Sirwalterraleigh
Premium Member
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Disney Encouraged to Sell Off ABC & ESPN as stock faces worst year since 1974
- Thread starter ohioguy
- Start date
Sirwalterraleigh
Premium Member
Disney isn’t headed for bankruptcy…
But they’re in trouble because that’s not “the standard” for Wall Street.
It’s money from nothing…and it’s “reverse engineered”…Wall Street says what the stock price has to be and you best sell it at that.
What a world, huh?
Sell it all to Apple and let’s take in that iPhone cash!
GhostHost1000
Premium Member
Amazon should just buy Disney so they can take over their websites and apps since they know how to run stable ones
GhostHost1000
Premium Member
Apple and Disney would be an interesting pairing. AppleTV in with Disney+ etc and all the tech possibilities with attractions and other offerings. I’m not holding me breath on something like that happening thoughSell it all to Apple and let’s take in that iPhone cash!
Sirwalterraleigh
Premium Member
They can't do that -- Disney execs' heads would explode, since all they know how to do these days is outsource stuff.
DisneyDebRob
Well-Known Member
ESPN is a shell of what it was back in the day.
There are tons of places to stream sports now and probably more deals coming.
I loved ESPN 15 years ago but it’s not the same. I don’t pay for it in my bundle for a few bucks. Even that’s not worth it for me.. forgetting the 20-30 bucks some pay.
Disney needs to dump it, keep ABC and their numbers will get better for sure. Not a fan of the commercial model now but that will bring in more people at the lower rate.
DisneyDebRob
Well-Known Member
Exactly my take. I already have prime so caught Thursday night games. My cable which is just local stations I catch Sunday games. Screw Monday night.. not paying for it.
Slpy3270
Well-Known Member
Them bowing out of Sunday Ticket, not to mention being left out of B1G negotiations, shows they have limits.
Under a Dem administration and a more hawkish FTC (they've sunk one merger and now they're trying to sink another), fat chance Apple will buy them.
ABC without sports is essentially CBS from 1994-2000. Completely worthless.
Furthermore, Disney is able to command the high retransmission fees because of ESPN. Without it, the cable operators will have no problem dumping FX, Freeform, Disney Channel and Nat Geo, which would wipe out billions in revenue.
Hence why, no matter how many short-termists and hedge funds would like it, no spin-off or asset sale is happening.
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Me watching that inflating that Streaming Bubble!
HauntedMansionFLA
Well-Known Member
How big of a loss would Disney take if they attempted to sell Fox? The stock would really take a dip.
HauntedMansionFLA
Well-Known Member
Doesn’t Disney have a bunch of content from the 60’s, 70’s, 80’s and 90’s that could go on Disney+ without Fox?
CaptainAmerica
Premium Member
All of that happens anyways the second Disney decides to sell ESPN direct-to-consumer.
mightynine
Well-Known Member
I think that’s been a big problem for all these media corporations as they try and figure out their streaming future and doing the work to connect these various networks and IPs as all part of XYZ.
Would the average person connect The Simpsons, Gravity Falls, Avengers: Endgame, The Wizards of Waverly Place, The Mandalorian, ESPN Monday Night Football and National Geographic as all Disney?
For that matter, would they think of Star Trek, Beavis & Butt-Head, Paw Patrol, CSI, The Real World, and BET's Tyler Perry series as all Paramount?
Or the myriad of reality shows like Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, 30-Day Finance, Fixer Upper along with Looney Tunes, DC Comics, Adult Swim/Toonami, Turner Classic Movies, and Last Week Tonight as all Warner Bros. Discovery?
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Slpy3270
Well-Known Member
If DTC sign-ups are lower than what Disney is projecting then what's the point?
CaptainAmerica
Premium Member
People are exiting cable (or young people aren't getting into cable in the first place), so Disney is looking at declining fees from the MVPDs no matter what. Some of that decline can be recaptured if you can sell ESPN as a standalone product to non-cable-subscribing sports fans. Some people will be willing to pay $X for ESPN alone when they weren't willing to pay >$X for a cable bundle.
If only there were this singular provider that consumers could go to which could aggregate all these separate properties and deliver them to the consumer through a single portal maybe over a single cable.
doctornick
Well-Known Member
Yes, it's very interesting that Disney despite having a sports specific streaming product in ESPN+ has been very judicious in putting content on that which duplicates what is on the linear ESPN channels. Other services like Paramount+ and Peacock have no problem "doubling up" and putting stuff on their networks/cable channels on the streaming as well. And that's because Disney still make a boatload of revenue from ESPN from cable/satellite (and streaming services like YouTubeTV/Sling/etc) subscribers - it's not as much as in the heyday but it's still a substantial net positive - plus that allows Disney the weight to keep other channels on cable packages as you mention. Live sports is really the one big thing left for linear TV and Disney is well positioned with ESPN to capitalize on it. It would be idiotic for Disney to shed ESPN.
I do thing there's room to make ESPN+ more robust and valuable. For starters, I'd probably have them put ABC broadcasted games on ESPN+ - that still lets the cable channels retain their value, but would put some quality games on ESPN+ to make it more valuable for those who have cut the cord.