Report: Comcast Reconsiders Pursuit of Fox

Cable giant Comcast Corp. is contemplating reviving its pursuit of 21st Century Fox after its bid for the company’s entertainment assets was turned down despite being over 15% higher than that of eventual buyer Walt Disney Co., according to The Wall Street Journal citing people familiar with the situation.

Disney struck a deal with Fox in December, agreeing to pay $52.4 billion in stock. Fox turned down a Comcast offer that was in the low-$60 billions range, the people said. The assets on the table in both offers were essentially the same, including the Twentieth Century Fox movie and TV studio, international pay TV properties and some U.S. cable networks.

Fox’s primary concern about the Comcast bid was that a tie-up between the companies would face significant antitrust risks, people familiar with the discussions said.

A Comcast acquisition of Fox would be a “vertical” deal adding more cable TV channels to a company that also is a powerhouse in channel-distribution. The government signaled concerns about vertical deals when it sued to block AT&T Inc.’s acquisition of Time Warner Inc., a case that heads to trial next month. Some Wall Street analysts noted the potential roadblocks in Washington to a Comcast-Fox deal.

Comcast believed it had offered substantial protections in its offer against antitrust risk, some of the people familiar with the situation said.

Fox executives positioned the Disney deal as a chance for its investors to benefit from Disney’s vast content machine and plans to battle the likes of Netflix Inc. with direct-to-consumer streaming services. After an asset sale, the remaining “new Fox” would have properties including the Fox broadcast network, Fox News and Fox Sports 1.