Variety reports the telecom giant and provider of generally crappy cable and internet services (seriously, does anyone have a positive story about their Comcast subscription?) has withdrawn from the bidding war with Disney over 20th Century Fox, clearing the way for a merger to go through between the two entertainment giants. If finalized, the $71.3 billion deal will see Disney assume control of a majority of Fox holdings, including “the FX and Nat Geo cable networks, the 20th Century Fox film studio, and Fox’s stake in the video-streaming site Hulu.”
Obviously, Comcast isn’t going to go quietly into that good night of continuing a virtual monopoly over cable and internet options in many areas of the country. The company is instead focusing on plotting a takeover of European satellite TV provider Sky for $34 billion—ironically, the same company that was previously being bid on for $32.5 billion by 20th Century Fox. Yes, as detailed in the 1998 Fugazi song “Five Corporations,” most entertainment industry financial news is simply a matter of reshuffling the cards in the same few decks, the life and death of businesses and studios a mere adjustment of a few digits in the ledgers of these interchangeable companies. Still, now the X-Men get to fight the Avengers, and that’s something, right? We’ll take whatever small comforts we can get with the increasing homogenization and Disneyfied stranglehold on American entertainment options.
