Disney boss hints at change in ESPN ownership

Disney CEO Bob Iger. Dan MacMedan-USA TODAY

Disney boss hints at potential change in ESPN ownership

By Jason Clinkscales | Last updated 7/13/23

Bob Iger, the CEO of The Walt Disney Company, said that the media conglomerate may consider selling some of its traditional linear channels, but has a different course for ESPN.

In an interview on CNBC, while attending the Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference with fellow media leaders, Iger told David Faber that Disney is reassessing its traditional TV business, which includes broadcast network ABC and its owned-and-operated affiliates across the country, as well as the Disney Channel and its cable siblings. However, in a company restructuring earlier this year, ESPN was placed in its own division within the overall company, separating its assets from the other media operations.

Without offering many details, Iger said that Disney could find a "strategic partner" for ESPN, stating that it "could take the form of a joint venture or offloading an ownership stake."

There has been plenty of speculation on the future of ESPN at Disney for the last few years as traditional cable and satellite subscriptions have dramatically declined due to the impact of cord-cutters (those people who ditched cable) and cord-nevers (younger consumers who never subscribed to cable when reaching adulthood).

In his first time around as Disney CEO, Iger - with a massive nudge from stockholders - was one of the biggest evangelists for the streaming revolution, devoting resources towards the development of Disney+ and ESPN+, with Hulu complimenting the two services in a bundle package.

Yet, with a far different business model supporting streamers compared to traditional TV, streaming services not called Netflix have yet to bring in the revenues shareholders and lead executives dreamt of. It appears that Disney has set off a new streaming plan for ESPN, one that includes a standalone subscription service that it hopes will attract those cord-cutters and cord-nevers.

ESPN's issues may have been compounded even more after the mass layoffs that ripped through the division in the last few months, which shockingly included Jeff Van Gundy, Suzy Kolber, Jalen Rose and others.

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