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

Re: Disney to Acquire Twenty-First Century Fox

#321

Post by jedberg » Fri, Dec 15, 2017, 1:14 AM UTC

rjohnk wrote: post #298

upvotinglurker wrote: post #233

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Serious question: why do people want this so badly? Just nostalgia? (Too young to have see the OT movies in theaters, so I don't have that) For me, sticking the cheesy fox logo and fanfare at the beginning of the movies would make them worse, not better.

Another interesting tidbit: John Williams put the opening theme to star wars in the same key as the Fanfare (b-flat major) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/20th_Century_Fox#Logo

He wrote the fanfare too (the one that comes before Star Wars, which was an adaptation of the original).

Re: Disney to Acquire Twenty-First Century Fox

#322

Post by munk-a » Fri, Dec 15, 2017, 1:24 AM UTC

theptip wrote: post #265

tvon wrote: post #204

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In what way(s) is Disney not currently fully empowered to compete with Netflix?

They don't have a broad enough basket of content. This is covered in the linked article, read around this quote: > Moreover, not only does 21st Century Fox have a lot of content, it has content that is particularly great for filling out a streaming library: think The Simpsons, or Family Guy; according to estimates I’ve seen, in terms of external content Fox owns eight of Netflix’s most streamed shows

Yea, but they could invest in new content aside from 21st Century Fox... Netflix didn't build up their original content via acquisitions, they invested in content creation... Disney could do similar, especially with the various IPs they already control.

Re: Disney to Acquire Twenty-First Century Fox

#323

Post by [deleted] » Fri, Dec 15, 2017, 1:24 AM UTC

azemetre wrote: post #312

upvotinglurker wrote: post #277

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, the actual movie part - but the 20th century fox fanfare at the beginning? (I have heard nostalgia expressed specifically for that)

I don't know what you're referring to but I think people want the version where Han shoots first and less of the CGI enhancements that Lucas put into the film over the years.

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Re: Disney to Acquire Twenty-First Century Fox

#324

Post by [deleted] » Fri, Dec 15, 2017, 1:25 AM UTC

kurheim wrote: post #315

smhenderson wrote: post #222

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They're actually doing two services, one for sports based on their ownership of ESPN and another for TV/Movies. Not sure if their plan is to license other content or just rely on their own. If it's the latter I don't think it will be much of a Netflix competitor, it will be more like HBO Go. Otherwise, if I was Netflix, I'd be very worried. Disney has some deep pockets! I think they are set to launch in 2019.

so who's gonna do "real news" now?

[deleted]

Re: Disney to Acquire Twenty-First Century Fox

#325

Post by [deleted] » Fri, Dec 15, 2017, 2:07 AM UTC

jimmaswell wrote: post #252

jandrese wrote: post #189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

State controlled is little better than privately held. In a public company only people who own a stake get a vote, and their vote is proportional to how much of a stake they own (the rich get most of the votes). In a State owned company every taxpayer is a stakeholder, the main difference being that you get exactly 1 vote no matter how much you pay in taxes. But voting is a very inefficient way to steer a company, pr…

It really seems to me that state-run monopolies are much more than "little" better than free-market monopolies in practice today. Compare the service from a private ISP that's the only provider in a region to how well municipal broadband works out. You've also probably never sent a plain letter through UPS or Fedex, even though neither of those is a monopoly yet the USPS is essentially a state run monopoly on that ki…

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Re: Disney to Acquire Twenty-First Century Fox

#326

Post by kthejoker2 » Fri, Dec 15, 2017, 2:10 AM UTC

chaostheory wrote: post #221

trisimix wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But think of the x-men mobies

Looking forward to seeing all Marvel characters live in the same movie universe.

Can't believe we've lost the copyright battle so hard.

Re: Disney to Acquire Twenty-First Century Fox

#327

Post by chiaro » Fri, Dec 15, 2017, 2:21 AM UTC

antisthenes wrote: post #215

paulus_magnus2 wrote: post #60

Why not go all the way and merge all companies into 1 big one. Being born on the wrong side of the iron curtain I already saw economy based on monopolies. Communism failed because prices were centrally set. We knew how to build useful things (that don't break 1 day after warranty) but not which ones to build and how many. (wiki) A price signal is information conveyed to consumers and producers, via the price charged…

> Communism failed because prices were centrally set. We knew how to build useful things (that don't break 1 day after warranty) but not which ones to build and how many. A problem easily solved with modern technology. There's nothing inherent in communism or capitalism that prevents or enables, respectively, the use of price signals.

The first chapter of Marx' capital directly sets up this inherency by means of his labor theory of value, along these lines.

Re: Disney to Acquire Twenty-First Century Fox

#328

Post by berbec » Fri, Dec 15, 2017, 2:37 AM UTC

tabs_masterrace wrote: post #307

mulletbum wrote: post #296

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From my understanding Android's launch was delayed because they didn't know how amazing the first iPhone was before its release. That seems to me they were taking it seriously as they were competing with Blackberry at the time if I am correct.

The big 3 were BlackBerry, Windows Mobile & Symbian (Nokia) Android was built a lot like a BlackBerry/Window Mobile competitor in its early stages. Nobody knew Apple was making a phone, there were heavy rumors of course, but people weren't expecting the impact it would have. Google obviously had to know something about it, as they provided maps apis for the first iPhone. But Apple probably kept as much secret as they…

Ah Symbian! I fondly remember my E62, the first mobile device I had with a real OS.

Re: Disney to Acquire Twenty-First Century Fox

#329

Post by berbec » Fri, Dec 15, 2017, 2:40 AM UTC

Nition wrote: post #320

santaclaus wrote: post #305

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> So what are the next movie franchises to get Disney-ized, like they did to Star Wars? The Simpsons Cinematic Universe

Starting with origin story films for each character.

A self-contained spinoff "Shelbyville One"

Re: Disney to Acquire Twenty-First Century Fox

#330

Post by jimmytucson » Fri, Dec 15, 2017, 2:42 AM UTC

adamlett wrote: post #267

aqme28 wrote: post #199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is Netflix approaching monopoly? If anything I've seen a ton of competition coming up from the likes of Amazon, HBO, and a billion smaller services.

Netflix is on the trajectory to becoming a monopoly, yes. HBO is hamstrung by its lucrative cable tv deals in the US, which prevents it from competing effectively with Netflix in the streaming market. They will keep making money hand over fist from cable tv until suddenly they don’t. If Netflix is Google, HBO is Yahoo. Amazon in this analogy, of course would be Bing. At a glance they seem to have what is required to…

> HBO is hamstrung by its lucrative cable tv deals in the US, which prevents it from competing effectively with Netflix in the streaming market.

What are you basing this on? They partnered with the same company that Disney just bought to create HBO Now, their video on demand offering. It has 2 million subscribers and is another revenue source for them.

The "problem" with HBO Now is that subscribership spikes when the Game of Thrones starts and plummets when the season ends. Now that the series is winding down, they need to find another one but with their history of great shows I wouldn't bet against them.