walt disney and 21st century fox signa walt disney and 21st century fox sign a $52 billion lock of the deal that may alter the entertainment landscape. and the lastjedi is expected to be an unstoppable force at the box office and for memorabilia merchants. hello and welcome to asia business report two of the biggest names in the movie business are emerging in order to ta ke business are emerging in order to take on netflix and other online streaming services. walt disney has agreed to purchase most of 21st century fox, owned by australian media mogul rupert murdoch. they are a doing it for 50 two billion dollars. disney willacquire a doing it for 50 two billion dollars. disney will acquire all of these brands you see on screen here. as pa rt of these brands you see on screen here. as part of the deal, the disney ceo will stay on the company until 2021. he said that the purchase was inspired over an informal chat with mr murdoch. i have a lot of respect for rupert murdoch and what he has been able to build over the years. he andi been able to build over the years. he and i were musing at some point this summer over the industry and the need to reach consumers in ways i described and the disruptive forces that we both witnessed in our time in this business. after some musing it seemed to me that there may be an opportunity to put our companies together to create something that is even better than the two that were separate. earlier, oui’ the two that were separate. earlier, our business editor gave more insight as to why disney paid so much money for 21st century fox's assets. disney find this quite attractive. in the past, what they have done is focused on acquiring incredible premium content such as lucasfilm, star wars, incredible premium content such as lucasfilm, starwars, pixar, popular brands. 21st century fox has some of its own. the tantalising prospect of the x—men and the avengers being brought together. what they have not had, they need to beef up distribution. the company driving this consolidation today are people like netflix and amazon partner prime. these are gigantic companies. even disney did not feel it had the scale more distribution to compete with these. and you are right to highlight the hulu streaming service. adding that to the access of hundreds of millions of people through star india then you have content and distribution. they are going to take the fight to the big quys going to take the fight to the big guysin going to take the fight to the big guys in silicon valley. we know that the disney franchise, the lastjedi we know that the disney franchise, the last jedi is we know that the disney franchise, the lastjedi is the latest instalment in the star wars saga opens worldwide this weekend. if you have not had a chance to see it, you must be living under a rock because the franchises made over $30 billion over the years. the star wars brand has become its own universe with a growing number of things like cartoons, comics, merchandise. for more let's go to tim mcdonald who is atan more let's go to tim mcdonald who is at an installation in 0rchard more let's go to tim mcdonald who is at an installation in orchard road in singapore. i know you have some menacing looking storm troopers just around the corner from you. can you tell us about this? what does that mean in terms of the force has for merchandising? it is quite incredible. think about it, this is a prime commercial district in singapore and that's not christmas music in the background, that is the imperial march. an indication of the scope and scale of star wars and its cultural reach and business reach. a very big part of it has always been merchandising. as you can see from these storm troopers, they have been updated a little, a racing stripe on the helmet, and this has been a big pa rt the helmet, and this has been a big part of the business. 0riginally the helmet, and this has been a big part of the business. originally the studio thought that star wars may be a flop and when george lucas said to them that he will take a smaller car from the director fee in exchange for merchandising, they agreed. little did they know that that would be one of the biggest bits of the business and years later it has made george lucas a rich man. disney acquired the star wars franchise a few years ago and it is quite interesting because we were talking about the battle for streaming. star wa rs about the battle for streaming. star wars will play a major role in that. when disney launches its streaming service in 2019 to go head—to—head with amazon and netflix, star wars will play a major role because they are planning a live action show like the big budget shows from netflix such as house of cards. speaking of merchandising, did you ever owned one of those figurines?” merchandising, did you ever owned one of those figurines? i did. i had a couple of storm troopers. is that why you are not scared of them? i had princess leia. i must admit. thank you so much, tim. in other news making headlines, america's communications regulator has voted to end net neutrality. that is the principle that internet service providers must treat all internet traffic the same. the rule was introduced by president 0bama two yea rs introduced by president 0bama two years ago and they are saying that innovation will now be increased. speaking of the internet, according toa speaking of the internet, according to a report released this week by google, southeast asia has the world ‘s fastest growing internet economy. is expected to reach about $50 billion this year alone and estimated to be worth around $200 billion 2025. a large part of that has to do with the pace of internet adoption. southeast asia has more internet users than the whole population of the united states. could the region's internet economy overta ke could the region's internet economy overtake that of the us? that is the question our colleague asked the regional chief. asia today has more internet users than all of the us. 300 million people in the us, 330 million in asia and we are adding more regularly. from a user standpoint we are bigger than the us from a monitor —— from a monetisation it will take time to catch up we will have an internet economy that is large. in terms of the funding that is going into these internet companies, we see are concentrated in singapore and indonesia. is there a reason why venture capital is not going to the other countries? venture capital environment in southeast asia has changed dramatically. in 2015 there was only $1 billion, at billion dollars of investment across the region. that number is now 8 billion. of the 8 billion, around $6 billion. of the 8 billion, around $6 billion is gone into seven different areas. the $2 billion invested over the last two years in early stage companies. that is a significant change over what it was in 2015. seven unicorns for all of southeast asia is not impressive compared to other countries. you would be surprised. there were four unicorns eight months ago and before that there were zero. sir having seven is impressive. india, which has had an ecosystem that has been somewhat longer than southeast asia only have nine unicorns. 0n the other countries have more than southeast asia and india are the us and china. we have pretty much surpassed every other country in the world. and that was google's southeast asia chief. china is the biggest foreign investor in new york city. the country's investments made around 1196 country's investments made around 11% or over $24 billion on commercial real estate that it earlier i spoke to an expert in new york he said that asian capital controls are impacting the market. in short, the last year we have seen a marked increase, and that came through the second quarter of 2017. 0ver through the second quarter of 2017. over 2016, the increase was approximately 50%. we saw a tremendous buying power that came out of china, with a marked slowdown in the last two quarters. the currency controls that you look to —— alluded to are having an impact. looking at the markets before we go and they are all week. that's on the basis of the fact that people are unsure about the progress of the republican tax reform. that is it for this edition of the asia business report. disney and fox have linked up in a $50 billion entertainment merger — it's one of the biggest media deals in history. a final report on child sexual abuse in australia, has been delivered to the country's governor—general. three eastern european men who faced being deported from the uk, after being found sleeping rough, have won a high court battle with the government. ajudge ruled that the policy, enforced by the home office, was unlawful. campaigners say the decision will affect hundreds of other rough sleepers facing removal, as frankie mccamley now reports. sheltering from the cold, sleeping on park benches and taking cover in doorways. homelessness has been on the rise in the uk for years. that's the rise in the uk for years. that's the position this man found himself in after moving from bulgaria in the hope of a job and a better life. in after moving from bulgaria in the hope of a job and a better lifem is hard to get a job in bulgaria... the 21—year—old secured work but lost his home. under the government —— governor's policy he was taken to a deportation centre for seven months after being released earlier this year. i stayed in my room and didn't go anywhere. i was quite stressed for seven months. didn't go anywhere. i was quite stressed for seven monthslj didn't go anywhere. i was quite stressed for seven months. ijust thought my life was finished. today, the high court ruled that the policy was unlawful. thejustice said that the measure brought in last year was discriminatory and contrary to eu law. solicitor paul heron. the court has accepted that being a rough sleeper in and of itself is not an abuse of treaty rights. the court accepted that many cases, people detained and moved were often working in the uk but they were just in low—paid jobs and could not afford the skyrocketing rents. in a statement, the home office said it was disappointed by the outcome and will consider carefully what steps are will consider carefully what steps a re necessary to will consider carefully what steps are necessary to ensure we reflect thejudgement in future are necessary to ensure we reflect the judgement in future enforcement. it is unclear how many rough sleepers there are nationwide but in london where the policy was trialled, numbers have fallen in the past few months with a significant drop in those from eastern europe. campaigners believe the decision will affect hundreds of people currently sleeping rough. but with brexit negotiations still ongoing it is unclear what the implications of thisjudgement will be is unclear what the implications of this judgement will be in the future. a third person has appeared in court charged with the murder of four children in a house fire in greater manchester on monday. he was remanded in custody and will appear in the crown court tomorrow morning alongside it on another people who have also been charged with murder, attempted murder and arson. 20 more on our website that time now for sport today. so hello, i'm sarah mulkerrins and this is sport today, live from the bbc sport centre. coming up on this programme: can england keep their momentum going heading into day two of the third ashes test against australia? roger federer is the bbc 0verseas sports personality for 2017. and we show you what it's like to compete in one of the world's toughest yacht races. well, there's only one place to start and that's at the third ashes test between australia and england in perth. play on day two is set to start within the hour — england will resume on 305/4 after a positive first day for the tourists. 0ur correspondent andy swiss is at the waca for us.