Disney now has one less obstacle in its way on its path to acquire 21st Century Fox: the Justice Department has granted them antitrust approval, enabling them to move forward with the deal.
However, the government will require Disney to divest Fox’s portfolio of regional sports networks. Disney owning the networks would create anti-competitive conflicts due to Disney owning massive sports network ESPN already.
Despite Comcast’s separate offer, Fox’s board settled on Disney as a better parent, due to its lack of telecom offerings. Fox was concerned that Comcast’s broad businesses in telecom and media would prompt a government block of the merger and decided to go with the Disney deal instead, despite Comcast’s more lucrative offer.
The fact that Disney has secured U.S. antitrust approval will likely make its offer the more promising deal for both companies. However, it is very possible that Comcast will make another bid.
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