UCLA Entertainment Law Review

This Article delves into the legal intricacies of the recently proposed merger of Disney with 21st Century Fox.  This deal is the latest in a wave of mergers and acquisitions in the entertainment and media industries, which are adapting to the rapid rise of subscription video-on-demand services.  Such a merger raises many antitrust questions regarding market power and concentration, as well as intellectual property issues.  This Article looks into the proposed merger’s probability of success by examining, among other things, the Horizontal Merger Guidelines.  In addition, this Article assesses the competition issues Disney and Fox are currently facing in the European Union, as well as current European efforts to modernize copyright and consumer access to the digital market.  The entertainment landscape is at a fascinating crossroads, and this Article attempts to identify and analyze the legal considerations at play.