20th Century Fox has been rebranded as 20th Century Studios to avoid confusion among customers as existing Fox businesses have the word ‘Fox’ in them
Walt Disney has rebranded one of the best-known TV studios, 20th Century Fox Television to 20th Television. On Monday, Disney announced that it would be rebranding the popular TV studios by cutting Century and Fox from the studio’s name.
In January, Disney signed a historic deal of $ 71 billion acquiring Fox’s assets. The deal follows the rebranding of the 85 years old company 20th Century Fox. Disney also renamed other television studios, including ABC Studios, ABC Signature Studios, ABC Signature and Fox 21 Television Studios, rebranded as Touchstone Television.
“Our new studio names and logos mark a new day for ABC Signature, 20th Television, and Touchstone Television while honouring their rich history and the creative power of The Walt Disney Company,” said Craig Hunegs, president of Disney television studios, in a statement.
Disney-Fox Deal
Back in 2017, Walt Disney acquired the bulk of Fox’s business for nearly $ 52.4 billion. The deal includes the purchase of Fox’s film, television studios, and a stake of 39 percent in satellite broadcaster Sky.
Under the deal, Disney will scoop up movies, television studios, sports networks, international holdings, and investments. The deal further expands to FX and National Geographic cable channels. As a part of the deal, Disney will assume $ 13.7 billion as part of Fox’s debt in the stock deal.
“Combining Disney’s and 21st Century Fox’s wealth of creative content and proven talent creates the pre-eminent global entertainment company, well-positioned to lead in an incredibly dynamic and transformative era,” said Robert Iger, Chairman and Chief Executive of Disney.
Disney rules US TV networks with its channels ABC, ESPN, History, A&E Network. The competitors are the FX, National Geographic, FXX, NatGeo Wild, and FX Movie that were owned by Fox earlier. Now the deal makes Disney rule the TV Industry.
In OTT platforms, Disney+ is giving a tough competition to Netflix, Amazon and other platforms. The deal helped Disney expand its library to attract traditional Fox customers and also added news to establish itself in the OTT market.
Fox Television shows
20th Century Fox has its roots going back to 1935 when a merger occurred between Twentieth Century and Fox Films. The studio has been highly successful with TV’s most popular shows such as the original Batman series and The Simpsons.
The studio produced some of the all-time biggest movies such as Avatar and Titanic. Fox’s movies have reshaped the Hollywood studios. Early movies like The Grapes of Wrath (1940), All About Eve (1950), Cleopatra (1963), Alien (1979) and MASH (1970) helped in building the Hollywood studio’s reputation around the world.
The New Brand
However, the famous fanfare theme tune and searchlight logo have been retained by the company on both 20th Century TV and film rebrands. The new logo and graphics will be added to new episodes this fall for the 20th Television TV series. The content aired with the older title will maintain the former logo along with the name.
The reason behind the rebranding is to avoid confusion between Disney-owned businesses and existing Fox businesses. Fox presently runs Fox Entertainment, Fox News and Fox Sports as part of the Fox Corporation. Fox’s other business has nothing to do with Disney, thus the new name helps consumers avoid confusion.