Is Net Neutrality just a tool Comcast is using to assert dominance over Netflix? Why is a Mickey Mouse trying to buy a Fox? Are corporations using entertainment industries and the internet to play a multi-billion dollar game of chess?

Yes.

When I say yes, I actually mean, “Yes, but it’s probably not like that”

Here’s the story. Crazy things are happening in the world of show business. 2 mega conglomerate media corporations are doing crazy business moves to bring down one singular service that’s only been around for a decade. A half century worth of technological, art/entertainment, and media advancement dominated by two vastly different companies are being outshone by “the new guy”. What is all this, who are they, and why is this important?

This is about the stock market of entertainment. It’s Netflix, Disney, and Comcast. Because multiple billions of dollars are being thrown around, and it effects our favorite films and media. Also the very internet that brings this to us.

Hello everyone it’s AniMo and this is a n Animated different kind of Monologue. Today we talk big business, and how that effects our favorite media. While this isn’t inherently animation-based, this was still a topic I wanted to touch on. In following this story, I’ve seen a narrative between the lines and it’s kind of insane. Now I admit this is a conspiracy, however the evidence does look striking.

Let’s talk about it.

Here’s the facts. Disney was worth 147 billion dollars in the stock market, and Comcast was worth 143 billion. Netflix became the newly crowned the most value entity in show business, worth 152 billion. Netflix, on streaming revenue alone, was able to generate a higher stock market revenue than the media giants. This is huge, symbolically. Think about how many companies are under the Comcast and Disney umbrella separately. Netflix alone was worth more than all of that. Netflix had explosive growth, in a few years, in the playground duel between Disney and Comcast for #1 that’s lasted over a decade.

This is where this conspiracy theory starts.

The basic assumption is that Disney and Comcast both want to win the battle of entertainment over Netflix. Duh, if you’re a multibillion dollar corporation, you would too. I argue that both giants are doing it in different ways. Disney and Comcast both really want to purchase 21st Century Fox to win this battle. Disney is on it’s way to closing a 52 Billion Dollar deal to buy out Fox, who hasn’t yet accepted Comcast’s offers or temptations . This means that Disney will control a small fuckload of the modern media. I mean every Disney princess, to all of the Star Wars universe, to the Marvel Cinematic Universe is about to rub elbows with The Simpsons, Fantastic 4/X-Men, and far far more properties. All of these networks don’t even consider the television stations in news, sports, and primetime. All of this is for Disney’s upcoming streaming service they’re making to compete with Netflix. Disney would also have a lot of control over Hulu, which would position Disney as the best competitor in the game.

Comcast would be severely unprepared for this battle. Comcast has a large collection of Phone & Cable TV properties, and entertainment companies ranging from NBC TV to Dreamworks animation. Comcast gaining Fox properties are also a huge boost for them as they ALSO want to start streaming on the internet. Symbolically, Disney stands more to gain and less to lose overall, and Comcast stands to lose more than they can gain. This of course is all in terms of billion dollar networks to be fair.

If Comcast does get it’s shorter end of the stick, it can pull it’s trump card known as killing the internet.

Net Neutrality is the idea of a free and open internet, and the FCC’s repeal today killed that. This gives control of the entire internet, and it’s many communication networks, to none other than various telecom corporate overlords Comcast. Comcast would have the ability to slow down consumers internet and phone speeds, and charge money for access to internet services like websites. In the context of Netflix, Comcast’s internet packages could slow down the speed of the website or deny access to users unless they pay some fee for access (on TOP of the Netflix subscription itself). They could also do the same for Disney should their Fox deal, and as a result their streaming service, become gigantic. Comcast could make it impossible to physically access these sites should be Net Neutrality sway in their favor. This wouldn’t as much be a check or balance in the competition as much as it would be Comcast rigging the game.

So are these giants playing this 3-way Chess game to try and dominate the entertainment industry?

Maybe not. Disney has been buying up media properties in film and television much before Netflix become a viable contender in the showbiz field. Comcast has been trying to gain control over the very internet for a while as well, directly benefitting from legislation intended to regulate the worldwide web. Disney and Comcast become media giants because of how spread out they are, using connections developed over years and years of negotiations. Netflix became big because they championed the new wave of entertainment consumption in a single decade, making strides to develop their brand in hugely beneficial ways that few other streamers can even attempt.

As consumers there is little, if any, way to tell if the giants business dealings are the product of taking the throne back from Netflix. We can’t tell if they’d be doing this without the threat of Netflix’s growth.

Netflix is likely to stay growing as the streaming market defines and redefines how we consume entertainment. The frontrunners of old have to redevelop the ways they compete. History is being made, and when we look back on this war over the common consumer, who knows what landscape will have been created, nurtured or burned. It’ll likely be more clear by then if Disney and Comcast are really villianous companies trying to defeat the little guy who suddenly overtook everything. Technically, we can’t even tell right now if online streaming can sustain itself (but for now it looks like the future of technology so I’d personally bet on it growing).

For now, we don’t have time to ‘Netflix and Chill’ as everything is going to be changing drastically over the next few days. With Net Neutrality gone, it’s unlikely that Netflix and Disney won’t be burdened by telecom networks shafting their internet speeds.

In fact, as of now, the fight may be in our hands. Since I’ve spoke out against this now, this could even be my last freely published article

This has been AniMo on Animated Monologues. I hope you enjoyed this change of pace. Thanks for reading and have an animated day.

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