Walt Disney Co. closed its $71.3 billion acquisition of the major entertainment assets of 21st Century Fox , the companies said, combining some of Hollywood’s best-known studios, characters and franchises as media companies look to get bigger to better compete in a world where shows and movies are increasingly streamed.

Disney will now control Fox’s movie and television production studios, as well as its FX cable network, Fox Searchlight label and National Geographic properties.

The deal, which stemmed from talks about 18 months ago at a Los Angeles winery owned by Fox Chairman Rupert Murdoch, closed following approval in several foreign markets. After quickly getting approved by the U.S. Justice Department last year, the deal was slowed by the partial government shutdown earlier this year.

The combined Disney-Fox entity is part of a race for scale in Hollywood, where having a hit movie or TV show is no longer enough. Studios today need a deep stable of characters and franchises to sell streaming subscriptions, movie tickets, toys and theme-park admissions.

That trend has led to rapid consolidation. AT&T Inc. acquired Time Warner Inc., a merger the telecom giant is planning to use to pipe entertainment onto its phones and launch its own direct-to-consumer streaming service. Comcast Corp. , to boost its NBCUniversal and Universal Pictures divisions, purchased DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc. in 2016. CBS Corp. and Viacom Inc. are seen as a potential merger this year by industry analysts.