10 Reasons Why Disney's Fox Takeover Is Terrifying
8. The Party Line
Whenever Disney acquires a new IP, there’s talk of it potentially becoming softer and ‘Disney-fied’, but since Pulp Fiction was released through one of Disney's subsidiaries, and Spider-Man is now allowed to swear, that doesn't seem to be a real concern. What is a potential issue is what will happen when Disney’s new acquisitions start to fall under the regulations of the company.
For a start, anything airing on a rival network like This Is Us (NBC) or The Great British Bake-Off (PBS) will probably be moved to a Disney-owned broadcaster like ABC, while shows produced by Disney's competitors but airing on Fox - like Batman prequel Gotham - will probably will not have their contracts renewed.
Disney is not run by idiots, and any deal one of their competitors is carefully thought out. The decision to partner with Sony on new Spider-Man movies not only brought Spider-Man into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but was done at a time when the franchise was struggling after a failed attempt at a cinematic universe, probably helping Disney to secure some very favourable terms.
But licensing shows from other companies is quite literally paying to give them more publicity. It’s not completely out of the question, but whether or not the advertising revenue makes it worth the risk is always a big question. So expect Disney to start seriously reassessing which TV shows and movies it licenses from different companies.