.  I appreciate and accept that F1 is entertainment first and sport second, but it's got to be a close second.  Liberty isn't equipped to produce entertainment on the level of a company like Disney, so why compete with them when you can let them pay you to do it for you?

How can you trust a commentator to make a fair comment if they're being paid by Liberty?

[cosworth151]

Almost all play-by-play race/match/game commentators are in the bag for that sport's governing body. Has anybody ever hear a commentator on an NFL game talk about traumatic brain injury? That would stay the same.

The trouble is that any given language varies greatly from one part of the world to another. For example, just listen to English spoken by three people: one from Liverpool, one from Sydney and one from Gauley Bridge, West Virginia.

[Jericoke]

Almost all play-by-play race/match/game commentators are in the bag for that sport's governing body. Has anybody ever hear a commentator on an NFL game talk about traumatic brain injury? That would stay the same.

The trouble is that any given language varies greatly from one part of the world to another. For example, just listen to English spoken by three people: one from Liverpool, one from Sydney and one from Gauley Bridge, West Virginia.

I agree that sports commentators try to present their sport in the best light possible, but they're not above pointing out who they believe is doing a poor job running the sport.  It is a partnership, of course, and a commentator spending their time calling Liberty out any an perceived problems will have a short shelf life, but they at least need to create an illusion of impartiality.