Comcast Also Interested In Acquiring 21st Century Fox

Earlier this month, reports emerged that Disney was in talks to purchase portions of 21st Century Fox, but it looks like the House of Mouse will have some competition, as sources have revealed that Comcast has also expressed interest in the media company.

Comcast is mostly known as a cable provider, yet it also owns NBCUniversal, so it’s unclear what the company’s motivations and future plans could be were they to purchase 21st Century Fox. Additionally, reports are unclear if Comcast would be interested in merely purchasing certain assets that belonged to Fox or if they were to seek ownership of the entire company.

At this time, there’s nothing more known about the situation other than talks were being held, while it’s possible that those talks have already concluded.

When news broke that the Walt Disney Company had also been involved in talks about purchasing Fox, the internet ignited with theories of what that could mean moving forward.

Disney has always been a powerhouse in the entertainment industry, but it was their purchases of Marvel Entertainment and Lucasfilm earlier this decade that brought their value into the stratosphere.

The element of Disney that most excited fans about the company potentially purchasing Fox’s TV and movie assets would relate specifically to Marvel and the possibilities that would be opened if, say, Disney purchased the rights to the X-Men franchise.

In the ’90s, Marvel was headed for bankruptcy and, in an attempt to stay in business, sold off the movie rights to some of their most popular characters. In 1999, Fox released X-Men, which kicked off the current domination of superheroes in pop culture.

Since the original film, we’ve seen five sequels and various TV projects relating to the mutants, all while Marvel Studios has been creating an empire alongside the X-Men.

In 2015, Marvel struck a deal with Sony, who owned the film rights to Spider-Man, to bring the Wall-Crawler into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The character appeared in Captain America: Civil War while Marvel Studios helped the creative team develop Spider-Man: Homecoming.

After learning of the talks between Disney and Fox, many fans hoped an agreement could be reached that would allow not just the X-Men, but also the Fox-owned Fantastic Four, back into the Marvel mix.

Stay tuned for any future developments in the acquisition of 21st Century Fox.

[H/T Wall Street Journal]