Comcast has thrown in the towel in the bidding war to snatch up assets of 21st Century Fox.
The cable giant announced on Thursday that it will instead focus on its bid for British broadcaster Sky.
The decision means Disney's $71 billion agreement to buy most of Fox can proceed unchallenged. Comcast had twice outbid the entertainment giant for those assets. It's last offer in June came in at $65 billion, and [some reports](https://www.wsj.com/articles/comcast-isnt-done-yet-1529524156) suggested bidding could go as high as $80 billion.
"Our focus now is on completing the regulatory process and ultimately moving toward integrating our businesses," said Disney CEO Bob Iger in a statement about the move.
Comcast CEO Brian Roberts said, "I’d like to congratulate Bob Iger and the team at Disney and commend the Murdoch family and Fox for creating such a desirable and respected company."
The two companies were vying for Fox's film and TV studios, the networks FX and NatGeo, and its stakes in Hulu, India's Star network, andーto complicate thingsーSky.
Fox currently holds a 39 percent stake in Sky and last week offered to buy the rest in a deal that value the company at $32.5 billion. Comcast responded with an all-cash bid of $34 billion, 12 percent higher than what it first offered in February.
"Sky is clearly a crown jewel, you see all this competition for it," said Wall Street Journal reporter Keach Hagey. "It's something that would really give Comcast exposure to international markets, which they don't have. It would be massive for Comcast."
But UK regulators gave Fox the green light last week, which could mean the company would ultimately go to Disney.
A [Wall Street Journal report](https://www.wsj.com/articles/disneys-big-question-how-crucial-is-sky-to-its-fox-deal-1531915200) Wednesday suggested Disney might be willing to do without Sky if it meant avoiding a continued bidding war for Fox. Whether it's willing to sustain a battle for Sky is still a question.
Either way, the merger would further increase competition in the crowded streaming market, said Hagey, author of "The King of Content." Disney announced plans last year to create its own streaming service, which would likely include Fox's content.
"You already have to subscribe to four or five services if you want to watch the show that people are talking about at the water cooler," Hagey said. "It's going to only become more fragmented."
Disney and Fox shareholders are set to vote on their proposed combination on July 27th. The Justice Department approved the deal in late June.
For the full segment, [click here.]( https://cheddar.com/videos/comcast-drops-fox-bid-and-state-of-media-m-and-a)
Driver assistance monitoring systems are meant to keep the driver's eyes on the road, but according to a report from AAA, different ways of monitoring provide significantly different results. The study found that direct camera-based systems that scanned the driver's eye movements were faster and more reliable than those indirect systems that looked at steering-wheel input. Megan McKernan, the manager of automotive services for the Automobile Club of Southern California, joined Cheddar to discuss the findings. "Triple-A is recommending that automakers include both direct and indirect systems just to really prevent consumers from trying to misuse these systems," she said, noting that neither system on its own is not foolproof.
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Pinterest recently added augmented reality to its portfolio. The image sharing and social media platform's new e-commerce tech will allow consumers to interact with retailers and visualize online products inside their homes.
On this episode of Cheddar Reveals, Jim Riordan, Director of the MBA Sport Management program at Florida Atlantic University, breaks down the successes, failures, and chaos of the first seven months of the Name, Image, Likeness policy in college athletics; Adi Kunalic, President of Opendorse, discusses the first-ever association-wide deal in college athletics between Opendorse and the NAIA, and how Opendorse is marketing and educating student-athletes to make the most of their NIL deal potential; Cheddar gets a look at Curiosity Stream's 'Predicting a Pro'.
Jim Riordan, Director of the MBA Sport Management program at Florida Atlantic University, joins Cheddar Reveals to break down the successes, failures, and chaos of the first seven months of the Name, Image, Likeness policy in college athletics.
Adi Kunalic, President of Opendorse, joins Cheddar Reveals to discuss the first-ever association-wide deal in college athletics between Opendorse and the NAIA, and how Opendorse is marketing and educating student-athletes to make the most of their NIL deal potential.
Jason Chinnock, CEO of Ducati North America, discusses ways demand has changed over the last year and what supplying race bikes for the MotoE World Cup series means for Ducati's future.
The value of most cryptocurrencies have plummeted in recent months since reaching all-time highs in November, wiping out more than $1 trillion in value globally. The steep crash has some talking about the possibility of a crypto winter, a term referring to a prolonged bearish period where asset prices persistently fall over many months. This all comes as the Fed is expected to raise interest rates, and the Biden administration is working on an executive order to regulate Bitcoin and other assets. Josh Goodbody, COO of Qredo, joined Cheddar's Opening Bell to discuss the crypto crash, and how the industry might recover from it.
Logitech posted better-than-expected earnings in its third quarter, reporting sales of $1.63 billion dollars, down 2% from the year ago quarter, but well ahead of the Wall Street consensus of $1.48 billion dollars. The PC and gaming peripherals company also raised its annual guidance for both sales and profitability. Bracken Darrell, Logitech CEO, joined Cheddar to break down his reaction to the results, how the pandemic played a role in its growth, and where he wants to take the company next.
Starbucks is scheduled to report its fiscal first quarter 2022 earnings Tuesday, February 1 after the bell. The coffee giant is expected to report revenue of nearly $8 billion and earnings per share of 79 cents. Starbucks has seen a solid recovery in demand since the beginning of pandemic lockdowns, but is now facing a unionization push, labor shortage, and the Omicron variant. Thomas Hayes, chairman of Great Hill Capital, joined Cheddar's Opening Bell to give a preview of Starbucks earnings.
