News Roundup: What AT&T/TW Deal and Disney/Comcast's Bidding War for Fox Mean for Sports-Media Industry

News Roundup: What AT&T/TW Deal and Disney/Comcast's Bidding War for Fox Mean for Sports-Media Industry By Jason Dachman, Chief Editor

Friday, June 15, 2018 - 10:15 am

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During the busiest week in recent memory - maybe ever - for major media deals, a federal judge's decision to rule against the Department of Justice's attempts to block AT&T's $85 billion takeover of Time Warner and greenlight the mega-merger created a domino effect throughout the rest of the media industry. The following day Comcast finalized a $65 billion all-cash offer for most of 21st Century Fox's assets in an attempt to outmaneuver Disney, which reached a $52.4 billion deal in December for the same Fox assets.

These deals are likely to make a monumental impact on the future of the sports-media industry (and especially on regional sports networks), and there is a lot to process. So SVG has created a roundup of some of the most important analysis from the past week:

Just two days after U.S. District Judge Richard Leon ruled against the government's attempt to block the AT&T/Time Warner megamerger, the two companies officially closed the deal today. (AP)

Disney and Comcast's warring bids for Fox's assets could face one major regulatory sticking point: Sports. (WSJ)

Disney and Comcast have said they are both willing to divest Fox's local sports networks should regulators require them to do so. (Recode)

On the other hand, here's how Fox's RSNs could complement both Disney and Comcast if the winner of the bidding battle were to retain them. (AP)

And in a new twist to the future of Fox's RSNs, the NY Yankees are considering buying back YES Network as part of a clause in their deal with Fox that gives the team the right to buy back the network in the event Fox puts it up for sale. (Bloomberg)

Ok so, Comcast and Disney would both sell off Fox's RSNs - but who would buy them? (Fierce Cable)

Media mogul and significant Charter Communications stakeholder said he doesn't plan to consolidate his empire into a vertically integrated content and distribution player any time soon. In addition, he floated the idea that Charter could buy regional sports networks (WSJ)

This analysis of who needs the Fox asset more - Disney or Comcast - notes that Fox's RSNs would give ESPN a huge lift for its nascent streaming service that was launched in April. (The Wrap)

And don't forget that just last week the UK cleared the way for a bidding ware between Comcast and Disney over Sky that will largely be driven by Sky's valuable sports broadcasting rights (including English Premier League, Formula One, and other sporting events). (NYT)

Comcast's Fox bid has thrown a wrench into Disney's post-merger plans for leadership and management roles at the new company. (Variety)

Here's what the future of TV in the mobile era could like like following the AT&T-TW merger. (Fortune)

Just because the AT&T-Time Warner deal was approved doesn't mean Comcast's deal for Fox would pass muster too, giving Disney an advantage. (WSJ)

One analyst is floating the idea that Disney and Comcast may end up splitting Fox's assets in the end. (CNBC)

MoffettNathanson principal and senior analyst Craig Moffett downgraded AT&T to sell from neutral a day after its blockbuster deal to acquire Time Warner was approved. (Multichannel News)

Tim Wu is a law professor at Columbia, discusses the the potentially dangerous bigness' of the AT&T-Time Warner Merger. (NYT)

Although the post-megamerger future may bring more digital media options, it's not likely to bring greater savings - resulting in bigger, not cheaper, cable bundles. (WSJ)

NBCU CEO Steve Burke's memo to his staff says we are the right home for the fox assets. (Deadline)

LINK:	https://www.sportsvideo.org/2018/06/15/news-roundup-what-att-tw-deal-a...
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