Cade approves final report, and Disney’s merger with Fox is finalized in Brazil after three years

Cade (Administrative Council for Economic Defense) and AGU (Attorney General of the Union) approved a report that concluded that Disney complied with the agreement to approve the merger with Fox in Brazil, which began in 2020.

As a result, after three and a half years, the entire merger process between Disney and Fox was completed in our country. O F5 had access to the case approval documents.

The monitoring report for the so-called ACC (Merger Control Agreement) was made by the company ING, an independent body designated by Cade based on confidential Disney documents, which was obliged to give full access to them.

ING monitored Disney until last July. In the report, ING states that Disney maintained the old Fox Sports with relevant live events with similar drafting to ESPN during the period in which Cade forced the use of Fox’s main sports channel on pay TV, between 2020 and 2022.

Furthermore, ING states that Disney also showed all Libertadores da América games on Fox Sports until 2021, as determined by the terms of the merger. Only in 2022 did the continent’s main football club tournament go to ESPN channels.

Finally, Disney reported that it had plans to use the Fox Sports brand on TV and social media until the end of 2023. In 2024, the multinational will return the brand to its former owners, as already reported by the F5 previously.

For ING, the spending cuts and staff layoffs made by Disney in 2020 were justified by the financial losses that Fox Sports had suffered at least since 2017, according to the balance sheets presented. Cade and AGU agreed with the arguments.

On October 31st, Cade’s plenary approved the report and definitively archived the entire merger process, concluding the legal procedures.

As a result, next year, the Fox Sports brand will be available to any other company that wishes to invest in the Brazilian market, without major impediments.