Disney to Buy Fox Family?

[James Harvey]

Here's the article from yahoo.com:

The Walt Disney (DIS:NYSE - news - commentary) Co. was close to a deal to buy the Fox Family Worldwide network from owner News Corp. (NWS:NYSE - news - commentary), according to news reports Friday evening.
The Wall Street Journal, according to CNBC, says that both sides were negotiating a price of $3.3 billion, plus the assumption of $2 billion in debt for Fox Family, producer of TV shows such as "Freaks and Geeks," "Providence" and "Early Edition." The network includes an 81-million subscriber cable channel, children's programming and international cable and satellite channels.

Disney spokeswoman Michelle Bergman and Fox Family spokeswoman Nicole Nichols both declined comment on the reports.

News Corp. has shopped the television network around since May after months of wrangling with co-owner Saban International.

A sale was considered inevitable after Saban, which once produced "Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers," exercised an option in December that required News Corp., which owns 49.5% of the network, to buy out its 49.5% share of Fox Family at an independently derived valuation.

News Corp. reportedly contacted Viacom (VIA:NYSE - news - commentary), USA Networks (USAI:NYSE - news - commentary), AOL Time Warner (AOL:NYSE - news - commentary), NBC (GE:NYSE - news - commentary) and Disney about buying the company.

At the time, Saban put a value of $4 billion to $6 billion on Fox Family.A Merrill Lynch report from May 30 estimated the value of Fox Family at $4.1 billion minus the debt, and predicted that Disney, Viacom and AOL would be the most interested buyers. Merrill has done recent underwriting for News Corp.

The Fox Family dispute was seen as a distraction for the News Corp., which is busily pursuing GM's (GM:NYSE - news - commentary)Hughes Electronics, parent company of satellite television broadcasting service DirecTV.

I wonder what this means for FOX...

[Calhoun07]

I really hope Disney doesn't get them. I'd rather see Viacom get it, tho they don't need it either, but Disney sucks eggs. They destroyed ABC, nothing is good on there anymore. Any network that would kill off Clerks and Mulholland Drive deserves disdain.

[James Harvey]

I'd rathar see AOLTW get it. Any company other than Disney. I can't see Viacom having alot of use for it. Just anything but Disney.

[Mr. Eye]

I know ABC, screwed Clerks in the back, but I'd doubt it would survive if it were on elsewhere. It was just an ok show, nothing spectacular, and new animation never does well on TV anyway. The least they could do is air all of the episodes. There were only 6 for crying out loud.


Mr. Eye

[Nightwing]

Are there or where there ever any other offers on the table, or is it just a Disney news thing? I'd like a change to happen to Fox Family. I can't even find The Real Ghostbusters anymore. Plus I just have this hatred for FOX so any change could be a small step in the right direction.

[don Jaime]

The last time I saw Real Ghostbusters was on Sci-Fi Channel, but that was some months ago. You might check their schedule.

[James Harvey]

I didn't like GHOSTBUSTERS ON FOX FAM anyways. They edited the intro and had, like, 4 commercial breaks. I'm glad it went elsewhere. It airs on Teletoon in Canada.

[Bubba]

In the wake of AOLTW's poor earnings, there has been a lot of talk on Wall Street that AOL should have purchased Disney instead of Time Warner. While hindsight is 20/20, an AOL-Disney combo would have created a more focused company.
It's clear that Disney needs to stay on the mergers and acquisitions hunt if it wants to remain a top-tier media company. But, this Fox deal will put Disney $2 billion in debt, so if they can't make the combo profitable, look for Disney to merge or sell out to another giant.

[Vigo Sprax]

Originally posted by Mr. Eye
I'd doubt it would survive if it were on elsewhere...and new animation never does well on TV anyway.

I bet it would have done well on Fox, joining their team of animation shows. I believe Dilbert would be around still if they had gone that route.

[Joe Tully]

Fox Family is terrible right now. While I'd rather see someone else get control over it, such as AOL/TW, at least Disney will bring around some changes. And I doubt the channel could get any worse.

It sounds like the deal has been clinched, but not yet announced officially. http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20010721/bs/media_foxfamily_dc_1.html

[Mr. Eye]

Originally posted by Vigo Sprax


I bet it would have done well on Fox, joining their team of animation shows. I believe Dilbert would be around still if they had gone that route.

The only way it would have gotten good ratings is that if it aired after the Simpsons.

Mr. Eye

[Calhoun07]

I think Clerks may have had a fighting chance at UPN. They were ready to order 13 episodes right off the slate, and they wouldn't have had all the stupid censoring constraints that ABC had. Other than that, it might also have had a good chance on Comedy Central. FOX would have been a good choice. If they can keep showing Family Guy (which I do like, I am not dogging it here), then Clerks could have been more successful on the network too.

[James Harvey]

I really liked DILBERT, and still watch the reruns on Teletoon. An underrated show with a grfeat cast. Clerks was good as well. AOL Disney? Man...that's be worse than AOL-TW. Then again, this AOL-TW thing hasn't been bad so far.

[Calhoun07]

I guess I should have given Dilbert more of a chance. For some reason, I couldn't get into it right away, and then I just forgot it was on. That's kinda easy to do when you work two jobs.