IRVING, TEXAS - The following is a statement from Tom Giovanetti, President of the Institute for Policy Innovation (IPI), on today’s announcement that Comcast is considering a bid for assets that 21st Century Fox has agreed to sell to the Walt Disney Company:
"Content is king, and so it’s no surprise that valuable content owning and producing assets like those being spun out of 21st Century Fox are in high demand. This morning, Comcast announced it is considering a bid for those assets, which the Walt Disney Company has already agreed to purchase.
This news is best viewed as more evidence of a dynamic, free-market in action; specifically, as companies move to position themselves to survive and thrive in an industry where methods of delivery are ever-changing but high quality content is more valuable than ever. And markets work best when companies, shareholders and governing boards--not politicians--determine the outcome that is in the best interests of shareholders.
The policy issue here is that these types of transactions should be determined based on the best interests of those involved, free of interference from politics.
Politicians and bureaucrats often assume they know where an industry is going and what it should look like, and are thus tempted to intervene in these kinds of transactions. But governments actually have less wisdom in these matters than do markets, which is why we have always asserted that the right to try (and the right to fail) should determine outcomes, rather than second-guessing by government.
Particularly given the unprecedented competition, creativity and choice in today’s entertainment ecosystem, it’s hard to imagine any credible antitrust case could be made against such transactions. As a free-market policy organization, our business is not the competitive details of such transactions, but rather to insist that markets, not federal authorities, determine the outcome."