The Disney-Fox Deal Has Friends in High Places<br />If the Justice Department really wanted to be aggressive, it might also invoke the words of former Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black, who wrote in a landmark opinion, “The widest possible dissemination of information from diverse<br />and antagonistic sources is essential to the welfare of the public.”<br />Under terms of the proposed deal, Fox shareholders would own about 25 percent of Disney in an all-stock transaction.<br />“The government’s theory in Time Warner very much applies to Fox and Disney,” he said.<br />But depending on how much influence the Murdochs are able to exert at Disney, the family might achieve much the same objective, perhaps with a board seat, or, as some have speculated, if James Murdoch joins Disney as an executive<br />and even becomes a potential successor to the Disney chief executive, Robert Iger.<br />“Reports suggest that James Murdoch is apparently in line for a senior management role within Disney as part of the deal,” said Doug Creutz, senior media<br />and entertainment analyst for Cowen & Co. in a note to clients Thursday.<br />It will almost surely pull 21st Century Fox content, like “X Men,” the planned “Avatar” sequels<br />and TV shows like “The Simpsons” and “The Americans,” and offer them on its own service<br />One of the government’s concerns in its effort to block the AT&T deal, according to its complaint, is the risk<br />that AT&T would withhold Time Warner content from rivals like Netflix, thus hurting consumers.<br />Vertical mergers like that of AT&T and Time Warner — AT&T buys content from Time Warner,<br />but doesn’t compete directly with it — used to be approved almost routinely, albeit often with conditions.
