How Disney’s $52.4b acquisition of 21st Century Fox assets will make it a streaming powerhouse

A major consequence of Disney’s US$52.4 billion acquisition of a large part of the Murdoch family’s 21st Century Fox is that it will make it a major player in the streaming and original content sphere.

The deal includes film and television studios, cable and international TV businesses, allowing the Murdochs to do what they do best – focus on American news and sports, according to Rupert Murdoch.

He said during an investors call after the official announcement, “I know a lot of you are wondering, ’Why did the Murdochs come to such a momentous decision?’”.

“Are we retreating? Absolutely not. We are pivoting at a pivotal moment.”

According to Forbes, the Murdochs pulled out of entertainment because of their long time worries that they can’t spend on the same scales on original content costs that their rivals are.

Netflix plans to spend $8 billion on it, Amazon $4.5 billion and Apple $1 billion.

For Disney, its new Over The Top streaming services – set to arrive in 2019 – will be helped considerably by the addition of Fox assets.

These include blockbusters movies as Avatar, X-Men, Fantastic Four and Deadpool, and TV shows as The Simpsons and Modern Family.

This will allow Disney to take the streaming wars directly to Netflix, by bypassing it and charging customers directly for access to its massive content library.

It will also transform Disney’s image with younger consumers, from family-friendly to something more edgy.

Disney gets a wider global presence with Fox’s holdings in the U.K., Latin America, and India.

Disney, which owns Marvel, now also gets to the ownership of the highly lucrative X-Men characters, to add to its collection as Thor, Doctor Strange and Captain America and the Avengers crew.

As one analyst asked, how long before Disney theme parks start building X-Men and The Simpsons rides?