It is honestly a mess trying to untangle who owns what when people talk about 20th Century Fox News Corporation. Most people just lump it all together as one big media blob. They think of the searchlight logo in front of movies and the blue-and-yellow news banners and assume it's one giant machine.
It isn't. Not anymore.
To understand what happened to the 21st Century Fox and News Corp assets, you have to look at the 2013 split and the massive 2019 Disney deal. It wasn't just a business move; it was a total demolition and reconstruction of a global empire. Rupert Murdoch basically took a sledgehammer to his life's work to make it survive the streaming era.
The Great Divorce of 2013
Back in the day, everything lived under one roof: News Corporation. We’re talking about the New York Post, the Wall Street Journal, the 20th Century Fox film studio, and Fox News. It was a behemoth. But investors were getting jittery. The publishing side—newspapers—was seen as a drag on the high-flying entertainment side.
So, they split.
The "new" News Corp kept the papers and the Australian assets. The "21st Century Fox" name took the movies and the cable networks. It was a clean break, or so it seemed. Most people didn't even notice the name change on the screen until they saw the "21st" instead of "20th" in that iconic opening fanfare.
Why the naming matters
If you look for "20th Century Fox News Corporation" today, you're looking for a ghost. The film studio, now owned by Disney, is just "20th Century Studios." The news side is a completely separate corporate entity.
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That Disney Deal Changed Everything
In 2019, the world watched as Disney dropped $71.3 billion. They didn't want the whole thing, though. They couldn't have. Federal regulators would have had a heart attack if Disney tried to buy Fox News while already owning ABC News. That’s a total no-go for antitrust laws.
Disney took the "fun" stuff. They got the X-Men, Avatar, and The Simpsons. They got the 30% stake in Hulu. Basically, Disney bought the library they needed to launch Disney+.
What was left behind? The "New Fox."
This is the Fox Corporation we see today. It’s leaner. It consists of:
- Fox News Channel (the crown jewel of their profit margin)
- Fox Sports (specifically FS1 and FS2)
- The Fox Broadcast Network
- Tubi (their surprisingly successful ad-supported streaming bet)
The Real Power is in the Newsroom
When we talk about the influence of 20th Century Fox News Corporation (or its descendants), we’re really talking about the cultural footprint of Fox News. It’s the most-watched cable news network in the US, and it’s not particularly close.
Love it or hate it, the business model is fascinating. Most cable networks rely heavily on advertising. Fox News does too, but their real "moat" is affiliate fees. They charge cable providers a massive premium just to carry the channel because they know if a provider drops Fox, their subscribers will riot.
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The Ailes Era vs. Now
Roger Ailes was the architect. He understood that news wasn't just information; it was an identity. After he left in 2016 amidst a sea of scandals, many thought the network would soften. It didn't. It leaned harder into opinion-based primetime programming.
People often confuse the "News" side with the "Opinion" side. Bret Baier and the late-night pundits are technically under the same corporate umbrella, but they operate in different universes. This friction is exactly what makes the company so polarizing.
Misconceptions about Ownership
You’ll hear people say, "Disney owns Fox News now."
No. They don't. They can't. They never will.
Disney owns the building where Die Hard was filmed and the rights to Home Alone. They don't have a single bit of say in what Sean Hannity or Jesse Watters says on TV. The Murdoch family still holds the reins of Fox Corporation through a family trust. Lachlan Murdoch is the guy in charge now, following Rupert's "retirement" to Chairman Emeritus status in late 2023.
The Future of the Brand
Where does it go from here? The media landscape is a nightmare right now. Cable cutting is real. People are ditching the $150-a-month Comcast bill for $15 Netflix subs.
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For a company like Fox, which is so tied to traditional cable, this is a problem. Their solution has been to double down on "live." You can't really "DVR" a live football game or a breaking news event in the same way you can a sitcom. This is why they kept the sports and the news and sold the movies.
Movies are a gamble. News is a habit.
What You Should Actually Do
If you’re trying to navigate this landscape, whether as an investor or just a consumer who wants to know who is feeding them information, here is the breakdown of how to track these entities:
- Check the Parent Company: If you are reading a newspaper like The Times (UK) or The Wall Street Journal, you are dealing with News Corp (NWSA).
- Look for the "Star": If you are watching a movie with the 20th Century fanfare, you are watching a Disney product.
- The Fox Box: If you are watching NFL on Sunday or the 6 PM news, you are watching Fox Corp (FOXA).
The biggest takeaway is that the "integrated" empire is dead. The pieces are scattered across different balance sheets. Understanding that "Fox" is now three different things—a Disney subsidiary, a publishing giant, and a lean news/sports broadcaster—is the only way to actually make sense of the modern media world.
Stop looking for one giant logo. Look for the fine print at the bottom of the screen. That’s where the real story lives.
Practical Steps for Media Literacy
- Verify the "Fox" source: Always distinguish between a local Fox affiliate (often owned by companies like Sinclair or Nexstar) and the national Fox News Channel. They are not the same thing.
- Follow the Money: Use resources like the SEC EDGAR database to look up FOXA versus NWSA. Their quarterly reports tell you more about their priorities than any press release ever will.
- Diversify your feed: Since the Fox assets are now highly specialized in "Opinion" and "Live Sports," ensure your information diet includes primary source wire services like Reuters or the AP to balance the commentary-heavy style of modern cable news.