DIS Shareholders and Stock Info ONLY

[RivShore]

Total Licensing Termination Fees paid by Disney since Q1FY19: ~$6.2B

Talk about adding insult to injury.............................................

 

[wabbott]

James Stewart on CNBC now talking DIS

 

[clarker99]

$DIS having a nice day. +$2.47/share as of 3:38pm est

 

[clarker99]

Talk about adding insult to injury.............................................

I like not being reminded of that number. Thanks.

And counting...

 

[wabbott]

https://www.wsj.com/business/media/...-create-new-sports-streaming-venture-c9836792
Fox, Warner Bros. Discovery and Disney Create New Sports Streaming Venture
Service to be available to ESPN+, Hulu and Max subscribers


By Joe Flint and Isabella Simonetti
Feb. 6, 2024 - 4:21 pm EST

Fox Corp., ESPN and Warner Bros. Discovery are creating a joint streaming platform to share sports assets, a move that comes as the price of sports rights is dramatically increasing.

The service will be available to ESPN+, Hulu and Max subscribers and each company will own one-third of the product, according to people familiar with the matter.
The as-yet unnamed platform is essentially a sport-streaming bundle, said one person with knowledge of the plans. It is expected to launch later this year.

Both Fox and Disney are to announce their quarterly earnings on Wednesday. Warner Bros. Discovery reports earnings on Feb. 23.

ESPN is still exploring options for a strategic partner. In July, Bob Iger, Disney’s chief executive, announced that he was looking for a strategic partner for the sports network and was open to selling an equity stake.

ESPN has been in talks with the National Football League, the National Basketball Association and the National Hockey League about the possibility of a strategic partnership, The Wall Street Journal previously reported.

The decision comes as ESPN is charting a streaming future, with plans to make its flagship channel available direct-to-consumer in the next two to three years or once its reach in the cable TV world falls below 50 million households, the Journal reported.

ESPN and Warner Bros. Discovery’s TNT are both renegotiating their rights packages with the National Basketball Association, one of their most valuable assets. Some experts expect the NBA to command three times its last deal, which would mean a rights package worth about $78 billion over a decade.

 

[wabbott]

Really, really interested to see how WBD comes up with financing to pay its share of the NBA deal.

 

[RivShore]

Fox, Warner Bros. Discovery and Disney Create New Sports Streaming Venture

I've advocated on here for the last year or so that Disney should take the lead in aggregating all the legacy streamers into one offering that would have the chance of leapfrogging Netflix. If this works, maybe it will be a test case for the entertainment side.

 

[Elijah Abrams]

The core company HAS to be kept together, and the extraneous enterprises should be sold.

Like 20th Century Studios, I believe.

 

[fatmanatee]

Getting the World Cup included in this is pretty big. Price will probably be pretty big too.

 

[RivShore]

I mean, I agree to some extent, but I still think his approach is better than the two proxy groups.

And i agree with that but I do like the idea of a truly independent board member or two. Unfortunately if they have laid out their best ideas already, I'm not impressed.

 

[wabbott]

I've advocated on here for the last year or so that Disney should take the lead in aggregating all the legacy streamers into one offering that would have the chance of leapfrogging Netflix. If this works, maybe it will be a test case for the entertainment side.

But what does WBD bring to the table? Take a look at this P/L statement. Would you lend them money to help pay for a sports contract renewal? Are FOX and DIS gonna take on WBD as a charity case, with the stockholder's money? This financial train wreck (WBD) brought to you courtesy of former AT&T (T) Randall Stephenson, who flushed $50 billion of T stockholders equity. He was gonna be the next Jack Warner, huh?

https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/WBD/financials/

 

[RivShore]

But what does WBD bring to the table? Take a look at this P/L statement. Would you lend them money to help pay for a sports contract renewal? Are FOX and DIS gonna take on WBD as a charity case, with the stockholder's money? This financial train wreck (WBD) brought to you courtesy of former AT&T (T) Randall Stephenson, who flushed $50 billion of T stockholders equity. He was gonna be the next Jack Warner, huh?

https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/WBD/financials/

We don't know what money is changing hands on the deal yet do we?

As for WBD, yes, T did a great job there, a gigantic mess!

 

[wabbott]

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/06/business/espn-fox-warner-sports-streaming.html

Disney, Fox and Warner Bros. Join Forces for Sports Streaming Service
The move takes aim at a major issue for media companies as viewers abandon cable and prices soar for broadcast rights to sporting events.

By Benjamin Mullin and Kevin Draper
Feb. 6, 2024

For years, the rising price of sports rights has been a major headache for media executives, who have watched viewers abandon traditional TV for streaming services even as their companies continue to pay up to broadcast games.

On Tuesday, Disney, Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery proposed a new offering that could keep them in business with some of those customers. The companies announced a streaming service that will feature games from the major professional leagues and college conferences, which they hope will attract sports fans who have abandoned cable.
The service will offer streaming subscribers all the channels owned by those companies that show sports, like ESPN, TNT and FS1, but also ABC and Fox. In addition to sports content, subscribers will be able to watch nonsports shows like “The Simpsons” and “The Bachelor” that are available on the channels. Subscribers will have access to 14 channels in total, as well as ESPN’s existing streaming service, ESPN+.

The price, name and executive team behind the service have not yet been determined. It is scheduled to launch in the fall.

Sports and live events, like award shows, have long been seen as a bulwark against cord cutting. Rich Greenfield, a media analyst at LightShed Partners, said in an interview that he was encouraged by the new service, which is likely to satisfy some sports viewers who are fed up with paying for traditional TV channels they don’t want. But he said the absence of companies like Paramount meant that die-hard fans still wouldn’t have access to a complete array of live sports.

“It’s a step in the right direction,” Mr. Greenfield said. “The question is: Is it enough?”


In some ways, this bundle of channels is an evolution, not a revolution. The companies already sell their channels to traditional cable distributors like Comcast and Charter, and to digital distributors, like Sling and YouTube TV. The new service is essentially just another distributor to sell channels to, though the companies collectively own it and the grouping of channels being offered to subscribers is novel.

Sports fans will find games and matches from almost every major league on the app. In addition to National Football League and National Basketball Association games, the service will offer action from Major League Baseball, the National Hockey League, the PGA Tour, Grand Slam tennis, professional soccer, major college conferences and the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

Network contracts with leagues are usually specific about where games can be shown, and most leagues have been hesitant about allowing too many games to move off broadcast and cable channels and making a full transition to streaming. By structuring the new app in such a way that everything on the channels — sports and nonsports content alike — is available to subscribers, the companies did not need to secure permission from the leagues for the games.

While this service goes a long way toward allowing sports fans to watch a significant number of games in a single app, it does not bundle all sports together. NBC, CBS and Amazon, in particular, have major rights — like many N.F.L. games, major golf tournaments and the Olympics — that will not be a part of the service. Regional sports networks, where most fans still watch their local baseball, basketball and hockey teams, are also not included.

Live sports have been moving to streaming services already. Deep-pocketed tech companies like Apple, Netflix and Amazon have paid handsomely for sports rights, and the N.F.L. just had its first streaming-only playoff game on NBCUniversal’s Peacock. But with this new service, the traditional media partners will have an additional way to reach cable-averse sports fans.

The service, which will also be supported by advertising, will be distinct from the companies’ other streaming services.

Viewers will be offered the opportunity to bundle the new app with their existing subscriptions to services like Disney’s ESPN+ and Warner Bros. Discovery’s Max.

Disney, Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery will each own a one-third stake of the new service and have equal board representation. They will license their sports content to the joint venture on a nonexclusive basis, allowing them to show games elsewhere, like on their linear networks.

For ESPN, this service is just one step in its transformation away from traditional television. Disney’s chief executive, Robert A. Iger, announced last year that the company planned to offer the flagship ESPN network as a stand-alone streaming offering by 2025. Disney is also having conversations with sports leagues about selling an equity stake in the network, and ESPN struck a $2 billion deal with Penn Entertainment last year to create ESPN Bet, an online sports betting brand.

Each company trumpeted the new service in a joint news release. Mr. Iger called it “an important step forward for the media business.” Lachlan Murdoch, the chief executive of Fox Corporation, said the service was “a new and exciting platform.” David Zaslav, the chief executive of Warner Bros. Discovery, hailed the service’s “unparalleled combination of marquee sports rights.”

This is not the first time media companies have joined together on a venture to deal with the rise of streaming. In 2007, Fox and NBCUniversal teamed up to start Hulu, a streaming service that included shows from both companies. Hulu’s ownership structure has changed over the years, including the additions of Time Warner, Disney and, when it bought NBCUniversal, Comcast. Disney is now poised to buy out Comcast’s share of Hulu and own the entirety of the service, which has more than 48 million subscribers.

Benjamin Mullin reports on the major companies behind news and entertainment. Contact Ben securely on Signal at +1 530-961-3223 or email at benjamin.mullin@nytimes.com. More about Benjamin Mullin

Kevin Draper writes about money, power and influence in sports, focusing on a range of topics, including workplace harassment and discrimination, sexual misconduct and doping. He can be reached at kevin.draper@nytimes.com or kevin.draper@protonmail.com. More about Kevin Draper

 

[New Mouse]

So will Hulu for sports also lead to Disney being on the hook for a billion dollar buy out?

 

[RivShore]

So will Hulu for sports also lead to Disney being on the hook for a billion dollar buy out?

in about a decade, maybe! LOL

 

[clarker99]

I've advocated on here for the last year or so that Disney should take the lead in aggregating all the legacy streamers into one offering that would have the chance of leapfrogging Netflix. If this works, maybe it will be a test case for the entertainment side.

Dis+/Hulu/Espn+ combined have a larger subscriber count than Netflix in North America.

Netflix just reported 80million N. American subs, while Disney has 121million bw Dis+/Hulu/ESPN+ as of Sept 30, 2023. I assume this number will be higher after they report quarterly earnings later today.

Just need to close the ARPU gap. Netflix at $16.64/mo per user while Dis+/Hulu/ESPN+ ARPU averages out to only ~$8.75/mo per user in N. America. (Again this will be updated later today when new data is released).

All that to say, I don’t think Disney needs an ‘Entertainment’ streaming partner. At least not domestically.

 

[New Mouse]

Dis+/Hulu/Espn+ combined have a larger subscriber count than Netflix in North America.

Netflix just reported 80million N. American subs, while Disney has 121million bw Dis+/Hulu/ESPN+ as of Sept 30, 2023. I assume this number will be higher after they report quarterly earnings later today.

Just need to close the ARPU gap. Netflix at $16.64/mo per user while Dis+/Hulu/ESPN+ ARPU averages out to only ~$8.75/mo per user in N. America. (Again this will be updated later today when new data is released).

All that to say, I don’t think Disney needs an ‘Entertainment’ streaming partner. At least not domestically.

The problem is millions of the disney subscribers are on free or discounted plans. I would be one of many that wasn't a subscriber if it wasn't given to me.

 

[wabbott]

https://www.msn.com/en-ae/money/com...rity-on-elusive-streaming-profits/ar-BB1hVaKO

Disney Investors Search for Clarity on Elusive Streaming Profits
by Carmen Reinicke

(Bloomberg) -- When Walt Disney Co. reports earnings after Wednesday’s close, top of mind for investors is what clarity the company can offer on when its streaming business will deliver profits.

The Burbank, California-based firm said in its last report that it expects its combined streaming business to reach profitability in the fourth quarter of 2024, but warned that “progress may not look linear from quarter to quarter.”

Analysts covering the company expect its direct-to-consumer business to bring in $5.5 billion in revenue in the first quarter, and estimate an operating loss of about $391 million. While that’s a narrower decline than the $420 million the segment shed in the fourth quarter, it’s far from competitor Netflix Inc., which is the only streamer that’s been able to turn a profit.

“Things are getting less bad, and we’re getting more clarity finally, one of them being on the streaming side,” said David Wagner, portfolio manager at Aptus Capital Advisors LLC. “We’re going to see how forgiving the market tape is for a turnaround story.”

Disney shares slipped as much as 2.7% in early trading on Wednesday.

Pressure is on for Disney to show that it’s making progress in a turnaround that includes a profitable streaming segment and cost-cutting. Alongside revival efforts, the company is facing activist pressure from investors including Blackwells Capital and Trian Fund Management LP’s Nelson Peltz. The stock has gained so far this year — it’s up about 8.5% — but still lags Netflix Inc., which has gained 14%.

“Any commentary about reaching profitability earlier than 4Q24 will be a positive catalyst,” Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Geetha Ranganathan wrote in a note.

Investors will also be looking for updates on other parts of Disney’s business, such as linear networks including ESPN, theme parks and its movie studio. The company, alongside Fox Corp. and Warner Bros. Discovery, announced Tuesday after market close that they would join forces to launch a sports streaming service, one-third owned by each company.

Though bulls are hopeful that the stock’s more than 20% run from an October trough has legs, it’s still beaten-down from a 2021 high near $202 per share. Disney trades at about 21 times forward earnings, a slight premium to the S&P 500 Index at 20 times.

“It is a value stock, so the question is, is it a value trap or is this a great opportunity?” said Rhys Williams, portfolio manager at Spouting Rock Asset Management LLC. He added that the gap between Disney and Netflix, seen as the leader in streaming, has been an issue for convincing investors to jump back into the stock.

In its last earnings release, Netflix reported its best subscriber growth since the pandemic, signaling that its content and new advertising-supported subscription helped draw consumers amid a password crackdown.

“If they can have something close directionally like Netflix’s results, that would be great for Disney. But, I think there’s some skepticism that they’re going to be able to do that,” Williams said. Analysts are expecting that Disney subscribers will total 151.2 million in the quarter, showing sequential growth.

Overall, analysts expect Disney to report nearly $24 billion in revenue, a 1% increase from the same quarter a year ago, and $1.01 in adjusted earnings per share.

Also in focus is Disney’s Chief Financial Officer, Hugh Johnston, who joined the company in November. The earnings release will be his first as CFO.

“We will be listening for any key messages regarding his key priorities,” Citigroup Global Markets Inc. analysts led by Jason Bazinet wrote in a note dated Feb. 1. “We expect the focus will continue to be on right sizing costs and driving towards streaming profitability.”

 

[hertamaniac]

The problem is millions of the disney subscribers are on free or discounted plans. I would be one of many that wasn't a subscriber if it wasn't given to me.

That's a good point. I purchased Peacock during the black Friday special on a 1-year agreement. I wouldn't have subscribed for a full year at their current monthly price.

 

[wabbott]

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/b...-sports-streaming-bundle-analysts-1235818152/

Big Media Circles the Wagons On Sports to Fend Off Tech Giants — Will It Work?

Wall Street analysts break down the plan by Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery and Fox to launch a joint streaming venture that has rights to the NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, college football and NCAA March Madness basketball.

By Georg Szalai
February 7, 2024 - 5:30am PST

The blockbuster deal by Disney, Fox Corp. and Warner Bros. Discovery to team up for a sports streaming joint venture was the focus of Wall Street mid-week. Their still-unnamed streaming service will offer live linear channels, such as ESPN, ABC, Fox, TNT and TBS, games and other sports rights from all three companies on a nonexclusive basis.

Expected to launch in the fall, in time for the NFL season, it will be available directly to consumers, but also as a bundle with WBD’s Max, as well as Disney’s ESPN+ and Hulu.

The venture will have rights to the NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, college football and NCAA March Madness basketball, the FIFA World Cup, three of the four Grand Slam tennis events, the UFC, Formula 1 and NASCAR. Disney CEO Bob Iger called the venture “an important step forward for the media business.”

Indeed, it feels like a first step toward a streaming sports bundle amid industry-wide expectations of more content re-bundling moves in the streaming age.

But many questions, for now, remain open for what can be seen as the Hulu of the sports world, including the pricing of the joint streamer, whether other media players could join and how the financials will exactly be divvied up. Also, joint ventures have often proven to be tricky across Corporate America and Hollywood as they require all partners to be aligned on strategic and financial priorities. So will the sports vehicle end up working much differently than Hulu which started as a streaming venture only to end up with a deal for Disney to become the sole owner?

With that backdrop, Wall Street experts’ first take on the sports streaming partnership was to describe it as a move towards a new bundle of sorts.

“A Super Sports App is coming to a screen near you,” Sanford C. Bernstein analyst Laurent Yoon summarized in the headline of his report. “At this point, there are more questions than answers but this is definitely a step towards providing a compelling consumer choice to access sports outside the multichannel video programming distributor/virtual multichannel video programming distributor offerings,” he wrote.

The expert then listed a slew of questions, hoping for answers to some of them from Fox’s and Disney’s quarterly earnings conference calls on Wednesday. Among them: Will the companies work with pay-TV distributors and “how will they balance the loss of linear revenue and the incremental revenue from the sports streaming app?”

Yoon also highlighted that Disney spends more on sports rights than Fox and WBD, while all three parties will own an equal share in the joint venture. So how will they divide up costs? And the analyst wondered about the possible industry-wide impact of the venture. “Will NBCUniversal/Paramount join the bus? Why are they not in already? What will it take?” he noted before wondering if there was “any risk that this arrangement can be challenged on an antitrust basis?”

Meanwhile, Wells Fargo analyst Steven Cahall shared this takeaway from the streaming venture in the headline of his report: “Sports Finally Heads to Streaming.” He suggested the economics will be “split to the rights contributed, which we estimate as around $20 billion total, including Fox/Disney/WBD at 30 percent/50 percent/20 percent.” And he highlighted that “bundling opportunities abound, including multichannel video programming distributors, non-sports streamers etc.”

Arguing that the venture “completes the sports puzzle” on streaming platforms, the expert highlighted that “including Paramount+ and Peacock, most of the $30 billion per annum in U.S. sports rights will be on direct-to-consumer (DTC) for the around 50 million cord-cutters/-nevers.”

His conclusion: “We think this is positive for the aforementioned media companies, negative for some peers and defensive versus Big Tech. … We do think media stocks have improved their terminal values.”

With tech titans “angling into future rights,” entertainment giants “will now have both production and distribution,” Cahall highlighted. But he also noted that “the financial value creation remains subject to many unknown variables, including pricing and tiers, revenue sharing (likely not equal given disparities in sports rights contributed), costs/investments, sub expectations etc.”

MoffettNathanson analyst Michael Nathanson called the venture “the skinny sports bundle we’ve been waiting for,” writing in a report: “The unexpected news actually makes a lot of sense to us, especially in the context of who is in the partnership and who is not.”

He went on to highlight: “What Disney, Fox and WBD have in common is that they have each thus far largely refrained from ‘cheating’ the linear ecosystem – that is leaking their best linear content to DTC. NBC and CBS’ NFL games are available for often discounted monthly fees through Peacock and Paramount+, but to date, the only place to watch Monday Night Football or Fox’s Sunday NFL games has been on linear. WBD’s sports content recently became available to view through Max’s Bleacher Report add-on. The delay to initially charge Max subscribers $9.99 for this sports tier this spring now can be viewed with a different understanding.”

Nathanson also pointed to the Disney carriage dispute with cable giant Charter Communications, explaining how the sports streaming venture fits in with that. “Charter negotiated access for its subscribers to ESPN Flagship DTC without an incremental wholesale fee (which will likely have the full bevy of Disney’s currently exclusive to linear sports content) when it launches and a discounted wholesale rate for Disney+,” the analyst wrote. “With live feeds of most of the critical networks for a sports fan, this [venture] is in a sense a version of the ‘skinny bundle’ that kicks out all the cheaters that we have long been calling for.” He noted a “big caveat” though, namely that the sports streaming bundle excludes each of the company’s news and general entertainment networks.“

It seems to us this is a long overdue repackaging of linear’s core content that strips out the bloat of non-exclusive content found cheaper elsewhere,” concluded Nathanson. “Yet, it is also clear that this is not the final form for these companies’ sports offerings, nor is this yet a full emergence of the ‘Great DTC Re-Bundling.’ As a standalone service/paid add-on, sports will continue to have an explicit price where it once was obscured by the bundle, potentially limiting its appeal and churn mitigating effect.”

The MoffettNathanson expert then also listed key open questions for Disney following the sports streaming deal. With the company still expected to launch an ESPN DTC service as a standalone offering, with a possible minority partner, he noted, for example: “How this new venture will affect those plans and, once ESPN Flagship DTC launches, how Disney will handle having two competing products, remains to be seen.”

Another open question is the sports streaming venture’s impact on Hulu Live TV. “We question why Disney opted to roll this new product out as a joint venture where it holds a minority stake rather than take actions to recreate a similar offering though its existing Hulu Live TV product,” Nathanson wrote.

The biggest sports package coming up is the NBA, whose partnerships with ESPN and Warner Bros. Discovery’s Turner run through 2025, Nathanson noted before outlining the key questions for the current rightsholders: “Will Turner now be even more aggressive to lock up its NBA rights and how does this new structure impact how ESPN will think about its NBA partnership?”

Experts beyond Wall Street also chimed in on the sports streaming venture. “Disney, Fox, and Warner Bros Discovery have disclosed few details about what their joint venture will look like, but one thing is clear: bundling is back,” argued Third Bridge analyst Jamie Lumley. “Combining forces for these companies will allow them to reach a large audience while sharing the burden of increasingly expensive sports rights.”

Lumley also shared his prediction for the upcoming NBA rights negotiations. “We’ve heard from our experts just how important sports are for Warner Bros Discovery’s strategy,” he said. “With the NBA rights up for negotiations this year, it is likely Warner will fight tooth and nail to retain a sport they’ve carried for the last 30 years.”

And U.K.-based PP Foresight analyst Paolo Pescatore called the sports streaming venture “a major disruptive play in the U.S. market.” His pricing estimate: “Expect around $50 with promos and discounts to be a reasonable price.”

He also shared his take on the timing of the news announcement. “This has many moving parts, from tech development to managing ad inventory, data analysis and more. Hence, it looks like moving early now is a tactic to generate maximum awareness when the U.S. is fixated on all things sports during Super Bowl week,” Pescatore suggested. “Conceivably, it might also put pressure on other streamers and right holders to come on board to build an even more all-encompassing offering.”

The benefits of a sports streaming bundle are clear to the analyst. “For many, aggregation is the holy grail, and it is evident that we are returning to the big bundle being offered via the internet. This has the noted benefit of being a far simpler model for the consumer to understand,” he explained. “Consumers have had enough of signing up for multiple services, paying for different subscriptions, and downloading a slew of apps. This is especially true in sports, which is one of the few genres driving sign-ups.”

Pescatore added of his big-picture takeaway: “This feels like a slightly defensive move that reflects the ever-changing world of the U.S. TV landscape and the massive shift towards streaming. Netflix, Amazon, and Apple are all showing increasing interest in sporting properties, and users’ behavioral patterns are changing rapidly, forcing traditional providers and rivals to react, partner, and evolve quickly in turn.”