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Update - as Stargate correctly pointed out, Peacock report a lost of around 651 million but a bump of 2 million subs. This bump was a conversion of paid subs from unpaid. A net rise of 22% at the parks (much to do with Nintendo internationally) but a rise past pre shutdown capacity in FLA along with 70% box office boost all still mesh. The money from the Hulu sale will be a sizeable chunk (as high as 23 million) set for January. **part of the loss may be due to a 500 million dollar purchase of K-drama and Japanese programming to circumvent content loss due to the strike. I don’t care for the genre, but it seems to be finding a passionate audience.
Bally Sports has finally said it. They want to sever all contracts for broadcasting. I get a lot of flack for covering this, but 3 things happened this week and I waited until the weekend to update it so you can pass by if you need to.
Just a few years ago the NHL celebrated a rise in broadcast revenue from 220 million to 550 million as NBC walked away and ESPN, ESPN+, Bally (formerly Fox), USA and TNT came to the party. Last December Piston’s beat writers warned that something was happening to Bally and boy did it. Long story short, after spending 10.6 billion to buy 19 markets from Disney (who bought Fox for around 71 billion) 4 years ago they are done. Subs are at less than half of projections.
So then I turned to ESPN. Surely they were stable enough to take it all on. That’s not looking great. August 9th is the next shareholder call and every division in Disney is going to report losses. ESPN, Disney Plus, the theme parks, theatrical releases etc. This past week NBC/Comcast/Universal had a very good earnings call with growth in parks, streaming subs to Peacock, and a 70% gain in movie theatres (thanks Mario!).
A good friend sent me an article that NASCAR has pulled broadcast rights back and will be going over the air (old school). But, once Comcast gets rid of Hulu they are going to move content to peacock. The move just gave them the freedom to do what they want. They also have a new “proposed… network called Channel One. (Or possibly with a W as the CW is the current beneficiary of NASCAR).
I know you’re sick of this, but it’s reality time. Unless teams have been building their broadcast side up (TSN just fired 1700 people and cancelled Leafs lunch and others) they have to find a solution quickly that is easier than last season. From cable cancellations 100 million subs went down to 60 and that was a big part of ESPNs steady income. People paying for channels even if they didn’t watch.
An unlikely “savior… has been tossed around as Apple could easily afford to buy up all of the Disney IPs (including ESPN) but that guarantees a full move to Apple TV. And Apple doesn’t want the parks (which is a deal breaker).
On August 9th Bob Iger is going to announce the lost revenue (325 million on the cruise line, 1.2 billion in the theatres, 800 million or so from Disney +). Shares of the company are hovering around 86$ down from over $200 just a few years ago. Multiply $114 by 1.8 billion shares and your a see part of the issue.
Detroit is in a better position than many. AZ is trying to keep Bally because the tiny arena which they’re stuck with for at least another season (maybe a few) isn’t going to attract enough advertising. Detroit has good global presence. All of the original 6 and the West has renewed $ from fans with Colorado and Vegas winning in the past couple years.
I will break it down. We have just over a month to figure out where games will be watched and how. I’m sorry, again, but the 3 significant breakouts were also met with a massive influx of AI created Youtube videos and Netflix advertising 900k for a manager to oversee AI scripts. It was a weird week, but for many of the markets (if not most) Bettman will be able to find bridge solutions. Maybe NBC will come back to the table (ABC now rumored to be either sold or moved to D+/Hulu).