Disney Buys Fox Family Channel
Walt Disney Co. is buying the children's cable network Fox Family Worldwide Inc. for $3 billion in cash plus the assumption of $2.3 billion in debt.
The deal announced Monday adds another major cable outlet to Disney's portfolio, which already includes ESPN, A&E, the Disney Channel and Lifetime. The Fox Family Channel, which Disney plans to rename ABC Family, reaches about 81 million subscribers in the United States.
Disney bought Fox Family from News Corp. and Saban Entertainment Inc., which each owned 49.5 percent of the company. Saban, a major children's programmer who created the "Mighty Morphin Power Rangers," had exercised its right to have News Corp. buy out its share.
For News Corp., the deal provides a welcome dose of cash just as the company is hoping to reach an agreement with General Motors Corp. over a purchase of DirecTV, a division of GM's Hughes Electronics unit.
The deal expands Disney's programming reach worldwide with a 76 percent ownership in Fox Kids Europe, a children's programming channel that reaches 24 million homes, and a 10-million subscriber channel in Latin America called Fox Kids.
Disney is also getting Saban's programming library, which contains more than 6,500 episodes of shows.
Disney will use the new ABC Family channel to distribute programming content from other parts of Disney's entertainment warehouse, including ABC and Disney-owned TV shows. The channel will also continue to show the 700 Club and other shows made by Pat Robertson's Christian Broadcast Network, which originally started the network.
"In creating a new and vibrant family-oriented channel, we also will use the strong programs and brands from ABC and ESPN, as well as Disney-branded services and content from the unparalleled Disney libraries," Disney chairman Michael Eisner said.
Eisner said the channel would draw on resources from both the ABC broadcast network as well as Disney's cable properties, bringing "broadcast and cable to a new level of integration."
© MMI The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed