Fox-Disney merger and broadcast deals

[bork]

So the rumored Fox Disney merger appears close to happening, but this is the first time I've seen details on how it might affect sports.

 

The deal contemplates the sale of Fox's Nat Geo, Star, regional sports networks, movie studios and stakes in Sky and Hulu, among other properties. What would remain at Fox includes its news and business news divisions, broadcast network and Fox sports.

 

So it sounds like Fox Sports Wisconsin could become ESPN Wisconsin, though it's not real clear. But is does seem that there will be a shake up of the sports networks when the dust settles.

 

My gut instinct is that this will not be good for the Brewers (and Bucks) when their broadcast deals come up.

 

https://www.cnbc.com/2017/12/05/disney-and-fox-are-closing-in-on-deal-could-be-announced-next-week--sources.html

[Warning Track Power]

So the rumored Fox Disney merger appears close to happening, but this is the first time I've seen details on how it might affect sports.

 

The deal contemplates the sale of Fox's Nat Geo, Star, regional sports networks, movie studios and stakes in Sky and Hulu, among other properties. What would remain at Fox includes its news and business news divisions, broadcast network and Fox sports.

 

So it sounds like Fox Sports Wisconsin could become ESPN Wisconsin, though it's not real clear. But is does seem that there will be a shake up of the sports networks when the dust settles.

 

My gut instinct is that this will not be good for the Brewers (and Bucks) when their broadcast deals come up.

 

https://www.cnbc.com/2017/12/05/disney-and-fox-are-closing-in-on-deal-could-be-announced-next-week--sources.html

Just curious why?

[jerichoholicninja]

So the rumored Fox Disney merger appears close to happening, but this is the first time I've seen details on how it might affect sports.

 

The deal contemplates the sale of Fox's Nat Geo, Star, regional sports networks, movie studios and stakes in Sky and Hulu, among other properties. What would remain at Fox includes its news and business news divisions, broadcast network and Fox sports.

 

So it sounds like Fox Sports Wisconsin could become ESPN Wisconsin, though it's not real clear. But is does seem that there will be a shake up of the sports networks when the dust settles.

 

My gut instinct is that this will not be good for the Brewers (and Bucks) when their broadcast deals come up.

 

https://www.cnbc.com/2017/12/05/disney-and-fox-are-closing-in-on-deal-could-be-announced-next-week--sources.html

Just curious why?

 

Just spitballing... ESPN is in a major free fall and obviously losing money with the massive layoffs over the last few years. Factor in that ESPN doesn't give a crap about anything that happens outside of New York/Boston, Chicago, and LA or really anything outside of the NFL and I can't see them wiling to offer anything than the bare minimum for the rights to broadcast Brewer games.

[bill hAll Star]

Just curious why?

 

Just spitballing... ESPN is in a major free fall and obviously losing money with the massive layoffs over the last few years. Factor in that ESPN doesn't give a crap about anything that happens outside of New York/Boston, Chicago, and LA or really anything outside of the NFL and I can't see them wiling to offer anything than the bare minimum for the rights to broadcast Brewer games.

 

I don't think it will make a difference. ESPN is in a freefall for different reasons. They got into too many national TV deals while the market was falling.

 

Fox's national sports channel (like ESPN) is a disaster as well. That just doesn't really sell today. Nobody cares about highlight shows unless they are live look-in or pregame shows.

 

I think it'll be pretty similar on the local scale. I don't see why ESPN would run any different of a local broadcast than FOX.

 

You may be convincing yourself that ESPN only cares about bigger markets because ESPN has crappy national contracts now. Nobody cares about Sunday Night baseball anymore because they have 1000 games at their fingertip if they want it on mlb.tv or MLB Network. So I don't blame them for putting on Red Sox/Yankees 20 times/year because they'll draw 2 million viewers instead of 1 (totally guessing at those numbers).

[OnaBadger58]

Nobody cares about Sunday Night baseball anymore because they have 1000 games at their fingertip if they want it on mlb.tv or MLB Network. So I don't blame them for putting on Red Sox/Yankees 20 times/year because they'll draw 2 million viewers instead of 1 (totally guessing at those numbers).

Agreed. There are so many ways to get any game/highlight you want, that the Sunday Night Baseballs and SportsCenters of the world become pretty irrelevant. With the Redzone package and MLB Network having live look-ins and instant footage of important plays, watching full games for many have lost its luster. The times are all about instant gratification. People will watch their team, and see highlights on everything else (if that). Hell, I missed the Bucks game yesterday, but within 30 minutes of the game being over, I watched Giannis' highlights from that game on Youtube.

[bork]

Just that Disney tends to play hardball in their negotiations and deals and Milwaukee doesn't really have a lot of leverage.

[Point Beer Is Best]

I had not heard this deal was coming, but I'm much more interested if this means the X-Men can be incorporated into the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

[OnaBadger58]

I had not heard this deal was coming, but I'm much more interested if this means the X-Men can be incorporated into the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

As long as Deadpool doesn't become PG-13.

[bill hAll Star]

Just that Disney tends to play hardball in their negotiations and deals and Milwaukee doesn't really have a lot of leverage.

 

That makes some sense. We've got a new TV deal coming which will at least be somewhat appealing since we signed a long deal at the bottom of the market. That said, we get out of it right as the TV deal market is going right back down.

[bork]

I had not heard this deal was coming, but I'm much more interested if this means the X-Men can be incorporated into the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

 

Yeah, this deal is really about Disney getting the Fox movie and TV properties for their new streaming service that they want to launch next year to compete with Netflix (No more Disney, Pixar, Star Wars or Marvel on Netflix). Sports are a very small part of this.

[nate82]

I had not heard this deal was coming, but I'm much more interested if this means the X-Men can be incorporated into the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

As long as Deadpool doesn't become PG-13.

 

Definitely this!

[bork]

Now that the deal is official, here is an interesting take on what it means for sports and it's not good for local teams.

 

https://deadspin.com/what-disneys-acquisition-of-21st-century-fox-means-for-1821311525

 

More importantly—to Disney/ESPN, at least—establishing a new and confident voice behind the RSN ownership should allow a sports megalith bully teams into smaller contracts. The history of each Fox Sports RSN is different, and usually features a long string of various majority and minority owners; now that Disney/ESPN owns almost all of them outright, with Fox having already bought up almost any possible market competitor, teams whose games currently air on a Fox Sports RSN will have the choice of either taking what Disney/ESPN is willing to give them or starting their own network—which has been and continues to be a disaster for teams like the L.A. Dodgers.

 

Not mentions is that there could also be a showdown between Disney and MLB as Disney wants to start a sports streaming service which could directly compete with MLB.TV.

[igor67]

What about the Big Ten network? I have to imagine that their veiwership craters outside of the football and basketball seasons.

[bork]

What about the Big Ten network? I have to imagine that their veiwership craters outside of the football and basketball seasons.

 

I would think that would be a national network like FS1 that would stay with Fox.

 

Since most MLB teams would now have to negotiate with Disney/ESPN for broadcast rights and if they start getting squeezed, I wonder if this could be the push to have MLB negotiate broadcast deals? Local teams would give up control, but MLB as a whole would have more clout if they could negotiate for multiple teams at once.

[Thurston Fluff]

Now that the deal is official, here is an interesting take on what it means for sports and it's not good for local teams.

 

https://deadspin.com/what-disneys-acquisition-of-21st-century-fox-means-for-1821311525

 

More importantly—to Disney/ESPN, at least—establishing a new and confident voice behind the RSN ownership should allow a sports megalith bully teams into smaller contracts. The history of each Fox Sports RSN is different, and usually features a long string of various majority and minority owners; now that Disney/ESPN owns almost all of them outright, with Fox having already bought up almost any possible market competitor, teams whose games currently air on a Fox Sports RSN will have the choice of either taking what Disney/ESPN is willing to give them or starting their own network—which has been and continues to be a disaster for teams like the L.A. Dodgers.

 

Not mentions is that there could also be a showdown between Disney and MLB as Disney wants to start a sports streaming service which could directly compete with MLB.TV.

 

That showdown is going to happen someway somehow no matter what. Too many cord cutters as it is and that trend isn't showing signs of slowing down.

As it is I wonder if the Brewers might not be better off just streaming it's games for our market instead of selling the rights to cable. Why try to force people into watching with 20th century devices in the 21st century? They could even sell the right to broadcast their stream back to cable for a fee. After all cable needs content too.