Disney No Longer Looking To Sell ESPN

In the past few years, there have been hints that Disney was looking to potentially spin off or sell off its sports business, ESPN. Former Disney CEO Bob Iger had been investigating the options, but it’s been reported by Business Insider that the new Disney CEO, Josh D’Amaro, has ruled out getting rid of the sports brand.

Many investors and analysts have been urging Disney to sell or spin off the sports network, as the linear business continues to shrink, as people shift to streaming. Similar to how Warner Brothers Discovery and Comcast have spun out their linear businesses to try to boost their studio business.

In the past year, we’ve seen Disney shifting ESPN’s focus from cable to streaming, with the launch of ESPN Unlimited in the United States, plus the addition of ESPN on Disney+ in many regions around the world, including Latin America, Asia, Europe and Australasia. Reinforcing Disney’s commitment to making ESPN a major global brand.

Insiders are expecting the push of ESPN to streaming to continue to grow as audiences move away from the traditional sports cable business.

“Instead, the sports network will stay inside the media giant, which thinks its presence will help its pivot to streaming,”

It’s possible that Josh D’Amaro could revisit his decision in the future, but as of now, it’s now a non-discussion.

Roger’s Take: I’ve never really understood some of the analysts’ desire to spin off ESPN, as it felt like a short-term fix to the end of the cable business problem, rather than looking ahead at where sports programming will be in decades to come. Sports programming is going to become even more popular on streaming platforms, especially with Amazon, Apple and Netflix all investing heavily in sports programming. Having ESPN as a major hub within Disney+ will help boost engagement and maintain subscribers around the world. 

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