Rupert Murdoch’s sale of Twenty-first Century Fox’s entertainment assets to Disney can be a game changer in the media industry. Assuming US allows the deal to go through Disney might get title to a range of assets including Avatar movies, The Americans even of X-Men and Fantastic Four. Disney also now owns the rights to many other well-known cultural properties, such as The Simpsons, the Alien franchise, and Alvin and the Chipmunks.
Given the success of the Star Wars franchise, it can safely be assume the the price that Disney payed for the media empire, will be more than compensated in the IPs its acquiring. However what can also be certain will be the bid of Hulu by Disney. While Disney has had expressed its desire to take on Netflix and Amazon the only real chance of doing so is to do so with acquiring Hulu. On its part Hulu has been lagging to Netflix and Prime because of its multiple stakeholders. Hulu is is owned in part by Fox, Disney, NBC Universal , and Warner Bros.
The sale will provide Disney with a 60% controlling stake in Hulu and the others may be wiser to get out of the deal altogether.
Hulu is already up and running simply needs to go international. With the kind of IPs that Disney has at its disposal, it could easily out do Marvel-Netflix in their own game. We would be surprised if Avatar and Star War do not end up in weekly binge on the streaming service.
Rupert Murdoch on his part will be 52 Billion Dollar richer with this deal. With his news and information empire intact, his influence would only increase. Its a fact that he makes and breaks public opinion, influences policy decisions and even helps people win elections. With 52 Billion to support his agenda, he can be even more influential.
A new era has dawned. New Disney empire is taking shape, as the old Murdoch empire gets assimilated. Who knows what will be Disney’s plan for Star India and Hotstar.
