Idle Notes: Comcast-Fox, AT&T-Time Warner, 2026 World Cup

Comcast on Wednesday announced a $65 billion bid for the properties that 21st Century Fox has already agreed to sell to Disney for $52 billion, just under a month before Fox shareholders are expected to vote on the Disney deal. While Comcast originally outbid Disney last December, Fox passed on the offer because of concerns that a Comcast deal would bring greater antitrust scrutiny. Transferring the 22 Fox-owned regional sports networks to Comcast — which already owns seven of its own — could conceivably draw regulatory ire.

In a press release touting its “superior offer,” Comcast said it is willing to divest the RSNs if regulators deem it necessary. In doing so, it revealed that Disney has agreed to the same stipulation. As Recode reported, Disney’s willingness to divest the RSNs has been disclosed in public filings since April, but had previously gone unnoticed.

The 22 Fox RSNs are worth more than $22 billion, according to analysis cited by The Los Angeles Times last year. [Comcast 6.13; Recode 6.13]

A federal judge has approved AT&T’s proposed $85.4 billion acquisition of Time Warner, ruling against the U.S. justice department, which challenged the deal purportedly on antitrust grounds. The deal marks the second-biggest media merger on record behind AOL’s $162 billion acquisition of Time Warner 18 years ago.

Aside from providing Turner a larger warchest with which to pursue sports rights, the merger puts AT&T’s three regional sports networks and Turner Sports under the same umbrella.

Time Warner has long been a target for acquisition. Just four years ago,  21st Century Fox — now about to sell most of its assets — sought to acquire all of Time Warner. Fox offered $80 billion in a bid that quickly fell by the wayside. [NYT 6.12]

FIFA voted Wednesday to award the 2026 World Cup to Mexico, Canada and the United States, which combined on a rare joint bid. The North American bid won with two-thirds of the vote over second-place Morocco. The 2026 World Cup will be the first in the U.S. since 1994, and the nation will host most of the matches — including the final.

Wednesday’s announcement came a year after Los Angeles won the bidding for the 2028 Summer Olympics. The last time the U.S. hosted the Olympics and World Cup in a three year span was in the mid-1990s, when it hosted the 1994 World Cup and 1996 Summer Games.

The U.S. had long been expected to host the 2026 World Cup. Three years ago, U.S. rightsholders Fox Sports and Telemundo were unexpectedly awarded 2026 rights in an arrangement FIFA later admitted was consolation for moving the 2022 tournament to the winter. Awarding the 2026 tournament to North America would be in keeping with that spirit of atonement. [NYT 6.13]