Disney's Iger On ESPN: We'll Disrupt When We Damn Well Feel Like It
from the worldwide-leader-in-denial dept
Last year, Disney stock took a repeated beating as Wall Street started to realize the company wasn't faring particularly well in the face of Internet video revolution. Tens of billions in stock value instantly evaporated as investors learned that ESPN had lost 7 million customers in just the last two years. Evidence suggests this was largely thanks to the fact that ESPN leadership was utterly oblivious to the cord cutting and cord trimming trend, or the fact that a growing number of customers (the majority, in fact) are simply tired of paying for a channel they don't watch, yet pay an arm and a leg for.To try and soothe nervous investors, Disney and ESPN executives have been making the rounds lately in an attempt to "change the narrative" on cord cutting (read: pretend the company wasn't caught with its pants down). ESPN Boss John Skipper, for example, recently admitted the company is seeing subscriber losses due to users shifting to so-called "skinny" bundles, but tried to argue these were older users the company didn't really want anyway.
This week, Disney CEO Bob Iger is the one making the rounds, though you may not be able to hear what he's saying over the sound of his own denial:
"The notion that either the expanded basic bundle is experiencing its demise or that ESPN is crating in any way from a [subscribers] perspective is just ridiculous,” Iger said at one point. “Sports is too popular.”But despite what Iger thinks, ESPN is not synonymous with sports, and cratering under the load of an evolving market is exactly what's happening. For decades, ESPN enjoyed being part of channel bundles that generated revenue regardless of whether or not consumers actually watched it. As the traditional cable bundle gets broken up, ESPN's faced with the fact that 56% of cable users no longer want to watch the channel if it means saving a little money. In response, ESPN's trying to sue companies trying to give consumers what they want, a losing proposition long term.
As alternative streaming options rise, ESPN subscribers will dip, and the company's long-term (and hugely expensive) sports programming deals are going to start feeling very heavy. ESPN could try and offer a direct streaming service, but with dropping subscribers and soaring programming costs, the numbers aren't very pretty. Just don't point any of this out, or, like pay TV analyst and frequent ESPN critic Richard Greenfield recently found out, certain media outlets may decide to set you on fire in the Hollywood town square.
Like so many legacy industries used to revenues they haven't actually had to earn in years, it's pretty clear that Iger believes that ESPN is the one that gets to decide when it gets disrupted and when it has to dirsupt:
"We’re not going to sit back and let the disrupters just disrupt,” Iger said. “We’re going to participate in some of that disruption. And we’ll decide when the time is right to be more disruptive than we have been if we really think the business model is shifting rapidly. So far we do not see that."Like most people, ESPN execs see what they want to see. Wall Street now sees it, which is why Iger's flapping his arms and doing this particular chicken dance in the first place. It's all part and parcel of the cable and broadcast industry's sincere belief that the legacy cable TV cash cow is going to live forever -- so they really don't have to rush to adapt -- or compete on price -- any time soon. But years of denial and inflexibility are starting to catch up with executives mentally stuck in the late nineties, and if 2015 was any indication, 2016's going to demolish any lingering fantasies.
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Filed Under: bob iger, disruption, espn
Companies: disney, espn
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One and a half out of five
From the sound of it while they're still mostly stuck on the first stage of acceptance, denial, they might be ever so slowly moving along and have finally reached stage two, anger. If they can get through the next two, bargaining and depression and move on to the last step, acceptance in time they might be able to salvage enough to not be completely left in the dust, though I wouldn't put high odds on it given how long it's taken them to reach step two.
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Re: One and a half out of five
This is not anger, it's full denial.
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Re: Re: One and a half out of five
The issue will be in the mitigation of their grief over all that money no longer flowing so easily into their pockets. With stances taken in such a way that backing down will be nigh on impossible, or at least terribly terribly embarrassing, and administration changing.
Let us hope that velocity increases on this downward slope and that terminal velocity, when achieved, is as messy as it sounds.
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Disney & Iger
One of the best lines I have ever read!!!!!
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Re: Disney & Iger
There, fixed it for you.
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Re: Re: Disney & Iger
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Re: Re: Re: Disney & Iger
FTFY, HTH, HAND
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We’re not going to sit back and let the disrupters just disrupt LOL
Guess what, ESPN? You have 2 things which anyone actually wants to watch anymore: live sports (which aren't making you a whole lot since you have to pay a ton for those rights) and PTI (which you've unsuccessfully tried to copy so many times it's not even funny and you've bogged down with so many commercials, it's basically unwatchable at this point).
All your talent is fleeing like rats from a sinking ship.
You aren't going to be disrupted, you're going to be out of business. Have fun with that, Skipper.
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Re: We’re not going to sit back and let the disrupters just disrupt LOL
"And we’ll decide when the time is right to be more disruptive"
Ok, you can decide when you want to participate alright, but if you don't decide to start yesterday, you are deciding to "sit back and let the disruptive just disrupt".
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How much cheaper would SlingTV be if ESPN wasn't part of the default package?
I realize that Sling is Cable-Lite, I went cold turkey for years off of cable, but found myself coming back just for a few channels I really liked...really wish they had Discovery, but they could make it even more cable lite by going a la carte, which is why it will never happen.
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Re: How much cheaper would SlingTV be if ESPN wasn't part of the default package?
Oh but it will happen. It's just that a few channels (or producers) will drown under the wave.
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...and presumably you'll join the others on the scrapheap of history who waited too long to realise what was happening, and get left so far behind that it's impossible to regain lost ground before you've even started moving.
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Just me?
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Disruption?
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Listen up Bob
Second, I don't think as many people like sports as you think. I'm a big NFL fan, but that is 4 months of sports I watch, and that's it. I suspect quite a high percentage of sports fans are 1, maybe 2 team fans. That does not necessitate a 24-7 sporting news (I use news loosely here) cycle.
Third, people are getting really sick and tired of subsidizing shit they don't use in entertainment across the board. Notice the decline of the album in music sales now that a la carte track choices are for the most part ubiquitous. TV has a long way to go, and it's going to be painful.
Expect the bleeding to continue.
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while that is certainly true, another, less obvious, trend may be developing.
years ago sports was considered wholesome, and a continuing narrative on the face of it seems hidebound to preserve that particular charade. problem is, though, sports is a festering sore on the butt of society, and a constant drumbeat of ugly stories keeps reminding us of it.
beginning especially with the monstrous penn state horror story and continuing such places as baylor and others, college sports is developing a terrible reputation. what happens when the public gets its fill of that? what happens when the awful stories from pro sports and college sports overwhelms the paint and lipstick and people start to see athletics for what it really represents?
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Australia (Again)
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Re: Australia (Again)
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Clarification required
I know that's the boat I was in before I finally cut the cord a few years ago.
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"We’re not going to sit back and let the disrupters just disrupt,”
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football
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It's because of their big-money buyoff of Congress that a stupid mouse belongs to a dead guy encased in carbonite until hell freezes over. Disney contributes nothing but remakes of their old products (Pixar version of Cinderella? Seriously?) and infinite cash to politicians.
I for one hope viewing audiences cut whatever cords they have to so that crooks like Iger and hacks like Abrams get the message. Disney shouldn't be too big to fail. It's already creatively bankrupt, one hopes that at some point it ends up financially so out of its own arrogance and greed.
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