Disney is a highly successful business outside of the ESPN unit,
Yes ESPN still makes money but in less than 5 years it will cost Disney more to operate ESPN than ESPN generates in revenue and worse its all FIXED COST.
Disney needs to jettison the ESPN business, or make it a wholly owned subsidiary.
Its absolutely no accident after the failure of the Altice Cable deal that Iger bailed, Yes Disney got a little more money, But what Disney wanted was a minimum of a 50% increase in per subscriber rates. But Altice can't do that unless they want to accelerate cable cutting its not in Altice's interest to need to boost cable rates by 10-15 bucks to accommodate Disney's needs.
Disney's other choice is a strategic bankruptcy to bring everyone to the table and re-negotiate the rights deals in a way that fits modern viewing pattens.
A more realistic rights deal would allocate revenue on a per-subscriber basis which would for the first time have the leagues have some skin in the game.
If people dont like what they see on the field well that leagues's revenue goes down too. The converse is also true if people like what they see revenue goes up.
The problem with the current model is all the risk is on Disney's plate and the leagues get 'free money'
