According to The Los Angeles Times, 21st Century Fox may be interested in acquiring Starz. "A full acquisition of the company could be valued at more than $3.2 billion based on its share price of $29.58 Tuesday. Fox could also decide to take an ownership stake instead of buying Starz outright." Given consolidation on both the operator and programmer side, the results are to assure a large size to add to leverage in negotiations. And content is king as access to it extends not only on cable platforms but on digital screens as well.
Starz continues to compete aggressively in the premium space, most notably against HBO and Showtime. And like those two, their reliance on acquired content has been muted with a push toward original series. That strategy has proved successful for all parties.
Currently, Starz is a standalone company, once part of Liberty Media before being spun off into a separate stock. Having a future parent like Fox could give it a much larger muscle in creating more content and securing greater fees for its channels. And that is what makes content king.
