TVBEurope talks to analyst Alice Enders as the mega-deal finally closes
Jenny Priestley 5 hours ago
TVBEurope talks to analyst Alice Enders as the mega-deal finally closes
target=_blank title=Share on LinkedIn class=share-linkedin> TVBEurope talks to analyst Alice Enders as the mega-deal finally closes
https://www.tvbeurope.com/business/disney-is-no-netflix-despite-fox-acquisition title=Share via Email class=share-email>
The Walt Disney Company is now officially the owner of two-thirds of 21st Century Fox.
The $71.3 billion deal first announced in December 2017 finally closed at 4:02am GMT this morning.
Disney now owns a range of film and TV assets including the Fox film and TV studio, FX Networks, National Geographic, international assets like Star India and a 30 per cent stake in Hulu.
The deal raises the question, does this make Disney the biggest player in the media and entertainment industry? Alice Enders, head of research at Enders Analysis, tells TVBEurope the answer to that question lies in another: It begs the question of how a big player is conceived these days. Is it by total revenue? By the strength of the catalogue and the pipeline of new releases? Certainly Disney is the single largest in children's entertainment as it always has been. But acquiring Fox does not turn it into the adult entertainment juggernaut that is Warner Bros.
Or are you aiming for the Netflix question: the power today is in direct to consumer relationships, allowing the company to hoover up data, refine creative strategy etc. In the latter case, Disney is no Netflix, but Disney needed Fox to some degree to launch a competitor service that has a chance to succeed in the US.
Obviously it's very early days in terms of what Disney might choose to do with its new acquisition. Enders believes the company's first strategy will be to integrate Fox into the business which could lead to cost savings as well as the much-discussed launch later this year of its D2C streamer Disney+.
For Disney to concede to the market that D2C is the primary value for a company today is quite something, but the writing has been on the wall for years now, says Enders. Everyone has struggled with the same problem: how to transform a lucrative business of licensing content to cinemas (Disney's outstanding strength) and turn TV into an OTT business that doesn't kill the existing revenue streams off.
It's a transition that Disney shareholders are on, and it may or may not work. If Disney cannot pierce Netflix in family entertainment, then no one can take that business on and all are condemned to being further upstream, cut off from the viewing numbers they require to judge if their shows are worth the licensing revenues they assert to the Netflixes of this world.
Back when the deal was first mooted, Enders told TVBEurope it would be quite astonishing if the Murdoch family were to sell Fox. What does she think now? The Rupert Murdoch strategy of centring the family fortunes on a major Hollywood studio has not changed, but just been transformed into a holding (passive for now) in Disney instead of fox, future proofed for the passage to the next world of the great patriarch himself, says Enders. Much better to wrap it all up while he is with us than let the kids squabble and spoil his life's work. I think it might be envisaged that James Murdoch becomes the eyes and ears of the family inside Fox.
Finally, does Enders see the Disney/Fox deal as the start of a raft of these mega-deals, or will things calm down as the industry adjusts to the change? There have been lots of rumours about Apple and Netflix. There are always going to be rumours about Apple (deep pockets) and the content business, and every media company wants value to be maximised by having many buyers for any asset, she says.
However, I don't see that tie-up with a content business being uppermost for the moment; Apple/Netflix would be a concession that Apple's own D2C business is mature and cannot grow further. Why buy Netflix when 30 per cent commission is made on the Apple store? It has a lucrative content business already. It collects masses of data; location data being especially valuable. I don't know, it just doesn't seem like essential for Apple to buy Netflix.
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
When Canada qualified for the FIFA World Cup 2026, OneSoccer knew this wasn'...
04/07/2026
Celebrates company's 80th anniversary
Rhodes have recently revealed that they will be producing a limited run of electric pianos in celebration of their...
04/07/2026
Blackmagic Design Cameras Empower Youth Broadcasting Program
Brie Clayton July 3, 2026
0 Comments
Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 6K Pro and Blackmagi...
04/07/2026
iZotope Joins Boris FX
Boris Yamnitsky July 3, 2026
0 Comments
iZotope, the team behind RX and Ozone, is joining Boris FX. A letter from founder Boris...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
03/07/2026
New bundle & three Single Packs
Continuing to expand their already sizeable orchestral collection, VSL's latest release introduces three new Single Pack...
03/07/2026
Venue installs new ATC-equipped control room
LSO St Luke's, a unique music venue that also serves as the home of the London Symphony Orchestra, have rec...
03/07/2026
Caden Pearson appointed new Commissioning Editor for NITV
3 July, 2026
Media releases
National Indigenous Television (NITV) has strengthened its commitment...
03/07/2026
1 February 2023
SHARE Facebook Twitter Linkedin Email
Munich, Germany, 1st February 2023: Cinegy GmbH, the premier provider of software technology for digit...
03/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
03/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
03/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
03/07/2026
Death Star
Andy Marken July 2, 2026
0 Comments
Look, I can't get involved. I've got work to do. It's not that I like the Empire; I hate i...
03/07/2026
Berklee's New Visual Identity: Honoring Our History, Building for What's...
03/07/2026
Scripps Research scientists awarded $2M to advance global disease surveillance Two Gates Foundation grants will expand wastewater surveillance and AI-driven dis...
03/07/2026
Joan Pulupa joins Scripps Research faculty to study the organization of DNA in brain cells and its links to neurodegeneration Using smell-sensing neurons and ad...
02/07/2026
Entering her senior year, this hometown girl is paving a career in live sports production gaining experience in replay and audio and as a TD
In the live-sports...
02/07/2026
In-venue and creative video staffers at the professional and collegiate level ha...
02/07/2026
BLAST, a competitive entertainment company focused on esports, has announced more than $133 million in revenue for 2025, representing more than 40% year-over-ye...
02/07/2026
Riedel Communications has announced official SKAARHOJ panel support for SimplyLive production workflows, enabled through the SimplyLive 2.1 release. The integra...
02/07/2026
The Fire Rescue Service of the Czech Republic has deployed LiveU video-over-bond...
02/07/2026
Gravity Media USA has announced the appointment of Brittney Boston as Head of Business Development, effective July 1, 2026. Based in Nashville, Tennessee, Bosto...
02/07/2026
TwelveLabs, a video intelligence company, has announced $100 million in Series B funding co-led by NEA and NAVER Ventures, with participation from Amazon, Radic...
02/07/2026
The Pro Padel League (PPL) has announced a broadcast partnership with USA Sports that will air five PPL championship matches on CNBC during the 2026 season, the...
02/07/2026
LiveLike, a digital fan engagement platform, has announced eight confirmed FIFA ...
02/07/2026
Cobalt Digital has received Future's Best of Show Award, presented by AV Technology at InfoComm 2026, for its blueCORE family of standalone signal processor...
02/07/2026
Synamedia has announced the appointment of Dr. Tzvi Gerstl as Chief Executive Officer. Paul Segre, who has served as CEO for the past six years, will transition...
02/07/2026
The Esports Foundation (EF) and Sony Group Corporation have announced an expanded collaboration for the Esports World Cup 2026 (EWC), taking place in Paris, Fra...
02/07/2026
Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd. ( Z') has announced exclusive broadcast and digital rights for the Bundesliga in India for five years, beginning with the...
02/07/2026
An effort uniting News, Sports, Local, and Telemundo, the 50+-camera live produc...
02/07/2026
Zoey Deutch, John Slattery, Ken Marino, Miles Gutierrez-Riley, and Ben Wang appe...
02/07/2026
Stammering, stuttering, strangulated tones
The Crow Hill Company's latest creation promises to be the most original sound set they've produced to d...
02/07/2026
A new era in unmixing and spectral editing
The latest version of Steinberg's spectral audio-editing software has just arrived, building on the strength...
02/07/2026
Aims to simplify additive synthesis
Sine Machine is the debut launch from Melatonin, a Vienna-based developer who have spent the past six years creating wha...
02/07/2026
Products to remain fully active & supported
Following the news of Native Instruments joining the inMusic brand line-up, Academy and Emmy Award-winning visua...
02/07/2026
What you missed!
Last weekend, Saturday 27 June 2026, saw the debut of Sound On Sounds new GearExpo UK event, the largest dedicated pro-audio event to take ...
02/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
02/07/2026
Following the successful launch of its inaugural APAC Mentoring Programme last month, the Rise AV APAC Regional Council will bring the conversation around mento...
02/07/2026
Blackmagic PYXIS 6K Used to Shoot Director Takahisa Zeze's Cry Out
Brie Clayton July 2, 2026
0 Comments
Highly mobile camera supports tense and de...
02/07/2026
Broadcast Solutions acquires BFE, expanding its lead in European broadcast, medi...
02/07/2026
Berklee Alum and Faculty Perform at Boston Public Library's 250th Anniversar...
02/07/2026
Broadcast Solutions GmbH, a leading systems integrator and provider of innovative solutions for the broadcast media industry, is acquiring BFE Studio und Medien...
02/07/2026
Cinegy GmbH, the premier provider of software-defined television technology, has extended the ingest facility at leading Brazilian sports company LiveMode, work...
02/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
02/07/2026
Standalone processors acknowledged for the innovation and value they bring to Pro AV
Cobalt Digital, a leading designer and manufacturer of signal processing ...
02/07/2026
Synamedia announced today the appointment of Dr Tzvi Gerstl as Chief Executive Officer. Paul Segre, who has served as CEO for the past six years, will transitio...
TVBEurope talks to analyst Alice Enders as the mega-deal finally closes
