In December, the Walt Disney Company reached an agreement with 21st Century Fox to acquire the majority of assets from its rival entertainment company in a landmark deal worth over USD $52 billion .
Disney will also assume about USD$13.7 billion of net debt of 21st Century Fox.
Fox assets that will be sold to Disney, include the Twentieth Century Fox film and television network and stations, Fox News Channel , Fox Business Channel , FS1 , FS2 , and the Big Ten Network which will be part of a newly listed company after the close of the deal, plus FX Networks , National Geographic Partners , Fox Networks Group International , Star India , among other ventures.
The deal includes a plan to add Fox’s 22 regional sports networks to Disney’s No. 1 sports network ESPN , yet it is currently subject to approval from shareholders and antitrust regulators, however, the deal is estimated to be approved a little before the summer of 2019 .
The sports networks include the YES Network in New York , Prime Ticket and Fox Sports West in Los Angeles , networks that carry 44 professional teams in Major League Baseball, the NBA and the NHL, and Fox Latin American Channels (including Fox Sports Mexico ).
From then on, Disney and Fox are going to need at least one year to merge the companies, so it is possible that by the middle of 2020 Fox Sports will no longer exist in Mexico , since ESPN may rename the newly acquired channels. However, ESPN will now control the regional rights, giving them access to even more sports fans. Supposedly, the idea is to select the best content that Fox Sports Mexico has to offer to join the ESPN consortium.
sg