Congress Considering Investigation Into Disney’s Planned Purchase of Fox

Just one day after Disney announced that it had reached a “definitive agreement” to acquire the Twentieth Century Fox Film and Television studios, as well as other entertainment interests for $52.4 billion in stock, Democrats in both the Senate and House antitrust subcommittees are “calling for hearings” into the proposed deal.

The deal would give Disney control of numerous movie franchises and return the X-Men, Deadpool and the Fantastic Four to Marvel, as well as give the House of Mouse more than 300 cable channels, controlling interest in streaming platform Hulu and a portion of Roku.

While no hearings have been scheduled as of yet, Rep. David Cicilline (D-R.I.) said the merger “threatens” the free market and called it a “monopoly moment” for the country. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) called the deal “another industry-changing merger” and said that she is “concerned about the impact…on American consumers.”