North Texas Daily

When Walter E. Disney first created the Walt Disney company back in 1923, he set a goal to create content that would entertain masses of people. Needless to say, he’s completed his goal and continues to do so even after his passing in 1966.

In the years since, Disney has been able to acquire new companies and franchises such as Lucasfilm and Marvel. Even after acquiring these two massive companies, Disney is still continuing to grow and acquire more and more. While they continue to present more content, people are still not really recognizing that Disney is becoming a huge media monopoly.

A monopoly is defined as the exclusive possession or control of the supply of or trade in a commodity or service, according to Oxford Dictionary. While Disney has not fully obtained this complete and total control, their continual and fast-paced acquiring of companies and franchises is alarming to say the least. Just in the last decade, the media conglomerate has been able to obtain the rights to franchises such as Pixar, Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Marvel Studios and even The Muppets. Their entertainment market and track record is impressive to say the least and that is only a fraction of what they own.

The most recent purchase from the media conglomerate was that of 21st Century Fox. This merger, which happened in March of this year, gave Disney access to other films and television shows such as “The Simpsons,” “Family Guy,” “Titanic,” the “Alien” movies and a number of other films and televisions shows. On top of this, Disney was also given access to a bunch of television networks, a entire movie studio and a 60 percent stake in Hulu.

Needless to say, CEO Bob Iger is pulling the strings to the companies’ advantage.

With these business tactics and big purchases, it would not surprise me if Disney would try to buyout another one of their entertainment rivals in the nearby future. It’s scary to believe that there are five companies that run the entirety of entertainment media and Disney just continues to grow more and more. Just the thought that everything could potentially be owned by the mouse is incredibly intimidating. Imagine how our current film franchises would be changed to fit Disney standards or even forgotten in the giant pile of purchases that Disney already owns.

Now the question remains, if Disney is becoming a monopoly, why haven’t we addressed this as a society or even government intervention? On the view of the people, there is not much to complain about. It’s nice to see that Disney is constantly bringing out new ideas, films and even a streaming service that will supply hours upon hours of entertainment. Ergo, people are too enthralled with all the new content that Disney is bringing to really recognize the fact of the company’s massive growth.

On the basis of government however, Congress has had its fair share of takes on the deal with the most prominent being the Disney-Fox merger. While they continue to oppose, Disney always seems to slip through the cracks and then moves to purchase more.

The fact remains the same, Disney is still growing and is not planning on stopping either. Here pretty soon we could expect change in the entertainment we consume in terms of what is presented to us as well as how much we need to pay for it. Disney’s playing its cards right and may eventually get what it wants, much to our dismay.

Many may wonder why exactly we should go up against something that continues to give us entertainment. While it may give us great content, we still need to make sure that the company does not call all the shots and that there is variety of options to what we view and support.

One thing stands though — someone needs to challenge the House of Mouse before it completely takes over.

Featured Illustration: Jae-Eun Suh