If you were counting the days until the sale of Fox to Disney so we finally can get a good Fantastic Four movie from Marvel Studios, a Simpsons/Gravity Falls crossover on TV or were hoping to brush off that The Black Hole Meets Aliens spec script, well, you might want to cool your jets. There is a new suitor in town for Fox.
Reuters has the exclusive that media giant Comcast is making a last minute bid for Fox. And Comcast might have the advantage because while the Disney $52 billion deal was an all-stock offer, Comcast is offering an all-cash deal worth $60 billion. They are looking for bridge financing from investment banks to generate that amount of cash.
Comcast is the second-largest pay TV service, the largest cable company and largest home Internet company in the United States. It bought out NBC Universal in 2011, and launched a streaming service last year. Like Disney with their planned streaming service, Comcast most likely is looking for Fox content bolster its young service.
Reuter’s multiple sources say the deal is dependent on the result of the Department of Justice’s challenge to AT&T’s purchase of Time-Warner. The Comcast offer will only go through if the AT&T/Time-Warner merger wins in court, as a Comcast bid for Fox was denied last year due to antitrust concerns.
More on this as it develops.
