NEW YORK (CNN/Money) -
It was bold, it was opportunistic, but in the end, will it be anything more than a Mickey Mouse offer?
Comcast's surprise, unsolicited takeover offer for the Walt Disney Co. rocked the media business and sparked a flurry of concern from regulators in Washington Wednesday.
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 Paul La Monica, senior writer at CNN/Money, comments on whether Comcast will have to raise its offer for Disney.
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But the $54 billion question remains: Does a family-controlled cable TV company with roots in Mississippi have a shot at nabbing one of the most fabled names in the media business?
The jury is still out. But a number of things seem clear.
Since Disney's stock jumped above Comcast's bid price, the company is "in play," meaning other bidders might emerge. It's also likely that the survival of embattled Disney CEO Michael Eisner is probably riding on the outcome.
For Comcast, the deal would make it the world's biggest media company, with an enviable stable of assets: the ABC network, the Disney film studio, characters from Mickey Mouse to the Lion King to Nemo, and what could be the crown jewel: the ESPN sports network.
But there are risks for Comcast, too.
The marriage of content and distribution has not always gone smoothly in the media business. Think AOL and Time Warner.
But first, Comcast CEO Brian Roberts must do the deal. And he's unlikely to succeed without raising his bid, especially since Comcast shares tumbled 8 percent Wednesday, lowering the value of its all-stock bid.
"Comcast is trying to steal Disney at a weak moment," California money manager Brad Ruderman told CNN/Money, referring to Disney's weak stock price and depressed results in recent years. Disney's stock has fall 29 percent over the last five years while the S&P only declined by 8 percent.
"You have a group of irreplaceable assets on the block. This is going to be a broad and ugly fight. I think Viacom will join the fray. News Corp, too. Time Warner would like to, but can't for fiscal reasons." Ruderman owns both Disney and Comcast in his hedge fund, Ruderman Capital Partners.
News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch said he wasn't interested in Disney. Officials at Viacom and Time Warner, parent of CNN/Money, declined to comment.
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Comcast's Roberts painted the deal as a way to restore Disney's faded luster.
"This is a combination that we believe would restore the Disney brand," he said during a conference call. "There is no doubt that these two companies can achieve things together that they would not be able to do alone." (For more on the offer, click here; for more on Roberts' tenure at Comcast, click here).
While the company would also assume nearly $12 billion in debt under its proposal, valuing its offer at $66 billion, some analysts said it could pare debt by selling assets. (For details of the offer, click here).
The bid also steps up the pressure on Eisner, who is facing a campaign to oust him by ex-directors Roy Disney and Stanley Gold, and who recently lost a lucrative film distribution partnership with Pixar.
"Eisner is nothing if not a survivor and a political animal," Jeff Matthews, head of the Connecticut-based hedge fund Ram Partners, told CNN/Money. "He's such a control freak, he'll want to control how it plays out. So he'll start looking for a partner."
There was more bad news for Eisner Wednesday, other than Comcast's bid.
Institutional Shareholder Services, a group that advises money managers, recommended that Disney shareholders withhold their vote for Eisner in his campaign for re-election to the board of directors, ISS spokesman Pat McGurn said.
For its part, Disney said in a statement that it "will carefully evaluate" Comcast's offer. And Roberts said he would walk away from the deal if need be.
So the cat-and-mouse game has begun.
In his comments, Roberts noted that Eisner had rejected Comcast's bid, forcing Comcast to take its offer to the public and to Disney's board. (For more on Comcast's letter to Disney, click here).
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How ex-directors Gold and Roy Disney weigh in on Comcast's bid could end up being crucial.
Gold said on a conference call that it was "much too early" to comment on whether he and Roy Disney favored a Comcast deal. But he called it a "serious offer," adding he hopes Disney's board "would handle this with the best interest of shareholders, and not the best interest of Michael Eisner, in mind."
Roberts said he has yet to speak with Roy Disney, Gold or any other Disney shareholders, adding he hopes Disney's board "would do the right thing."
Meanwhile, Eisner was meeting with investors and analysts in Orlando, Fla., to try to talk up the company's recently improved results.
Stay tuned.
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