Back last year in March 2019, the acquisition of 21st Century Fox by the ever-growing multi-media conglomerate The Walt Disney Company (Disney) occurred, adding to the company’s expanding empire in the media world. By engulfing 21st Century Fox into their increasingly monopolising company structure, Disney now owns not only the 21st Century Fox brand but the assets that fall alongside it including the popular 20th Century Fox film and television studios (such as FX), as well as Fox’s famous franchises (X-Men and Fantastic Four) which bring with it a multitude of products.
As Disney has been the owner of the 20th Century Fox brand for over a year now, it is not surprising to see that just last week the company announced their intentions to distance themselves from the previously Murdoch-owned brand through changing both the name and title card of 20th Century Fox with a newly instated ’20th Television’ branding. The overhaul removes the title card which originally dated back to the 1940s and the golden age of cinema in which 20th Century Fox could be seen at the forefront of.
The finalised change to the old 20th Century Fox brand follows Disney’s aim to overhaul their newly acquired studios in a ‘rebrand’ along with the previously named ABC Signature and Touchstone Television. It is interesting to see overhauls in branding happening for Disney, but not unexpected due to its clear aims to separate itself from its true competitors – The Murdoch empire.
With Disney now owning a wealth of studios such as Marvel, Lucasfilm, and the 20th Television brand, it is difficult to see a media world in which Disney doesn’t monopolise the market and minimise the hegemonic influence of corporations – but we’ll always have independent companies to fall back on if there is no escape from Disney.
