The Walt Disney Company’s $52.4B acquisition of 21st Century Fox will "impact esports in a big way," according to Graham Ashton of THE ESPORTS OBSERVER. Prior to the Fox acquisition, Disney's "most newsworthy" equity purchase of the year was BAMTech. Having previously held a one-third minority stake in the platform, Disney increased its stake to 75% for $1.5B. Furthermore, BAMTech's $300M partnership with Riot Games was "one of the most significant media deals in esports," set to run until the '23 season. In terms of media activations, Disney "began targeting the youth audience" with a new Disney XD programming block, D|XP, airing matches for Super Smash Bros. and Street Fighter V. Then there is ESPN Esports. Disney owns 80% of the sports TV network, which launched its online esports vertical in Jan. '16. Next year, Disney will "also host esports competitions" at its ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex. Disney’s acquisition of 21st Century Fox has been "framed as a rally against tech giants" such as Netflix, Amazon and Google. The company has "stealthily been planning its move into the online video space over the year." The BAMTech purchase was a "key" part of this -- to build the tech out into multiple branded streaming services (THE ESPORTS OBSERVER, 12/15).
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