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Comcast outbids Murdoch with £22bn bid for Sky

jelly

jelly

Banned
Oct 26, 2017
33,841
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2018/feb/27/comcast-murdoch-bid-sky-21st-century-fox
https://www.theguardian.com/media/comcast
Comcast is attempting to gatecrash Rupert Murdoch's takeover of Sky, submitting a rival offer to the UK broadcaster's shareholders worth about £22bn.

The media and telecoms company, which owns NBC Universal and is the largest cable operator in the US, said its all-cash offer of £12.50 per share offered Sky shareholders a 16% premium on the offer from Murdoch's 21st Century Fox.

Fox owns 39% of Sky and submitted its bid to take full control in December 2016, but the deal has been held up by regulatory issues.

"Comcast intends to use Sky as a platform for growth in Europe. We already have a strong presence in London through our NBC Universal international operations, and we intend to maintain Sky's UK headquarters," said the Comcast chairman and chief executive, Brian Roberts.

"Adding Sky to the Comcast family of businesses will increase our international revenues from 9% to 25% of company revenues.

"We would like to own the whole of Sky and we will be looking to acquire over 50% of the Sky shares. We are confident that we will be able to receive the necessary regulatory approvals."
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I'm guessing this is a bad thing considering how Comcast are in the US.
 
Buzzman

Buzzman

Attempted to circumvent ban with alt account
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
1,549
I'm not going to cheer any of these billion dollar conglomerates on, but less Murdoch sounds better on paper.
 
Stoopkid

Stoopkid

Member
Oct 27, 2017
4,369
I'm fully expecting Murdoch drops out and let's disney bid independently.

In its deal with Disney, Fox agreed to sell only the 39% of Sky it already owns. Disney has said, though, that should the U.K. government block the deal, it could consider bidding separately for the rest of Sky. The broadcaster has a distribution footprint across Europe, and has rights to valuable content, including to prized English Premier League soccer matches.
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https://www.wsj.com/amp/articles/co...-for-sky-1519717141?__twitter_impression=true
 
Jonnax

Jonnax

Member
Oct 26, 2017
4,922
You know Sky Broadband have always advertised having "totally unlimited" broadband with no traffic shaping.

Comcast is very much anti that from what I can tell .
 
nekkid

nekkid

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
21,823
Jonnax said:
You know Sky Broadband have always advertised having "totally unlimited" broadband with no traffic shaping.

Comcast is very much anti that from what I can tell .
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Different market, though. Any company that attempted that in the UK would get utterly shafted - there's so many other options.
 
avaya

avaya

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,140
London
jelly said:
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2018/feb/27/comcast-murdoch-bid-sky-21st-century-fox


I'm guessing this is a bad thing considering how Comcast are in the US.
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No this is in fact excellent. They have fucked Murdoch.

There will be a better editorial stance at Sky News now - more aligned with NBC/MSNBC and away from the Fox axis.

As far as their ability to screw anyone on broadband it's limited to non-existent in the UK because they don't own the infrastructure and merely wholesale BT. With Vodafone torpedoing the market on prices in an effort to drive down Virgin's pricing the market will look healthy. The only thing this deal means is that Sky won't ever be outbid by BT for sports rights.

Comcast may also fund larger scale FTTH projects with Vodafone. This is a good deal.
 
Stoopkid

Stoopkid

Member
Oct 27, 2017
4,369
avaya said:
No this is in fact excellent. They have fucked Murdoch.

There will be a better editorial stance at Sky News now - more aligned with NBC/MSNBC and away from the Fox axis.

As far as their ability to screw anyone on broadband it's limited to non-existent in the UK because they don't own the infrastructure and merely wholesale BT. With Vodafone torpedoing the market on prices in an effort to drive down Virgin's pricing the market will look healthy. The only thing this deal means is that Sky won't ever be outbid by BT for sports rights.

Comcast may also fund larger scale FTTH projects with Vodafone. This is a good deal.
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Hate to defend Murdoch but he did pledge independence as they were going to Disney anyway.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...ews-to-smooth-path-for-fox-deal-idUSKBN1FW16M
 
PJV3

PJV3

Member
Oct 25, 2017
25,676
London
Rupert is Beelzebub so I'm happy for anything or one from the mortal realm willing to fuck him over.
 

Frankie_baby

Banned
Feb 11, 2018
628
Anything to be rid of Murdoch and Disney is just too big, seriously don't understand how they are being allowed to buy fox
 
Chaos Legion

Chaos Legion

The Wise Ones
Member
Oct 30, 2017
16,925
Means Disney is going to renegotiate their deal for remaining assets. And likely lose out in a bidding war with Comcast for Sky. Good news!
 
Bus-TEE

Bus-TEE

Banned
Nov 20, 2017
4,656
This could potentially be a 'win-win' for both Disney and Comcast. It all comes down to how much Disney prize Sky as an asset they want from the Fox deal. Sky represents a huge avenue of expansion for these companies as neither have real distribution platforms internationally. If Iger sees Sky as an integral part of the deal with Murdoch I can see this turning into a real fight with Comcast preparing to go after the whole of Fox and not just Sky. Suddenly, if Iger isn't prepared to let Comcast have Sky, this whole thing can result in a fight that could last years.

PJV3 said:
Rupert is Beelzebub so I'm happy for anything or one from the mortal realm willing to fuck him over.
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I'm glad that Murdoch's grip on UK media will be lessened with this, however he can exert a lot more influence with his proposed shares in Disney, with his family's combined stock, than at Comcast which has a dual stock set up which, ironically, ol' Rupert also used to great effect at Fox. As I've said in the past, Disney getting back the various Marvel IPs that Fox has at the expense of giving the Murdoch clan sizeable influence in Disney moving forward is far too high a price to pay.
 

Deleted member 35204

User requested account closure
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Dec 3, 2017
2,406
ugh Comcast or Murdoch... it's like asking someone if they want to be kicked in the stomach or punched in the face.
 
NekoFever

NekoFever

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,009
Jonnax said:
You know Sky Broadband have always advertised having "totally unlimited" broadband with no traffic shaping.

Comcast is very much anti that from what I can tell .
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The UK has actual competition in that market.

When UK ISPs started to experiment with data caps across the board, all that happened was their rivals started advertising that fact and taking their business. Which is the way things should work in a healthy market.
 
Dan

Dan

Member
Oct 25, 2017
8,963
avaya said:
No this is in fact excellent. They have fucked Murdoch.

There will be a better editorial stance at Sky News now - more aligned with NBC/MSNBC and away from the Fox axis.

As far as their ability to screw anyone on broadband it's limited to non-existent in the UK because they don't own the infrastructure and merely wholesale BT. With Vodafone torpedoing the market on prices in an effort to drive down Virgin's pricing the market will look healthy. The only thing this deal means is that Sky won't ever be outbid by BT for sports rights.

Comcast may also fund larger scale FTTH projects with Vodafone. This is a good deal.
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In a nutshell really. Its easy to sling in the UK with the US when mentioning Comcast but the reality is that what Comcast do over there won't be half as applicable than it is here.

The easy thing to remember is beyond Virgin (which is available to mostly large population centres and rarely any rural areas) and smaller companies such as Gigaclear, the British internet infrastructure, especially relating FTTC fibre is owned by Openreach, a subsidiary of BT - and the move to LLU based competition means Sky (if its Comcast in the future) have little in the way of influence to enforce their own constrictive policies. The alternative is as easy as ending your provider deal and going to Talk Talk, BT etc using essentially the same physical infrastructure. Competition rules means that no one ISP has a monopoly on internet access in this country.
 
Dan

Dan

Member
Oct 25, 2017
8,963
Murdoch is an elite level cunt. The less influence he has on anything is good.
 
wenis

wenis

Member
Oct 25, 2017
16,117
PJV3 said:
I don't know much about Comcast, do they enjoy corrupting politics and society to breaking point?
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Yes.

American here. I've been under Comcast's thumb for a decade plus, maybe longer.

They're awful. They don't care about you, your service or competition. They will underhand everyone and anyone for a buck and they will do anything to knock out the competition
 
avaya

avaya

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,140
London
Comcast is able to screw people over in the US because the US does not have credible competitive markets in broadband.

The UK regulator is in full fuck you mode to BT at the moment because on a benchmark basis the UK is falling behind EU27 on FTTH.

Plans from Vodafone, Gigaclear, CityFibre, TalkTalk plus VMED mean we could see 50% of UK homes passed with FTTH by 2025. For reference France will achieve 90% in the same period. Comcast can help Sky coinvest, it will need to.

What's funny about the Comcast offer is that it only requires 50%+1 approval, meaning they could not give a single fuck if Murdoch doesn't like it and makes Fox keep the 39.6% stake. Will really test just how independent Fox is.

Oh btw - word is that Murdoch is livid with Comcast.

Would not expect Disney to counterbid. They want Fox for the studios so they can build their global OTT platform. Some Sky holders hoping for it though.
 
HibbySloth

HibbySloth

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,178
Wonder how badly Disney wanted Sky. Either way, I don't really care so long as they end up with Fox's Marvel properties. Hoping Comcast doesn't go after those.
 
OP
OP
jelly

jelly

Banned
Oct 26, 2017
33,841
Sky is pretty big in the on demand, streaming market so Disney might still want that for their streaming goals when Hulu isn't a thing in Europe. There is sports too obviously which is huge is Europe.
 
dabig2

dabig2

Member
Oct 29, 2017
5,116
People are crazy in here if they think Disney is the bigger threat than Comcast (or Murdoch).

Real fucking talk: some of ya'll need to retire from this tribal fanboy movie shit that has no meaning or importance. People are worried that Disney is going to grow and become an existential threat, Comcast has been an existential threat for decades.
 
avaya

avaya

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,140
London
Sponge said:
Tbh Comcast is way scarier than Disney and I'm concerned at how many people do not realize this.
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Do you know T-Mobile Germany makes Verizon look like one of the most pro consumer companies in the world? T-Mobile US by comparison is the least Deutsche Telekom company like company there is. Brands are different by market. Europe also has actual regulators, not shills.
 
affeinvasion

affeinvasion

Member
Oct 26, 2017
3,955
Obviously most of the posters in here think Disney is a bigger company than Comcast/Universal. Those people are wrong.
 
platocplx

platocplx

2020 Member Elect
Member
Oct 30, 2017
36,072
dabig2 said:
People are crazy in here if they think Disney is the bigger threat than Comcast (or Murdoch).

Real fucking talk: some of ya'll need to retire from this tribal fanboy movie shit that has no meaning or importance. People are worried that Disney is going to grow and become an existential threat, Comcast has been an existential threat for decades.
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Yep comcast is positioning itself to not only own content but also own the pipes as well for everything which means they can charge whatever they want.
 
Chie Satonaka91

Chie Satonaka91

Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,257
I had Comcast internet for a few years once. Abysmal reliability, it would go off for hours at a time, the usual fixes wouldn't help, their customer support was worthless. I would not trust them at all.
 
avaya

avaya

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,140
London
Norwegian Rudo said:
Brexit and the Tories laugh at you. Without the threat of EU courts Britain will be as bad as the US in less than a decade.
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Telecoms regulation will be no different. We currently have a Tory government fucking BT up because no one has good enough rural Broadband vs peers.

TyrantII said:
They couldn't in the US 30 years ago either.

Things change and they play the long game.
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If Comcast want to spend another USD50bn building out a 27m home FTTH network (because Sky owns jackshit) then all the more power to them. That is the only way they get ownership of the broadband network. They'll be at least overbuilt by Virgin and BT on top.
 
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