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Credit: Disney/Inside the MagicThe Disney Channel is soon to be a thing of the past, and cost-obsessed Disney CEO Bob Iger seems ready to finally get rid of the beloved television network.
Disney Channel and Linear Television
Earlier this year, CEO Bob Iger caused a panic in the Walt Disney Company when he casually mentioned in an interview with CNBC’s David Faber at the Sun Valley Allen & Co.’s annual conference (often derisively dubbed the “billionaire summer camp”) that he was open to getting rid of traditional television channels.
Related: Outraged Fans Demand Change After CEO Bob Iger Invokes Walt Disney
Iger went so far as to say that the Disney Channel and its sister networks like Disney Junior and Disney XD “may not be core to $DIS. The business model underpinning those businesses is definitely broken,” which set off an explosion of worries that linear television is one of the many branches of the Walt Disney Company that the CEO is looking to prune.
For months now, there have been rumors that CEO Bob Iger is actively looking to offload the Disney Channel and other traditional TV networks in favor of streaming content, like the Disney+ platform.
Disney+ and Bob Iger
Now, the Disney Channel (and its thousands of employees) just got some worse news.
According to the Walt Disney Company’s annual report to the Securities Exchange Commission, income from cable, satellite, and pay-per-television (like the Disney Channel) has been exceeded by streaming television for the first time. Traditional television pulled in approximately $16.9 billion in 2023, down over half a billion from the previous year.
On the other hand, streaming platforms, including Disney+, ESPN+, and Hulu, pulled in $17.9 billion, a huge rise from $15.3 billion in 2022. While streaming television is still not profitable for Disney, it is a very bad sign for linear television that it is now actually making more money for the company.
Related: Bob Iger Disagrees with Bob Chapek’s Decisions, Loses Trust at Disney
In part, this might have been caused by Disney’s conflict with Spectrum TV, one of America’s largest cable companies. After the House of Mouse and the cable company were unable to come to contract terms (apparently over Disney’s insistence on bundling subscriptions), millions of households lost all Disney channels for days. Reportedly, this interruption and lost customers may have lost Disney as much as $1.4 billion.
What’s Going To Happen to the Disney Channel?
This new SEC report may very well be the death knell for the Disney Channel, as well as its sister networks. Since he returned as CEO almost exactly a year ago, Bob Iger has vocally made it his mission to reduce costs by any means necessary, which has meant thousands of layoffs and the shutting down of multiple departments around the company.
CEO Bob Iger has also made it very clear that he believes that streaming content is the future of the Walt Disney Company, particularly by merging Disney+ and Hulu, and eventually ESPN+. The fact that traditional television is no longer making more money than his preferred television medium is a very, very bad sign for the Disney Channel.
It is entirely possible it is only a matter of time before Bob Iger starts earnestly looking for a buyer for the Disney Channel.
Inside the Magic will keep you up to date with all the news on the Disney Channel!