Disney Close to Clearing Last Major Hurdles in Closing Fox Deal

One of Disney‘s biggest hurdles in getting regulatory approval has just been overcome, and now their acquisition of 20th Century Fox and other assets is set to be completed soon.

According to a new report from Bloomberg, Disney agreed to divest its interests and sell Fox Sports in Mexico and Brazil in order to get the deal approved in those countries.

Brazil was one of the last countries with regulators yet to approve the deal. And while it has yet to be finalized or made public, sources close to the proceedings indicated that Disney is willing to unload the market’s Fox Sports network with potential buyers already waiting in the wings.

The company is also anticipating Mexico regulators to require a similar divestment and are already making plans to meet that goal, according to sources.

Of course, this deal has a lot of implications for the future of the entertainment business and content creation, but many fans are eager to see it finalized for one specific reason: Marvel.

Disney will acquire popular properties like The Simpsons, Alien, and Avatar, but the film rights to characters like the X-Men and the Fantastic Four will finally come under the banner of Marvel Studios. This will further expand the franchise possibilities of the already dominant Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Walt Disney Company chairman Bob Iger confirmed those rights would go under the MCU banner during an interview with The Hollywood Reporter last year.

“I think it only makes sense,” Iger told THR. “I want to be careful here because of what’s been communicated to the Fox folks, but I think they know. It only makes sense for Marvel to be supervised by one entity. There shouldn’t be two Marvels.”

Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige praised the implications during an interview with MTV News earlier this year.

“The truth is, I’m excited for all of them. I’m excited, and it’s not just the marquee names you know — there are hundreds of names on those documents, on those agreements,” said Feige. “And the fact that Marvel is as close as we may ever get now to having access to all of the characters, is something I’ve been dreaming about for my almost 20 years at Marvel. And it’s very exciting.”

These two regulatory approvals were said to be the last major hurdles in finalizing the Disney and Fox deal. The acquisition is said to be on track for completion later this year.

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