Future Entertainment M&As you'd like to see happen

[Elijah Abrams]

Which mergers and acquisitions in the entertainment industry would you like to see happen? I am making this thread for @lowell and @PF9 to discuss here, so they don’t bring other ones into an off-topic state.

 

[PF9]

I was thinking Sony could form a media conglomerate of comparable size and influence to Paramount Global, Warner Bros.-Discovery, The Walt Disney Company, and NBCUniversal by purchasing Fox Corporation (except for the Fox News division which would be renamed as Sony gets the rights to the Fox name), Lionsgate, and AMC Networks, combining these assets with their Sony Pictures and Sony Music divisions to form AMC-Fox.

Here, AMC+ would be refashioned as Sony/AMC-Fox's flagship streaming service (while the new company would have a lot of other streaming services too, which may all be combined into one slowly), Sony Pictures Entertainment would be renamed as Fox Filmed Entertainment (consisting of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, the Lionsgate Motion Picture Group, and Fox Television Group which encompasses Fox Entertainment which absorbs Sony Pictures Television and claims its history as its own, Lionsgate Television, Debmar-Mercury which absorbs Fox First Run and SPT's existing syndication output and would now solely operate as a production company, Fox Television Distribution which distributes the entire film and TV library of Fox Filmed Entertainment formerly the distribution operations of SPT, and other TV studios that Fox Corporation, Lionsgate, and Sony had under their wings), the operations of the Starz networks and the AMC Networks would combine to form AMC-Starz Networks, and Sony Music would be renamed as Fox Music.

 

[Elijah Abrams]

I have one, but it would a BIG process:

Now that Amazon has bought MGM, they would acquire the Sony Pictures film lot in Culver City, giving them control of both this lot and the smaller-sized Culver Studios lot. Sony and Disney announce a trade offer where the Mouse House sells the 20th Century Studios unit to Sony and buys the Sony Pictures assets (with a few exceptions like the Japan-based assets, Funimation-Crunchyroll, etc.). Sony also buys Fox Entertainment from Rupert Murdoch, merging it with the TCS unit, and resurrecting 20th Century Fox. TCF then takes back control of their studio lot in Century City. Disney merges Columbia Pictures with the latter's sibling labels (Screen Gems, Stage 6, Affirm Films, and the Sony Worldwide Acquisitions assets), renames Sony Pictures Television to "Columbia Television", and folds Sony Pictures Classics into TriStar Pictures.

 

[PF9]

Something else I had in mind was the CBS News and Stations unit of Paramount Global divesting its remaining stations in NFC-only markets to acquire more stations in AFC markets, given CBS usually airs the AFC.

CBS would trade its Bay Area duopoly of KPIX-TV and KBCW and its Sacramento duopoly of KOVR and KMAX-TV to Gray Television for their Cleveland duopoly of WOIO and WUAB and their Kansas City duopoly of KCTV and KSMO-TV. While KPIX-TV continues to air Raiders games despite their move to Las Vegas, the reality is that the Bay Area now only has an NFC team, the 49ers (who also have Sacramento as a secondary market). Cleveland's team, the Browns, is in the AFC, as is KC's team, the Chiefs. KSMO-TV would join the CW, while KCWE moves to MyNetworkTV.

KSTW in Seattle and WUPA in Atlanta would be traded to Cox Media Group in exchange for KHOU and KTBU in Houston, which Cox is in the process of acquiring from Tegna. Seattle and Atlanta are NFC markets by way of the Seahawks and Falcons, respectively, while Houston's NFL team, the Texans, are members of the AFC. KTBU and KIAH would swap affiliations, with KIAH picking up Quest and KTBU affiliating with The CW and acquiring the syndicated programming library of KIAH. Also, KSTW would become sister to KIRO-TV and WUPA to WSB-TV. Cox had owned KSTW for a short time in 1997 before trading it to Paramount Stations Group (as it was then called) for KIRO-TV, which PSG had acquired in a trade with Belo for St. Louis CBS affiliate KMOV.

WBBM-TV in Chicago (NFC by way of Bears), WCCO-TV in the Twin Cities (NFC by way of Vikings) and WWJ-TV and WKBD-TV in Detroit (NFC by way of Lions) would be traded to Nexstar Media Group for WIVB-TV and WNLO in Buffalo (AFC by way of Bills), KLAS-TV in Las Vegas (AFC by way of Raiders) and WTTV/WTTK and WXIN in Indianapolis (AFC by way of Colts). WXIN would trade its Fox affiliation to WISH-TV for that station's CW affiliation.

KYW-TV and WPSG in Philadelphia (NFC by way of Eagles) would be traded to Sinclair Broadcast Group in exchange for WKRC-TV in Cincinnati (AFC by way of Bengals).

KTVT and KTXA in DFW (NFC by way of Cowboys) and WTOG in Tampa Bay (NFC by way of Buccaneers) would be traded to the E.W. Scripps Company for WTVF in Nashville (AFC by way of Titans).

 

[Elijah Abrams]

I'm still okay with Paramount Global and Sony Pictures Entertainment merging, but there would be a couple catches:

• The Sony Pictures film lot in Culver City would be sold to someone else (Amazon/MGM in my opinion).
• All SPE film and TV production/distribution assets would be folded into Paramount Pictures/Paramount TV.

 

[AdrenalineRush1996]

I would like to see Rupert Murdoch sell Fox Entertainment and Foxtel while keeping Fox News with the intention of rebranding it as the Fox brand name would be part of the acquisition, hence the Fox network would retain the name as a result.

 

[PF9]

NBCUniversal should acquire Hasbro, and team up with Nintendo to acquire Audacy Inc., with each company owning 50%.

Comcast, the parent company, should also acquire Universal Music Group, but run it separately from NBCUniversal.

 

[PF9]

Nintendo can further expand its presence in mass media by fully forming a film/TV production division, and then acquiring Gray Television to become an owner of TV stations in the US, and launching a record label as a joint venture with Interscope Records, releasing soundtracks from Nintendo games and their media adaptations.

Nintendo's film/TV production unit would have an alternative programming division that would produce non-fiction programming about Nintendo's IPs. It would also be a joint venture with Dotdash Meredith and inherit the syndicated shows that are based on Dotdash Meredith magazines (Dotdash Meredith owns the former Meredith Corporation magazines, and Gray Television owns the former Meredith TV stations).

 

[AdrenalineRush1996]

I'd like to see Morgan Creek to be acquired by one of the Big Five film studios.

 

[PF9]

Carsey-Werner Productions could be an attractive buy for a larger company to add to its TV library. Maybe Lionsgate can buy them just before they become part of AMC-Fox, owned by Sony.