ESPN Stands Alone Within The Disney Empire
Issue #112
Weekly Recap of Broadcast & Cable News Media, Sports Media & Streaming Media
ESPN Stands Alone Within The Disney Empire
The feeling by some of ESPN's role within the Disney empire could be that of a square peg trying to fit in a round whole. ESPN, after all, is male-oriented, macho driven, and a lot of its content is predicated on violence.
This stands in direct contrast to Disney’s wholesome family-driven image. Could you see Mickey Mouse being an MMA fan?
Not only was the clash of identities an issue, but ESPN’s content acquisitions were also expensive.
For ESPN to be successful, it needs sports content and not just any sports-tier content but top-tier sports content. It’s the home of the NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, college football, college basketball, various soccer leagues MMA, boxing, and a variety of other minor sports.
Keeping all of that is expensive, and ESPN tries to recoup its expenditure from pay-TV distributors, who pass those expenses to consumers.
As has been well documented, consumers are cutting the cord at a very high rate, and ESPN is suffering as a result of that.
This led to speculation that Disney could be looking to offload ESPN by spinning it off or selling it to another media party.
All of that has, for now, been put to rest as Disney’s CEO, Bob Iger, has said that ESPN is not going anywhere and has elevated the network to its own division within the Disney empire and has given its chairman Jimmy Pitaro complete operational control of ESPN, and its many channels as well as financial responsibility for creative, marketing, technology, sales and distribution.
Pitaro will also manage sports content for Disney’s domestic and international platforms.
Iger has a lot of faith in ESPN, saying it is a differentiator for Disney, but he would like to figure out how to monetize it best.
ESPN should feel pretty comfortable as a result of Iger’s vote of confidence. Still, by Iger making it its own division, could he be preparing for the eventuality that it could be spun off or sold?
Only time will tell.
(Front Office Sports)
RECAP - DISNEY EDITION
Disney Restructures, Announces Layoffs
Bob Iger is once again driving the bus at Disney, and in his first earnings call since reclaiming the CEO title, he has revealed his vision of what the house of Mickey should be moving forward. This includes reorganizing its divisions and cost-cutting measures, which unfortunately include layoffs. Iger announced that there would be three divisions within the conglomerate, Disney Entertainment, which Dana Walden and Alan Bergman will run; ESPN, run by Jimmy Pitaro (discussed above); and Disney Parks, Experiences, and Products run by Josh D’Amaro. He also announced that the company would slash 7,000 jobs or 3% of its workforce, as well as $5.5 billion in other cost-cutting measures. Disney is joining other large media entities like Warner Bros. Discovery, NBCUniversal, and Newscorp in slimming their workforce. (Wall Street Journal $$$, CNBC )
Disney’s To Decide What To Do With Hulu
During Disney's earning call, Iger gave the impression that it would be looking to sell Hulu, its other streaming service. “Everything is on the table,” he said regarding the fate of Hulu. Disney owns two-thirds of the streamer, with Comcast controlling the rest, and could be looking to offload its stake to Disney as early as January 2024, possibly making at least $27.5 million from that sale. Hulu added 800K subscribers in the last quarter to stand at 48 million subscribers giving it a nearly 6% rise from the same time in 2022. Disney indeed has options should it gain full control of Hulu; it could decide to dissolve it and integrate it into Disney Plus, it could sell all of it or part of it to another party, or it could simply do nothing and leave it as it is, and hopefully invest in it. Indeed everything is on the table when it comes to Hulu. (Yahoo! Finance, The Streamable)
Disney Plus Loses 2.4 million subscribers
Disney Plus’ rapid growth in the last few years made it the darling of the streaming world and established it as the true threat to Netflix's dominance. The other smaller streaming networks dreamed of the numbers Disney Plus had, while Netflix’s cooling made the streamer antsy — it started to look over its shoulders to see how close Disney Plus was catching up to it. Disney Plus was plausibly a reason why Netflix adjusted how it works. As always, all good things come to an end, and Disney reported that Disney Plus lost 2.4 million subscribers in the last quarter. The loss was blamed primarily on its international arm, Disney Plus Hotstar, which reported subscriber cancellations due to Disney losing its cricket rights. The good news is that Disney Plus added 200,000 subscribers in North America and 1.2 million in territories outside of India and Southeast Asia. (TechRadar)
QUICK RECAP
C.B. Cotton joins Fox News as a correspondent. (TVNewser)
Derek Jeter is joining Fox Sports MLB coverage. (Jeff Agrest/Twitter)
Danny Freeman joins CNN as a Philadelphia-based correspondent. (CNN Press Room)
Two new multi-platform reporters join ABC News. (TVNewser)
Candace Parker and Draymond Green will be part of TNT's All-Star Game coverage. (The Athletic)
Bloomberg's Kailey Leinz is moving from New York City to Washington, D.C. (TVNewser)
Super Bowl LVII: Fox and the White House at odds with regards to Super Bowl interview. (The Daily Beast)
Super Bowl LVII: Could this be the most-watched game ever? (Front Office Sports)
Super Bowl LVII: Fox Sports Greg Olsen’s future as an NFL analyst is trending upward. (New York Post)
Super Bowl LVII: How advertisers embraced diversity on and behind the camera. (AdAge)
Super Bowl LVII: Fox Sports’ Howie Long named the 2023 Pat Summerall Award winner. (Fox Sports/Twitter)
Super Bowl LVII: Fox Sports using Sportradar to enhance the broadcast. (Awful Announcing)
Super Bowl LVII: Fox Sports’ Kevin Burkhardt is ready to call his first Super Bowl game. (Multichannel News)
Super Bowl LVII: Michael Irvin pulled from game coverage after the hotel incident and sued Marriott hotel. (Front Office Sports)
Super Bowl LVII: Tom Brady will not be part of Fox Sports coverage plans. (New York Post)
Super Bowl LVII: Over 6000 media credentials were issued for the game. (Front Office Sports)
Super Bowl LVII: How many cameras is Fox Sports using for the game? (Richard Deitsch/Twitter)
Super Bowl LVII: They are making it difficult for Tom Brady to join the booth. (Sports Business Journal)
Super Bowl LVII: Fox Sports sells out its ad inventory. (AdWeek)
Super Bowl LVII: Fox News’ Greg Gutfeld promo will be the only one shown from the network during the game. (TVNewser)
CBS Sports president says there was no Tony Romo intervention. (USA Today)
Former NFL player Brett Favre is suing Pat McAfee and Shannon Sharpe. (Front Office Sports)
The mood at BBC News has gotten grim. (The New Statesman $$$)
Bally Sports to file for bankruptcy soon. (Sportico)
ABC News’ David Muir flies to Turkey to cover the earthquake devastation. (TVNewser)
ESPN's NFL Live is a bright spot in its weekday daytime lineup. (New York Post)
The Weather Channel gets a new storm tracker vehicle. (NewscastStudio)
Profile: ESPN's Mina Kimes love for all things football. (The Washington Post)
CNN's Chris Licht is looking to add Charles Barkley to its primetime lineup. (Awful Announcing)
YouTube TV to make changes to NFL Sunday Ticket. (New York Post)
Fox has received numerous offers for the purchase of Tubi. (Bloomberg)
ESPN's Mina Kimes is set to receive a huge payday when she becomes a free agent. (New York Post)
Fox News’ Roger Ailes and his war with Politico. (Axios)
NewsNation reporter arrested in Ohio at governor’s press conference. (ABC News)
TNT gets record viewership from LeBron James’ record night. (Sports Media Watch)
NBC News and MSNBC staff stage walkout to protest layoffs. (The Daily Beast)
Fox Sports’ Eric Shanks still likes the cable bundle. (Awful Announcing)
BBC News’ Huw Edwards receives special recognition at the UK’s Broadcast Awards. (Broadcast Now)
The FIFA World Cup and NFL boosted Fox’s second-quarter earnings. (Front Office Sports)
Flexible scheduling is coming to ESPN's Monday Night Football. (Front Office Sports)
Fox News tops in State of the Union coverage, but overall viewership is down. (Dylan Byers/Twitter)
Tubi sees highest user engagement in December. (The Streamable)
WBD may not combine Discovery Plus with HBO Max. (Broadcasting+Cable)
CNN International receives breaking news coverage nomination from the Royal Television Society's Television Journalism Award. (CNN International PR/Twitter)
Various media execs talk about what TV will look like in three years. (CNBC)
Larry Madowo to host CNN International's African Voices Changemakers. (CNN Press Room)
DAZN nabs a 10-year deal for the NFL Game Pass International package. (DAZN)
Former Fox News contributor says the network is retaliating against her. (The Daily Best)
C-SPAN is still looking for camera access inside the Capitol. (Vanity Fair)
Fox News’ Shannon Bream has a new book about the bible’s love stories. (TVNewser)
Black women are taking over the TV weather department. (The Washington Post)
Showtime is investing in its intellectual property. (The Wall Street Journal)
The 2023 duPont Columbia Award winners are announced. (TVNewser)
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A MarkHenry Media LLC publication - Issue #112 - 2023