Why Fox is ‘the most Disciplined’ Media Entertainment Company in the Streaming Era
Speakers
Michael Wolf
— Founder and CEO, Activate
Summary
Activate CEO Michael Wolf discusses the media industry consolidation from Sun Valley, praising Fox’s disciplined strategy and its Roku acquisition, analyzing Comcast’s NBCUniversal spin-off, and highlighting how AI investment is creating a new market for content licensing deals.
- Fox is called the most disciplined media company for avoiding streaming wars, buying Tubi, and now acquiring Roku to control connected TV data and advertising.
- Comcast is not giving up by spinning off NBCU; the move creates focused businesses with distinct growth profiles, potentially unlocking value.
- Free advertiser-supported television is a growing segment, with Tubi and the Roku Channel reaching tens of millions of users.
- AI firms plan over $700 billion in capex and increasingly view content, especially news and information, as a critical asset, leading to deals like News Corp-Meta.
- Sports rights remain central, with NBC becoming a must-have destination for comprehensive sports coverage.
Ideas
Fox most disciplined, best-performing media stock
Fox has been the most disciplined media and entertainment company in the streaming era because it totally avoided the streaming arms race. It bought Tubi for $440 million, which now does over $1 billion in revenue as the largest free advertiser-supported television service with nearly 100 million users. The acquisition of Roku gives Fox control of the box, the software, the data, and the advertising across 100 million homes and 28% of U.S. connected TVs. Fox stays focused on cash-generating businesses like television stations, cable networks, and Tubi, making it the absolute best-performing media stock.
Comcast spin unlocks value and focus
Comcast is not throwing in the towel by spinning off NBCUniversal; it is creating three focused companies with different competitive dynamics, growth profiles, and economics. The simplification allows the core connectivity business to make needed capital investments and offer a bundle of home connectivity, cable, and mobile services, while NBCUniversal becomes a pure growth business anchored by an unbelievably strong sports destination. This focus and separation can unlock value.
AI deals benefit content firms like News Corp
AI companies are spending over $700 billion on capital and have realized that content is a critical foundational asset, especially information and news. The days of scraping the web are over, so they will do licensing deals with content companies. News Corp already did a deal with Meta, and many more such deals are expected, benefiting information and content companies.
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