Disney Quarter 1 Earnings Report

[rteetz]

Disney will be launching a direct to consumer sports service sometime this year.

 

[lockedoutlogic]

Bob Iger discusses rumors of him extending his contract. He says that he will do what is in the best interest of the company. If the board decides that is by extending his contract he will do so. They have a succession plan underway though.

They have no "plan" until they go outside the stale hierarchy and get two people with one creative and one business mind...

I know...where have I seen that before? ...but I'm beginning to think it's the only structure that works.

 

[rteetz]

They have no "plan" until they go outside the stake hierarchy and get two people with one creative and one business mind...

I know...where have I seen that before? ...but I'm beginning to think it's the only structure that works.

Let's see... Walt and Roy or Eisner and Wells.

 

[lockedoutlogic]

Disney will be launching a direct to consumer sports service sometime this year.

If this another way to try to convince people to pay $24.99 a month for espn...people will have to come up with another way to say "no"

My vote is: NEIN!!!!

 

[lockedoutlogic]

Let's see... Walt and Roy or Eisner and Wells.

...off the top of my head...

But don't forget the "gap" leadership had a close knit group of experienced leaders as well...and Walt's idiot son in law (joking...sort of)

 

[rteetz]

Pandora is a very big land with an E-ticket attraction unlike any other e-ticket they have ever built. Avatar will turn Animal Kingdom into a full day experience according to Iger.

 

[rteetz]

Iger doesn't feel like they need to make any acquisitions to accomplish what they want on the digital side.

Iger says they will be aggressive with the direct to consumer ESPN service.

 

[lockedoutlogic]

Pandora is a very big land with an E-ticket attraction unlike any other e-ticket they have ever built. Avatar will turn Animal Kingdom into a full day experience according to Iger.

It doesn't matter what iger says about that...

First, because you can't trust anything he says about capex

Second, ak has always been a tough sell for them and it's not likely to dissolve without a fight now either.

Third, I know it's been awhile and pixie dust is leaching back into the mind...but the same head scratching reasons why we questioned avatar up front still remain...except now it's built.

Much of what has been posted recently in the blogosphere paints avatar exactly along the lines of when Harry Potter was being described prior to opening...
...but the danger there is that Harry Potter has become even more stable as a genre since it was built (surprising...but not shocking)
...nothing good has come of avatar since. No renewed interests, sequel difficulties, script problems, etc.

 

[lockedoutlogic]

Iger doesn't feel like they need to make any acquisitions to accomplish what they want on the digital side.

Iger says they will be aggressive with the direct to consumer ESPN service.

We could talk days about this one jewel of a line alone...

 

[rteetz]

Disney has seen a decline in kids viewing across linear channels. Iger says new Disney shows will do well because of the Disney name.

 

[rteetz]

It doesn't matter what iger says about that...

First, because you can't trust anything he says about capex

Second, ak has always been a tough sell for them and it's not likely to dissolve without a fight now either.

Third, I know it's been awhile and pixie dust is leaching back into the mind...but the same head scratching reasons why we questioned avatar up front still remain...except now it's built.

Much of what has been posted recently in the blogosphere paints avatar exactly along the lines of when Harry Potter was being described prior to opening...
...but the danger there is that Harry Potter has become even more stable as a genre since it was built (surprising...but not shocking)
...nothing good has come of avatar since. No renewed interests, sequel difficulties, script problems, etc.

I really think Avatar will be quite good and revitalize life into AK. The immersiveness of the land alone will be potter levels.

 

[rteetz]

Iger believes there is too much interruption in commercial televison.

Disney says they do not see themselves exiting out of the linear ESPN product for some time.

Baseball will be part of the ESPN direct to
Consumer product.

 

[rteetz]

Disney says they are seeing a shift in attendance due to their transition to demand based pricing.

 

[mshanson3121]

Isn't it about time for a ticket price increase?

Will they really increase with attendance and earnings down? Sure spending is up, but only because of increased prices. If they keep pushing up prices, attendance is going to continue going down. They're going to shoot themselves in the foot.

 

[rteetz]

Will they really increase with attendance and earnings down? Sure spending is up, but only because of increased prices. If they keep pushing up prices, attendance is going to continue going down. They're going to shoot themselves in the foot.

That was a question during the earnings call. Iger said they have nothing to announce but they usually do it every year.

 

[lockedoutlogic]

I really think Avatar will be quite good and revitalize life into AK. The immersiveness of the land alone will be potter levels.

Perhaps...

But read the transcripts of igers comments on it...

Paraphrased: "we THINK it's gonna be good. We THINK that interest in avatar will grow"

I'm not exaggerating...that's not exactly how they teach you at Wharton.

I don't recall steve jobs saying "we hope you buy this iPad...cause it's neat"

 

[lockedoutlogic]

Will they really increase with attendance and earnings down? Sure spending is up, but only because of increased prices. If they keep pushing up prices, attendance is going to continue going down. They're going to shoot themselves in the foot.

I think they are at their price limits for their clientele in the current economic climate...

I'm usually the pessimist...but I'm shocked...thought they were still five years away.

Any further increase in prices is going to result in some precipitous drops in customers...my hunch.

 

[lockedoutlogic]

Disney says they are seeing a shift in attendance due to their transition to demand based pricing.

That is 50% bull and 50% plausible

 

[rteetz]

Perhaps...

But read the transcripts of igers comments on it...

Paraphrased: "we THINK it's gonna be good. We THINK that interest in avatar will grow"

I'm not exaggerating...that's not exactly how they teach you at Wharton.

I don't recall steve jobs saying "we hope you buy this iPad...cause it's neat"

True and I've bought 3 iPads in my lifetime...

 

[Irish_Mike]

I know that Disney is being safe when it comes to a RoL opening date - but I'm a bit surprised that they wouldn't have used this presentation to announce that it's opening on Sunday, were that the case. I can't imagine investors are fond of the show considering it's now pushing 10 months delayed, so it's a bit odd that they wouldn't try to reassure them by saying "Hey, we know it's late, but we're proud to announce a launch date!"

Then again, I hope to be proven wrong.