With the shift from linear television to streaming, we’ve seen the entire entertainment business undergo some major changes. Traditional channels’ revenues continue to drop as audiences cut the cord.

Back in the summer of 2023, Disney CEO Bob Iger panicked the entire company when he spoke about the linear channels like ABC, FX and National Geographic no longer being core to their business.  Leading to many to speculate that Disney was looking to either sell off or close some of its channels, similar to how the company has approached its linear business internationally.

Since then, Disney has gone through a major reorganisation with more content being shared between linear channels and streaming services, streamlining the output of content.

Other major entertainment companies like Warner Brothers Discovery and Comcast have begun spinning out their traditional linear channels off into other businesses to offset the losses.

During today’s quarterly finanical results Q&A, Disney CEO Bob Iger was asked about possibly rolling up some of its television networks, he replied:

We actually are at a point where the linear networks in our company are not a burden at all. They’re actually an asset. We are programming them and we are funding them at levels that actually give us the ability to enhance our overall television business that obviously includes and leans into streaming, which let’s face it is really the future of the television business. So while I won’t rule out the possibility, some of the smaller networks in some form or another being configured differently in terms of how we bring them to market, maybe even ownership.

But we’re not right now, we actually feel good about the hand that we have and the manner in which we’re managing both the linear and the streaming businesses across the board at Disney.

Its been expected that Disney was likely to close down some of its linear channels following recent carriage deals with cable companies to bring Disney+ into those bundles.  Also with Spectrum cable, Disney removed many of its channels including Nat Geo Wild, Disney XD and Freeform. 

Bob also went into a little more details about how the launch of a new full streaming version of ESPN will impact on its linear business .

Regarding flagship, it’s pretty clear that young viewers, I guess you call them, are young consumers are leaning more and more into streaming experiences, both fixed televisions on walls and mobile devices. And the more ESPN can be present for a new generation of consumers with a product that serves them really well, the better off ESPN’s businesses. So Flagship is not really designed to preserve a business, it’s designed to grow a business in a market that’s evolving or changing right before our eyes. So we’re extremely, extremely excited by what’s coming and bullish about it because we think it’s not only a good business proposition, but it’s a sports fan’s dream.

With the launch of ESPN Flagship and the introduction of new skinny sports cable bundles following the failure of the launch of Venu Sports, it’s likely more cable customers will be cutting the cord, making the future of traditional linear channels even less bright.

Roger’s Take:  The days of CEO’s trying to publically ignore the impact of the collapse of the cable business and Iger is floating the idea that some channels could be closed down or sold off.  Personally, Freeform feels like the natural choice of a channel to sell off, while it focuses on its core channels like ABC, Nat Geo, and FX.

Advertising revenue from linear channels is dropping year on year, but Disney has approached this by cutting back on spending on original content and sharing content across all of its platforms.  The future of television is in streaming, but that doesn’t stop Disney milking out the last of the money it can before cable disappears.

Do you think Disney is going to close some of its linear channels?  Let me know on social media!

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Roger Palmer

Roger has been a Disney fan since he was a kid and this interest has grown over the years. He has visited Disney Parks around the globe and has a vast collection of Disney movies and collectibles. He is the owner of What's On Disney Plus & DisKingdom. Email: Roger@WhatsOnDisneyPlus.com Twitter: Twitter.com/RogPalmerUK Facebook: Facebook.com/rogpalmeruk

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