Bob Iger says Disney's TV and cable business 'may not be core' and leaves the door open to a sale

Disney's Bob Iger said the company's TV and cable businesses may not be core.
He plans to be "expansive" about how Disney treats those as it responds to the shift to streaming.
Iger, who just extended his contract for 2 more years, also weighed in on Hulu and ESPN plans.

Disney's no-growth TV and cable businesses "may not be core" to the company and it will be "expansive" about how it treats them, CEO Bob Iger said.

Iger's comments came during an expansive interview on CNBC Thursday, a day after the company extended his time with the company for two more years, through 2026.

Asked if Disney would sell those properties — which include ABC and cable networks like FX and National Geographic — Iger said, "We're going to look expansively at opportunities there. They may not be core to Disney. The business model underpinning those businesses is definitely broken."

Iger addressed those and the myriad challenges at the company as it manages the shift to streaming that's upended the media industry, as well as "some self-inflicted" issues. Iger said while he's accomplished a lot, he and the board agreed there was much more to do, and that staying longer would give other execs time to develop themselves, a potential reference to the need to find Iger's eventual replacement.

Iger said that while cable TV had declined faster than he expected, Disney's parks business is doing well, the studio business has been successful, and streaming has a bright future.

"I'm extremely optimistic about the company," he added.

Iger also talked about plans for Disney's other business units. On previously discussed plans to take ESPN direct to consumer, he said the company was open to partnerships, which could include investors, to boost its chances for success.

"We've had some conversations," he said.

There's been industry speculation that Disney might sell ESPN; Iger stressed that Disney was committed to the business.

"Sports is an advertisers' dream, it lends itself to technology, and our position is very unique," he said. "We have a great brand, and want to stay in that business."

On Hulu, which has been another subject of questions around whether Disney would buy Comcast's remaining stake in the streamer, Iger said he decided after reviewing the business that "we would be better off having Hulu" because it'll help get Disney's streaming business profitable.

With subscription growth softening, though, he also acknowledged that there's a lot of work to do. Iger defended Disney+'s low price at launch, saying the goal at the time was to put price pressure on competitors and meet Wall Street's demand for growth. He's since said that higher prices were coming for streamer Disney+ and that the company would be more selective about spending on content and what gets marketed. He also said he wouldn't rule out doing some licensing, a reversal of media companies' recent practice of keeping all their content on their own platforms.

On recent box office misses in Pixar's "Elemental" and "The Little Mermaid," Iger acknowledged Disney's zeal to grow its streaming business contributed to some "disappointments." Disney may have trained people to skip the theater by sending new releases directly to streaming during the pandemic. He also said by supercharging Marvel's output, "We ended up taxing people in terms of their time and focus."

Asked about the WGA and imminent SAG-AFTRA strike over pay and working conditions, Iger took a swipe at the writers and actors, calling their demands "just not realistic" given industry conditions and saying a work stoppage will have a "very, very damaging effect on the whole business."

He also pushed back at the ongoing Disney bashing by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and denied politics was impacting the parks business. He said a recent Wall Street Journal report describing low parks traffic was "not accurate" because it didn't factor in unusually high temperatures and the presence of more competition versus a year ago.

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