Fox's defining moves.
The defining strategic moves at Fox — each one explained and grounded in the record.
The Cannibalization Choice · Business Model
Fox Didn't Choose to Be a Live-Only Network. The FCC Chose for It.
The story says Fox boldly kept the live news and sports while selling everything else to Disney for $71.3 billion. The truth: FCC rules made Disney spit those assets out. Now Fox is betting $22 billion on Roku to fix the one thing live content can't fix itself.
8 min
The Cannibalization Choice · Cannibalization Choice
Fox Didn't Foresee the Streaming Wars. It Sold the Ammunition and Got Lucky.
The story is that Murdoch brilliantly chose live news and sports over streaming. The truth: a Comcast bidding war pushed the price up 36%, and Fox kept only the assets Disney didn't want. The foresight came later.
8 min
The Pricing Play · Pricing
Fox Loses Subscribers Every Year — and Charges More Every Year. On Purpose.
Cord-cutting is shrinking Fox's audience, yet its affiliate-fee revenue keeps rising — up 5% in FY2024. Fox's own filings admit volume is falling and pricing is doing the lifting. That's not a contradiction. It's the entire strategy.
8 min
The Pricing Play · Pricing
Fox Didn't Bet on Live TV. It Sold Everything Else and Had No Choice.
Fox is praised for a visionary 'bet on live, can't-skip content.' Look closer: it spun off the day before selling its studios to Disney, kept only news and sports, and now owes roughly $2.3B a year for NFL games it can't easily reprice.
7 min
The Founder Doctrine · Founder Doctrine
Rupert Murdoch Couldn't Buy Control From the Grave. So He Bought His Children Out Instead.
The Murdoch succession looks like a tidy dynastic handoff. It was a failed court raid on an 'irrevocable' trust — and after a judge ruled father and son acted in 'bad faith,' control of Fox cost $3.3 billion to purchase.
8 min