FX could be a victim of the Disney-21st Century Fox merger

The Washington Post

“FX owns one of the most prestigious track records in all of cable,” says Steven Zeitchik, yet “no one seems to know where it will fall” in the aftermath of the Disney-21st Century Fox consolidation. FX won 18 Emmys last year, the most-ever for a basic cable channel. “But it is also a niche channel that rarely scores more than a few million viewers for its shows and regularly engages in the kind of critic- and award-friendly material Disney has shown little appetite for,” says Zeitchik. On the one hand, FX’s identity for upscale and prestigious shows and its relationship with highly regarded showrunners like Ryan Murphy may help Disney compete with Netflix. On the other hand, there’s a chance FX can lose its identity as Disney seeks shows with more mass appeal. “FX has been responsible for some really great television, but these are shows that, relatively speaking, don’t get a lot of viewers,” Zeitchik quotes cable expert Cory Barker as saying. “And it seems everything Disney continues to do is move toward its big-property, profit-maximization strategy.” Barker adds: “It’s hard to see where FX fits in.”