The Disney-Fox merger might well make your cable bill go up

Your cable bill might go up thanks to media merger madness

(Image credit: Screenshot/YouTube/Axios)

There has been significant consolidation in many industries — airlines, beer, grocery stores — but one you might want to keep an eye on is media companies, capped by the Walt Disney Co.'s proposal to buy 21st Century Fox movie and TV assets for $52.4 billion. Giant media companies that produce the TV you love are trying to get the cable and satellite TV companies that bring that content into your home to pay more, Axios media reporter Sara Fischer explains in the video below, and larger media companies have more bargaining power. If they are successful, the cable companies will add the costs to your bill.

One of the reasons your bill might go up is that the TV you love is becoming more expensive to produce — each of the last six episodes of Game of Thrones, for example, cost $15 million to make, Fischer notes, adding: "If you're not careful about watching your cable and internet bills, the costs could creep up on you." Peter Weber

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.