Comcast drops Fox bid, leaving Disney as sole suitor

Ever since news broke that Disney was looking at picking up 21st Century Fox’s entertainment assets, fans have been abuzz with the possibilities. The X-Men and Fantastic Four could rejoin their compatriots in the MCU. The CBS-Fox version of Star Wars could get a Blu-ray release without all of Lucas’ questionable edits. But a question in the background has been lingering. Disney’s shown interest, but talks supposedly stalled for a while. Comcast, meanwhile, has been poking around, too. What would happen if Comcast picked up those rights?

Well, not to worry: Comcast has dropped out of talks, according to Reuters.

“When a set of assets like Fox’s becomes available, it is our responsibility to evaluate if there is a strategic fit that could benefit our company and our shareholders,” Comcast said of the deal in a prepared statement. “This is what we tried to do, and we are no longer engaged in the review of those assets. We never got the level of engagement needed to make a definitive offer.”

Comcast and Disney would have been looking at different aspects, it seems. While Disney is primarily a content-creation outfit with a few channels of note, Comcast is the biggest cable television provider in the United States. Fox’s British and Indian channels, Sky and Star respectively, would’ve likely been a focus for the company in the deal.

We can keep dreaming about what might become of a Disney-Fox deal, and a source wishing to remain anonymous said that a deal could be announced yet this year. That’s not a long wait – 2017’s almost over, as wild as that sounds. The dream could be real and real soon.

Article source: https://www.technobuffalo.com/2017/12/13/comcast-drops-bid-for-fox-disney/