*By Jim Roberts*
The see-saw battle for the assets of 21st Century Fox may take another turn after Comcast said on Monday that it would make an all-cash bid for Fox’s assets if AT&T wins its legal fight to acquire Time Warner, according to a report by CNBC.
A federal judge in Washington is expected to rule Tuesday on AT&T’s $85 billion bid for Time Warner, which has been opposed by U.S. antitrust regulators. The government sought to block the acquisition, fearing that AT&T would use its control over Time Warner content to extract higher licensing payments for popular entertainment.
Those higher costs would likely be passed along to consumers.
Rupert Murdoch agreed in December to sell most of his 21st Century Fox media empire to Disney in a $52-billion all-stock deal.
In the deal, Disney [agreed to buy](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/18/business/media/comcast-21st-century-fox-disney.html) the 20th Century Fox studio, Hulu, the FX cable network, and stakes in two overseas television-service providers, Sky of Britain and Star of India. The deal did not include the Fox broadcast network or Fox News.
But BTIG analyst Rich Greenfield [told Cheddar exclusively](https://cheddar.com/videos/rich-greenfield-murdoch-no-longer-set-on-selling-to-disney-for-stock) that Murdoch was no longer set on selling to Disney.
Comcast, which previously made an all-stock bid for the company that Murdoch rebuffed, has suggested for some time that it would prepare an all-cash bid around $60 billion.
On Monday morning, Comcast CEO Brian Roberts told investors that the cable company was in the [“advanced stages”](https://deadline.com/2018/06/brian-roberts-comcast-advanced-stages-offer-fox-annual-shareholders-meeting-1202407754/) of preparing an offer, pending the outcome of the AT&T-Time Warner antitrust suit.
[According to CNBC](https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/11/comcast-announcing-fox-bid-on-wednesday-if-att-time-warner-approved.html), Comcast executives believe their company’s bid for Fox will put pressure on Disney's shares, putting pressure on Disney to raise the value of it’s all all-stock offer.
Disney content has gone dark on YouTube TV, leaving subscribers of the Google-owned live streaming platform without access to major networks like ESPN and ABC. That’s because the companies have failed to reach a new licensing deal to keep Disney channels on YouTube TV. Depending on how long it lasts, the dispute could particularly impact coverage of U.S. college football matchups over the weekend — on top of other news and entertainment disruptions that have already arrived. In the meantime, YouTube TV subscribers who want to watch Disney channels could have little choice other than turning to the company’s own platforms, which come with their own price tags.
President Donald Trump said he has decided to lower his combined tariff rates on imports of Chinese goods to 47% after talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping on curbing fentanyl trafficking.
Universal Music Group and AI platform Udio have settled a copyright lawsuit and will collaborate on a new music creation and streaming platform. The companies announced on Wednesday that they reached a compensatory legal settlement and new licensing agreements. These agreements aim to provide more revenue opportunities for Universal's artists and songwriters. The rise of AI song generation tools like Udio has disrupted the music streaming industry, leading to accusations from record labels. This deal marks the first since Universal and others sued Udio and Suno last year. Financial terms of the settlement weren't disclosed.
Nvidia on Wednesday became the first public company to reach a market capitalization of $5 trillion. The ravenous appetite for the Silicon Valley company’s chips is the main reason that the company’s stock price has increased so rapidly since early 2023.
