It's a Done Deal: Disney purchases Fox

[Al Bundy]

Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud

Further to that, Original Airings of The Simpsons on Fox are a drop in the bucket compared to the 20+ years of syndication rights.

What does this do for various Fox or Disney films that are either out of print or have never made it to physical media above VHS or DVD?

[DaneMcCloud]

Originally Posted by Al Bundy

What does this do for various Fox or Disney films that are either out of print or have never made it to physical media above VHS or DVD?

Disney is launching its own service at some point in 2019, which prior to this purchase, would allow subscribers access to every Disney production ever created, from early Mickey Mouse to the Mickey Mouse Club, feature films and everything in between. Bog Iger stated that it would be significantly less than Netflix, so I expect it to come in around the $5.99 mark.

They're also planning a Stand Alone ESPN App, which will allow access to all ESPN content, as well as their new acquired 18 Fox Sports regional channels which will be rebranded with ESPN names (ESPN Kansas City, for example).

To date, I haven't heard anything about Fox produced TV shows and film. My gut tells me that they'll likely create a Stand Alone App for Fox produced content for $3.99-4.99 per month and maybe a bundled deal for both Fox and Disney at $8.99-$9.99 a month.

I'm not well versed on Fox's licensing deals with Netflix, Hulu or Amazon so it might be some time before Disney is able to offer a Stand Alone App for that content.

I would expect new 21st Century Fox content to be available on the Disney App (the new Avatar sequels, for instance, especially since there's a new tie-in at the Disney parks) but back catalog may have long term deals in place.

[Chief Pagan]

Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud

Disney is launching its own service at some point in 2019, which prior to this purchase, would allow subscribers access to every Disney production ever created, from early Mickey Mouse to the Mickey Mouse Club, feature films and everything in between.

I really wonder if Disney was planning to do that. I don't suppose that many people would search out the early Mickey Mouse stuff, but a lot of the early cartoons have not aged well. Society was a lot more racists back then and the cartoons reflected that all too well.