Why is Disney buying Fox?

Disney chief executive Bob IgerImage source, Getty Images

For Disney, the acquisition of 21st Century Fox is a key moment in a pivot towards streaming premium content directly into people's living rooms.

Disney has been focused on acquiring content, buying Pixar and Lucasfilm for example, and this deal helps beef up the distribution.

The stake in Sky gives it nearly 50 million European subscribers.

It also adds the Star India network with 58 channels in eight languages, reaching 650 million customers.

In addition, Disney will acquire a majority stake in the streaming service Hulu.

Add all that up and you have a potentially powerful future competitor to Netflix and Amazon Prime - who at the moment are streets ahead.

The person who arguably did more than anyone to turn the Murdochs from hunters to hunted was Culture Secretary Karen Bradley.

When considering 21st Century Fox's acquisition of Sky, media regulator Ofcom originally dismissed concerns over broadcasting standards - citing Sky's good reputation for news.

But the culture secretary disagreed.

A string of scandals at Fox News led her to decide that issues of culture and conduct were relevant to broadcasting standards and they should be examined by the Competition and Markets Authority.

That decision may have played a key part in this radical change of strategy.

James Murdoch's ambitions to build a global entertainment business appear at the moment to be over.

For Rupert, it's back to the basics he knows and loves. News and Sport.