TELEVISION BROADCASTING – UNITED STATES

High-flyer takes on Hollywood

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Jessica Toonkel, Joe Flint
The Australian – Page: 17 : 10-Jul-24

Skydance Media founder David Ellison says he aims to transform Paramount Global into a "media and tech hybrid" to enable it to compete with rivals such as Disney and Netflix. The complex merger deal will initially see Skydance acquire Paramount’s major shareholder, National Amusements, for $US1.75bn; Paramount will in turn acquire Skydance for about $US4.7bn. Skydance has identified around $US2bn worth of cost savings at Paramount, and aims to make the iconic film studio cashflow positive by the end of 2026. Paramount’s assets include the Ten Network in Australia.

CORPORATES
SKYDANCE MEDIA LLC, PARAMOUNT GLOBAL, NATIONAL AMUSEMENTS INCORPORATED, TEN NETWORK HOLDINGS LIMITED

Murdoch said Fox hosts endorsed idea of stolen election

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by
The New Daily – Page: Online : 1-Mar-23

Court documents released in the US show that Fox Corp chairman Rupert Murdoch and other executives of the media group believed that Joe Biden had fairly won the 2020 presidential election. The documents also show that Murdoch had acknowledged under oath that some Fox hosts had "endorsed" the notion that Biden had "stolen" the election. Dominion Voting System is suing Fox Corp for defamation over Fox News’s coverage of the election. The voting technology company has argued that internal communications and depositions by Fox personnel prove that the network had knowingly spread falsehoods about Donald Trump election loss in order to bolster its ratings.

CORPORATES
FOX CORPORATION, FOX NEWS, DOMINION VOTING SYSTEMS

Democratic convention viewership tumbles 24% on first night

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Gerry Smith, Christopher Palmeri
Bloomberg – Page: Online : 20-Aug-20

Data from Nielsen shows that about 19.7 million people watched the first night of the Democratic National Convention on broadcast and cable television networks. This compares with a first night viewership of 25.9 million in 2016. However, some 10.3 million people watched a live stream of the convention, compared with just three million in 2016. Joe Biden’s election campaign team estimates that the combined broadcast and streaming audience was nearly 29 million, which is slightly higher than four years ago.

CORPORATES
DEMOCRATIC PARTY (UNITED STATES), THE NIELSEN COMPANY

Comcast surrenders to Disney in bid for 21st Century Fox

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Anousha Sakoui, Gerry Smith
The Australian Financial Review – Page: Online : 20-Jul-18

Comcast will press ahead with its takeover bid for pan-European broadcaster company Sky after withdrawing from the bidding war for the bulk of 21st Century Fox’s entertainment assets. Comcast’s cash offer of $US65bn for the Fox assets forced rival bidder Walt Disney Company to increase its offer to $US71bn. Disney’s bid has received clearance from antitrust regulators.

CORPORATES
21ST CENTURY FOX INCORPORATED, COMCAST CORPORATION, WALT DISNEY COMPANY, SKY PLC, AT&T CORPORATION, TIME WARNER INCORPORATED, UNITED STATES. DEPT OF JUSTICE, UNIVERSAL PICTURES, NBC TELEVISION NETWORK, MOODY’S INVESTORS SERVICE INCORPORATED

Disney’s Fox bid wins US approval

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Edmund Lee, Cecilia Kang
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 16 : 29-Jun-18

Walt Disney’s proposed $US71bn deal to acquire the bulk of 21st Century Fox’s entertainment assets has been cleared by the US Justice Department, only six months after it was initially proposed. However, the Justice Department has ruled that ESPN owner Disney must divest Fox’s regional sports to satisfy competition concerns. Jefferies media analyst John Janedis says the Fox board will probably be obliged to see if rival suitor Comcast makes a revised bid, but he notes that any such offer would take at least six months to receive approval from the DoJ.

CORPORATES
21ST CENTURY FOX INCORPORATED, WALT DISNEY COMPANY, UNITED STATES. DEPT OF JUSTICE, ESPN INCORPORATED, JEFFERIES AND COMPANY, HULU LLC, AT&T CORPORATION, TIME WARNER INCORPORATED, CNN, UNITED STATES. EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT, SKY PLC, STAR INDIA, MARVEL ENTERPRISES, LUCASFILM, PIXAR, FOX NEWS CHANNEL

Disney, Fox agree on $97bn merger

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Keach Hagey, Erich Schwartzel
The Australian – Page: 24 : 22-Jun-18

Walt Disney Company CEO Bob Iger has ruled out a deal with Comcast to carve up the entertainment assets of 21st Century Fox. Sources have indicated that Fox and Disney are finalising the terms of the latter’s $US71.3bn ($A96.8bn) cash and scrip deal, which has trumped Comcast’s $US65bn cash bid. Fox shareholders are expected to emerge with about 19 per cent of the enlarged Disney via the revised deal, compared with around 25 per cent under its previous scrip-only offer.

CORPORATES
21ST CENTURY FOX INCORPORATED, WALT DISNEY COMPANY, COMCAST CORPORATION, FOX NEWS, FOX BROADCASTING COMPANY, COWEN AND COMPANY, MOODY’S INVESTORS SERVICE INCORPORATED, S&P GLOBAL RATINGS, NETFLIX INCORPORATED, SKY PLC, STAR INDIA, HULU LLC

Fox agrees to Disney offer

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by
The Australian – Page: 22 : 21-Jun-18

Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox has accepted Walt Disney Company’s revised offer of more than $US70bn for the bulk of its entertainment assets. Disney had originally proposed a scrip-only bid worth $US52.4bn, but it has agreed to allow Fox shareholders to accept a combination of cash and shares. The cash component will be attractive to major Fox shareholders such as the Murdochs, given the capital gains tax implications of a cash-only bid. Disney’s latest offer has trumped Comcast’s $US65bn cash bid.

CORPORATES
21ST CENTURY FOX INCORPORATED, WALT DISNEY COMPANY, COMCAST CORPORATION, SKY PLC, STAR INDIA, HULU LLC, FOX NEWS, FOX BROADCASTING COMPANY

$86bn bid for Fox ignites Disney fight

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Shalini Ramachandran, Erich Schwartzel
The Australian – Page: 25 : 15-Jun-18

US media group Comcast has offered $US35 per share for the bulk of 21st Century Fox’s entertainment assets, valuing its bid at about $US65bn ($A86bn). Fox has advised that it will "carefully review and consider" the cash bid, which has trumped Walt Disney Company’s scrip bid. The Disney offer is valued at $US29.18 per share based on Fox’s current share price. Fox would retain assets such as Fox News and its broadcast TV network if either bid succeeds.

CORPORATES
21ST CENTURY FOX INCORPORATED, COMCAST CORPORATION, WALT DISNEY COMPANY, FOX NEWS, FOX BROADCASTING COMPANY, AT&T CORPORATION, TIME WARNER INCORPORATED, HBO, CNN, WARNER BROS, BARCLAYS BANK PLC, NETFLIX INCORPORATED, HULU LLC, FACEBOOK INCORPORATED

Ruling will unleash new wave of tie-ups

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by John Kehoe
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 10 : 14-Jun-18

Comcast’s proposed bid for the entertainment assets of 21st Century Fox is more likely to proceed after a US court approved AT&T’s deal to acquire Time Warner. Shares in Fox have rallied amid expectations that Comcast will trump Walt Disney Company’s $US52bn offer for the bulk of Fox’s assets. Media analyst Craig Moffett says the AT&T-Time Warner merger is likely to prompt further consolidation in the media sector.

CORPORATES
AT&T CORPORATION, TIME WARNER INCORPORATED, 21ST CENTURY FOX INCORPORATED, COMCAST CORPORATION, WALT DISNEY COMPANY, CNN, HBO, UNITED STATES. EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT, UNITED STATES. DEPT OF JUSTICE, STAR INDIA, HULU LLC, SKY PLC, VERIZON COMMUNICATIONS INCORPORATED, BTIG LLC, NETFLIX INCORPORATED, AMAZON.COM INCORPORATED, GOOGLE INCORPORATED

Disney, Fox deal combines two of world’s biggest entertainment giants

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by
CBS News – Page: Online : 15-Dec-17

Walt Disney Company CEO Robert Igor is confident that the group’s $US52.4bn deal to acquire key assets from 21st Century Fox will be cleared by regulators. The assets to be bought by Disney include the 20th Century Fox film studio and cable TV networks such as National Geographic, while assets to be retained by 21st Century Fox include the Fox free-to-air and pay-TV networks. These will be spun off into a new listed company. Igor has flagged the possibility of Fox CEO James Murdoch taking on a role at Disney.

CORPORATES
21ST CENTURY FOX INCORPORATED, WALT DISNEY COMPANY, 20TH CENTURY FOX INCORPORATED, FOX BROADCASTING COMPANY, FOX NEWS CHANNEL, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC CHANNEL