THINKING OUT LOUD: WHAT THE DISNEY-FOX DEAL COULD MEAN FOR HHN

Greetings internet dwellers!

If you've been living under a rock for the past month, you may not have heard that Disney is looking to acquire some 21st Century Fox assets. While nothing has yet happened, there are potential impacts to both HHN and Universal Orlando, if what is being reported actually happens. 

On the surface, Disney acquiring assets from Fox only appear to include cinematic properties. People hear that The Mouse, is buying stuff from Fox and ALL they hear is: "X-Men in the MCU!" This, of course, is probably one of Disney's main driving motivations to shelling out a reported $60 billion for some of these assets. 

It's important to point out, we don't have definitive knowledge of what the deal includes. Just reports. There are a lot of industry people, who are actually against this potential deal. One reason, is that this deal would go beyond film properties. It would also include television. It's just a lot of stuff that one company could own, under one umbrella. Based on reports, the deal would exclude Fox News and Fox Sports.

One question here, is what happens to the Fox Network? Disney already owns ABC, and I don't think the FCC would allow them to own both networks. However, cable channels, could be up for grabs. It's being reported, the deal would include the channels FX and The National Geographic channel. 

Which brings us to American Horror Story. If Disney were to acquire FX, you can bet your bottom dollar this could potentially cause a problem for HHN. With any of these types of deals, there's bound to be clauses and things which would prevent Disney, from interfering with existing contacts. I'm sure people would point out the IOA/Marvel stuff for reference.

Let's say that American Horror Story is already on the docket for HHN 28. Disney may not be allowed to interfere with Universal, using it for next year's event. However, that potentially could be it for American Horror Story coming to HHN ever again. Something to also keep in mind, is how HHN has been branding the property at the event. It's always included FX in the title.

Two things here. One, using FX in their advertising would openly be promoting a Disney product. Two, what if Disney gets rid of, or changes FX? It's entirely possible Disney could dissolve the FX channel, and say move it and some of its programming to something like Hulu. Why Hulu? Disney is also said to be acquiring Foxs' 30% stake in the streaming service. 

Let's talk a little about Alien. HHN has had a rough go already, when it comes to using Alien at the event. They were able to use Alien vs. Predator a few years ago, ironically because it was a Fox product. In the past, The Mouse, may have been a problem in them using the Xenomorphs at the event. That may get worse, as Alien would now be solely owned by Disney. And of course, the aforementioned Predator, would also be under rodent control. 
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I'm getting ahead of myself though. The biggest immediate potential impact on HHN that this deal has, is with American Horror Story. The powers that be, are probably watching this very closely. For Universal Orlando itself; well that's going to depend on existing deals Universal has with Fox and The Simpsons, if Disney does in fact go on to own the characters.

While all this is speculation, there are a horde of potential impacts both with Universal and HHN, on the horizon. With American Horror Story being very popular at the event, one could think Universal would just pay to use the IP. Sure, but it's Disney. Optics wise, that would just be weird. And would they want to openly promote a Disney product at HHN?

For the time being, we just have to wait and see what happens. The potential deal, is said to be close to being finalized. If you would like to read more about the deal, Forbes and Deadline have some great information.

There's a part of me that feels this can get rough, going forward. More so, for Universal itself. 

​Hold on to your butts.