Disney to Acquire Twenty-First Century Fox • Hacker News Board

Re: Disney to Acquire Twenty-First Century Fox

#141

Post by vlunkr » Thu, Dec 14, 2017, 3:35 PM UTC

ocdtrekkie wrote: post #85

exelius wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Disney is only interested in the creative/film assets; broadcast distribution and news/sports are being spun off.

The "big five" studios decreasing to the "big four" is not a good thing either. I feel like people have decided that because they really want an Avengers/X-Men movie (I want one too), it's okay that one of the largest companies on the planet is buying out one of their largest competitors.

I like Disney, obviously they make great movies, but I don’t want _everything_ to be made by Disney. Personally I think their superhero movies have gotten much too formulaic, and I’m worried for what’s going to happen to Star Wars after they keep putting them out every year. We need more creators out there trying new things, and it doesn’t help that Disney wants to collect every recognizable character.

Re: Disney to Acquire Twenty-First Century Fox

#142

Post by bighi » Thu, Dec 14, 2017, 3:35 PM UTC

bovermyer wrote: post #27

jjoonathan wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Market freedom leads to competition, doncha know?

Market freedom leads to consolidation which leads to the exact opposite of competition. This is why the United States, contrary to popular opinion, is not a purely capitalist nation; it is instead a hybrid between socialism and capitalism. Reasonable regulation protects the free market.

I think you meant Communism, not socialism.

But good point anyway.

Re: Disney to Acquire Twenty-First Century Fox

#143

Post by bighi » Thu, Dec 14, 2017, 3:36 PM UTC

PatientTrader wrote: post #79

Hopefully this deal is killed. Its really bad for consumers, content creators, and actors. Monopoly on too much media all under one roof is bad all around...

Monopoly in any market is bad.

Re: Disney to Acquire Twenty-First Century Fox

#144

Post by swarnie_ » Thu, Dec 14, 2017, 3:36 PM UTC

thrillgore wrote: post #108

Disney is now officially too big to fail. This deal needs to be stopped right away.

Not really, the world doesn't end if Disney goes broke. its not like 2008 where 60% of all high street bank accounts were in danger.

Re: Disney to Acquire Twenty-First Century Fox

#145

Post by qwerty456127 » Thu, Dec 14, 2017, 3:37 PM UTC

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTk6m3U54po

Re: Disney to Acquire Twenty-First Century Fox

#146

Post by bighi » Thu, Dec 14, 2017, 3:37 PM UTC

thrillgore wrote: post #108

Disney is now officially too big to fail. This deal needs to be stopped right away.

It's the US. They won't even move a finger to protect the economy or consumers.

Re: Disney to Acquire Twenty-First Century Fox

#147

Post by WillReplyfFood » Thu, Dec 14, 2017, 3:39 PM UTC

lostcolony wrote: post #62

friedButter wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's entertainment. Why should anything other than being good for shareholders matter? It's not an essential goods company like say food or medicine

It's culture. Why should a single entity have such overlarge control over the creative works that lead and inspire all of us?

Well, it seems to lend itself towards monopolization for no economic reason, as can be seen at the renteers dominating scientific publications.

Re: Disney to Acquire Twenty-First Century Fox

#148

Post by nothis » Thu, Dec 14, 2017, 3:40 PM UTC

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #122

jakozaur wrote: post #24

Sane antitrust regulations should kill this deal. It is bad for everybody other than shareholders of those two companies. In particular bad for customers, other companies and employees: https://www.economist.com/news/finance-and-economics/2172555... https://www.economist.com/news/briefing/21695385-profits-are...

It's not so black and white. Stratchery posits consolidation may promote competition at the distribution layer, where Netflix presently stands to dominate: "To that end, might it be better for consumers, not-so-much today but ten years from now, if Disney were fully empowered to compete with Netflix? What is preferable? A dominant streaming company and a collection of content companies trying to escape the commoditiz…

Haha, that's hilarious. In order to fight one quasi-monopoly in one field, we're combining two of another. What could possibly go wrong?

Re: Disney to Acquire Twenty-First Century Fox

#149

Post by TheCoelacanth » Thu, Dec 14, 2017, 3:40 PM UTC

friedButter wrote: post #97

lostcolony wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's culture. Why should a single entity have such overlarge control over the creative works that lead and inspire all of us?

Then there should be provisions in the copyright law to allow the govt to suspend copyright when entertainment becomes part of the culture, similar to how some patent protections are suspended in India when a medicine is determined to be essential

There already is one right in the Constitution: "limited time". Originally copyright in the US only lasted 14-28 years. Copyright is supposed to expire quickly enough that important parts of culture will not be tied up by copyright.

Re: Disney to Acquire Twenty-First Century Fox

#150

Post by pdog » Thu, Dec 14, 2017, 3:40 PM UTC

jakozaur wrote: post #24

Sane antitrust regulations should kill this deal. It is bad for everybody other than shareholders of those two companies. In particular bad for customers, other companies and employees: https://www.economist.com/news/finance-and-economics/2172555... https://www.economist.com/news/briefing/21695385-profits-are...

Neither of the two articles even mention the Disney-21st Century Fox deal.

What specifically about this deal should be of concern for antitrust regulators?