Special Emergency Bob Iger Might Sell ABC Edition
Previously on Lost...
Whoa- after years of speculation, Disney CEO Bob ‘Superyacht’ Iger laid it out there. He might sell the company’s TV networks, and find a strategic partner for bringing ESPN to the world as a direct-to-consumer business. We have many many - probably naive or flat out ignorant- questions.
Should we assume that Disney is planning to sell ABC and Freeform, but keep at least part of ESPN?
What about the ABC local stations?
Who would buy ABC? Private equity?
What exactly are you buying? Linear TV is already in deep trouble. Now you’ve got both a prolonged writer’s strike and an actor’s strike, which is likely to turn the broadcast networks into an even bigger outlet for reality shows than ever. Are we looking at five nights a week of “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” and “America’s Funniest Home Videos?”
Does this accelerate the end of broadcast TV?
In this case, WTF is a strategic partner for ESPN? Is this another way in for private equity? Or does ESPN become like Starz, where you can subscribe to ESPN via Amazon Prime or even YouTube? Does Disney really want to get in bed with rivals like that?
If Iger finds this partner, does he go all in on making ESPN a stand-alone streamer? You’re not giving up that cable distribution money right? (even though it’s shrinking).
If you split up ABC and ESPN, what happens to existing sports rights deals? Does the new owner keep them in place and negotiate new ones?
What about the upcoming NBA rights? How does ESPN bid for rights without a broadcast network? Would that matter?
Who wants Freeform - a cable network aimed at people who don’t have cable?
What about Disney XD, Disney Jr., etc?
Does Disney still go ahead and buy all of Hulu?
Does FX just become part of Hulu? Would someone buy FX on its own?
If you take ABC away from Disney, does that impact Hulu’s distribution rights? Meaning, does the new ABC owner still distribute new Grey’s Anatomy episodes to Hulu, or play the market?
What happens to Disney’s ad sales operations? The company has invested heavily in its own ad tech stack, built on Hulu’s programmatic pipes. Does this all stay together?
If not, what happens to Disney’s vaunted proprietary identifier, if you get choked off from a bunch of vital consumer data (presumably)
Who sells Disney+ ads?
What happens to Disney’s ad sales team? Did we just see the last Disney upfront?
Instead of the presumed era of even bigger media conglomerates (like say Warner Discovery merging with Comcast someday) might we instead see a great unwinding, where everybody decides to park their declining/toxic linear assets elsewhere to better compete with Big Tech?
Does any of this make sense?