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Bob Iger: He's Back, and This Time, He's MAD.


Weeters

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Everyone has been so caught up with Coronavirus and Tegna speculation that this slipped under the radar. Disney CEO Bob Iger has stepped down (though will continue to serve as Chairman through the end of the year) and he has been replaced with Bob Chapek, who previously served as Chairman of Parks, Experiences, and Products for Disney.

 

https://thewaltdisneycompany.com/bob-chapek-named-chief-executive-officer-of-the-walt-disney-company/

 

Having moved up from production assistant at ABC, Iger was very strongly connected to the TV side of things. The new guy is not.  Chapek comes from a marketing and advertising background, and has bounced around Disney since he joined in 2011, but never with the TV side of the company.

 

Meanwhile, the company is reportedly losing $30 million dollars a day due to park closures and theatrical releases being suspended.

 

Back in 2010, Disney explored spinning off ABC because it didn't "add value" to their other properties, and that was when it was being run by someone who has basically worked for ABC his entire adult life. Now, Disney is rapidly losing market value, and is being run by the guy who was previously in charge of the "other properties".

 

Buckle up, folks. This could get interesting. 

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It's amazing to think all the money they spent on acquiring FOX could well be part of Disney's downfall.

 

If the implication is that ABC could eventually/quickly be up for sale, I can't think of literally anyone in a position right now to buy it--not even Sinclair.

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It's hard to picture Disney cutting ABC loose. So much of their infrastructure and properties are tied up with the network.  IIRC just recently Disney was using ABC as a bargaining chip in NFL negotiations. 

 

But the O&O stations? I can definitely see those on the chopping block. 

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40 minutes ago, TSSZNews said:

It's amazing to think all the money they spent on acquiring FOX could well be part of Disney's downfall.

 

If the implication is that ABC could eventually/quickly be up for sale, I can't think of literally anyone in a position right now to buy it--not even Sinclair.

DISNEY owns ESPN,ABC, and some elements of FOX(21 Century ). I am surprised they didn't get the FOX tv and regionals, now off too Sinclair.  

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18 minutes ago, The Frog said:

It's hard to picture Disney cutting ABC loose. So much of their infrastructure and properties are tied up with the network.  IIRC just recently Disney was using ABC as a bargaining chip in NFL negotiations. 

 

But the O&O stations? I can definitely see those on the chopping block. 

 

Who would take those? Disney/ABC would be really stupid to sell those off.

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Here's my thinking if Disney were to sell ABC:

 

I can only think of a few companies that would have of any interest in buying ABC

 

Discovery

Liberty Media

AT&T (Warner Media)

 

The only other option I can see is the split of Disney where some of the former 21CF assets (i.e. 20th Century Pictures, Cable Channels (including ESPN) all make up Disney while ABC, Freeform, O&Os, Some of the TV studio productions (such as DADT) it's news and sports divisions all make up whatever it'd become under ABC

 

The bigger wild card in all of this is going to be sports under any scenario ABC is going to have to rebuild its sports division from scratch which would mean continuing the partnership with ESPN until a Sports Department can be reestablished.

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53 minutes ago, The Frog said:

It's hard to picture Disney cutting ABC loose.

But the O&O stations? I can definitely see those on the chopping block. 

I can definitely not. If the other Big 4 networks have O&Os, why not ABC? Axing stations that are #1 in their markets? An idiotic decision.

 

52 minutes ago, CubsFan79 said:

DISNEY owns ESPN, ABC, and some elements of FOX (21 Century). I am surprised they didn't get the FOX tv and regionals, now off to Sinclair.  

Three letters: F. C. C.

 

23 minutes ago, nickp said:

Apple is about to buy Disney and abc in a few months mark my words

Unimpressed Not Funny GIF

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54 minutes ago, CubsFan79 said:

DISNEY owns ESPN,ABC, and some elements of FOX(21 Century ). I am surprised they didn't get the FOX tv and regionals, now off too Sinclair.  

Disney couldn't buy the Fox network. Federal regulations prevent one company from owning two of the Big 4 broadcast networks. Disney would have had to sell ABC if it wanted to acquire the Fox network. And the Fox RSNs were part of the sale to Disney, but the Department of Justice forced Disney to sell them in order to gain approval for the rest of the deal. They eventually went to an ownership group led by Sinclair.

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Another alternative Idea would involve 2 scenarios:

 

1. Disney has it's non-broadcasting assets as well as ESPN, Inc. while ABC takes everything (including the FX, NatGeo, A&E as well as the TV production units)

2. Disney keeps everything including ABC, while ESPN and A&E is spun off to form a new company.

 

Somehow I think scenario #1 looks more likely than scenario #2

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13 hours ago, oknewsguy said:

Here's my thinking if Disney were to sell ABC:

 

I can only think of a few companies that would have of any interest in buying ABC

 

Discovery

Liberty Media

AT&T (Warner Media)

 

The only other option I can see is the split of Disney where some of the former 21CF assets (i.e. 20th Century Pictures, Cable Channels (including ESPN) all make up Disney while ABC, Freeform, O&Os, Some of the TV studio productions (such as DADT) it's news and sports divisions all make up whatever it'd become under ABC

 

The bigger wild card in all of this is going to be sports under any scenario ABC is going to have to rebuild its sports division from scratch which would mean continuing the partnership with ESPN until a Sports Department can be reestablished.


AT&T could be the perfect home for ABC & Freeform if Disney were to sale them. As far as rebuilding the sports division, that wouldn’t be necessary given that that could be controlled by Turner Sports with sports currently airing on TBS and TruTV moving over to ABC. Then, over time, picking up more sports rights.

 

Honestly, I could see Disney selling a lot of things over the next 5 years... (All things ABC (broadcast network, tv production arms, etc..) Freeform, Nat Geo, Blue Sky (do they really need  3 animation studios?), Lucasfilms (yeah..I said it) along with their stake in A+E networks and maybe some 20th Television properties.

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1 hour ago, jase said:


AT&T could be the perfect home for ABC & Freeform if Disney were to sale them. As far as rebuilding the sports division, that wouldn’t be necessary given that that could be controlled by Turner Sports with sports currently airing on TBS and TruTV moving over to ABC. Then, over time, picking up more sports rights.

 

Honestly, I could see Disney selling a lot of things over the next 5 years... (All things ABC (broadcast network, tv production arms, etc..) Freeform, Nat Geo, Blue Sky (do they really need  3 animation studios?), Lucasfilms (yeah..I said it) along with their stake in A+E networks and maybe some 20th Television properties.

 

CNN absorbing ABC News would be interesting.

Edited by Georgie56
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48 minutes ago, Georgie56 said:

 

CNN absorbing ABC News would be interesting.


I couldn’t imagine anyone at ABC News truly welcoming the opportunity to become ABCNN. I would expect some major pushback with them wanting to remain independent, if you will, as much as possible. 

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5 hours ago, jase said:


AT&T could be the perfect home for ABC & Freeform if Disney were to sale them. As far as rebuilding the sports division, that wouldn’t be necessary given that that could be controlled by Turner Sports with sports currently airing on TBS and TruTV moving over to ABC. Then, over time, picking up more sports rights.

 

Honestly, I could see Disney selling a lot of things over the next 5 years... (All things ABC (broadcast network, tv production arms, etc..) Freeform, Nat Geo, Blue Sky (do they really need  3 animation studios?), Lucasfilms (yeah..I said it) along with their stake in A+E networks and maybe some 20th Television properties.

The only sport I can maybe see moving over to ABC from Turner is MLB, everything else will probably stay on Turner (as far as sports rights is concerned)

Edited by oknewsguy
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22 hours ago, Weeters said:

Everyone has been so caught up with Coronavirus and Tegna speculation that this slipped under the radar. Disney CEO Bob Iger has stepped down (though will continue to serve as Chairman through the end of the year) and he has been replaced with Bob Chapek, who previously served as Chairman of Parks, Experiences, and Products for Disney.

 

https://thewaltdisneycompany.com/bob-chapek-named-chief-executive-officer-of-the-walt-disney-company/

 

Having moved up from production assistant at ABC, Iger was very strongly connected to the TV side of things. The new guy is not.  Chapek comes from a marketing and advertising background, and has bounced around Disney since he joined in 2011, but never with the TV side of the company.

 

Meanwhile, the company is reportedly losing $30 million dollars a day due to park closures and theatrical releases being suspended.

 

Back in 2010, Disney explored spinning off ABC because it didn't "add value" to their other properties, and that was when it was being run by someone who has basically worked for ABC his entire adult life. Now, Disney is rapidly losing market value, and is being run by the guy who was previously in charge of the "other properties".

 

Buckle up, folks. This could get interesting. 

 

There was an article in the New York Times, suggesting that Iger is a very active chairman, possibly to the point that he's exerting more control of Disney than Chapek is:

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/12/business/media/disney-ceo-coronavirus.html

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10 hours ago, jase said:


AT&T could be the perfect home for ABC & Freeform if Disney were to sale them. As far as rebuilding the sports division, that wouldn’t be necessary given that that could be controlled by Turner Sports with sports currently airing on TBS and TruTV moving over to ABC. Then, over time, picking up more sports rights.

 

Honestly, I could see Disney selling a lot of things over the next 5 years... (All things ABC (broadcast network, tv production arms, etc..) Freeform, Nat Geo, Blue Sky (do they really need  3 animation studios?), Lucasfilms (yeah..I said it) along with their stake in A+E networks and maybe some 20th Television properties.

Maybe a stretch and a fantasy, but I feel as if Hearst would be a good company to buy ABC from Disney. They would have to sell all the stations that aren't ABC affiliated probably, but they also own 20% of ESPN, which could be beneficial to ABC.

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On 4/15/2020 at 9:38 PM, Georgie56 said:

 

Who would take those? Disney/ABC would be really stupid to sell those off.

 

If we're not bundling the network with them, Hearst. They and ABC already cooperate with ESPN and the A&E Family of networks and there is zero broadcast overlap.

The issue there: Newspapers, namely the San Francisco Chronicle, Houston Chronicle, plus their four newspapers in Fairfield County, CT.

 

This could end one of two ways: Hearst finally spins off print and broadcast into different entities to end-run the NBCO rules or Hearst goes the the government and says that the NBCO rules are a undue burden on them and that their repeal would do zero harm. Remember, Hearst still has a sterling reputation, just don't tell that to their smaller market TV stations or to E. Jean Carroll.

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On 4/15/2020 at 7:43 PM, oknewsguy said:

Here's my thinking if Disney were to sell ABC:

 

I can only think of a few companies that would have of any interest in buying ABC

 

Discovery

Liberty Media

AT&T (Warner Media)

 

The only other option I can see is the split of Disney where some of the former 21CF assets (i.e. 20th Century Pictures, Cable Channels (including ESPN) all make up Disney while ABC, Freeform, O&Os, Some of the TV studio productions (such as DADT) it's news and sports divisions all make up whatever it'd become under ABC

 

The bigger wild card in all of this is going to be sports under any scenario ABC is going to have to rebuild its sports division from scratch which would mean continuing the partnership with ESPN until a Sports Department can be reestablished.

 

Uh, Apollo? Allen Media? AT&T is conflicted, so that's out.

 

On 4/15/2020 at 8:12 PM, Action Newsroom said:

I can definitely not. If the other Big 4 networks have O&Os, why not ABC? Axing stations that are #1 in their markets? An idiotic decision.

 

And yet, CBS is looking to spin off their entire O&O television group. This is what the ViacomCBS merger was about.

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9 minutes ago, ABC 7 Denver said:

And yet, CBS is looking to spin off their entire O&O television group. This is what the ViacomCBS merger was about.

 

That seems remarkably short sighted for CBS to do, but in the current climate - and especially if there's no football in the Fall - I could see it.

 

Guessing they think reverse comp is more lucrative, but, again, in the current climate, I wouldn't bank on it.

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15 minutes ago, TSSZNews said:

 

That seems remarkably short sighted for CBS to do, but in the current climate - and especially if there's no football in the Fall - I could see it.

 

Guessing they think reverse comp is more lucrative, but, again, in the current climate, I wouldn't bank on it.

 

Short sighted? That's the long game. They are switching to a pure-play content creation model because distribution is no longer lucrative.

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  • Weeters changed the title to Bob Iger: He's Back, and This Time, He's MAD.

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