Disney is moving aggressively into the future and leaving its large, legacy broadcast TV and cable network assets behind, even if their actions hasten the decline of multichannel television. Disney Chairman and CEO, Bob Iger, and his likely successor Kevin Mayer, who runs Direct-to-Consumer and International, have clearly decided that the legacy multichannel bundle is…
If the FCC announces a public market auction of C-Band spectrum this week, as many investors now expect, it is likely to complicate and materially delay the availability of spectrum that has been globally identified as a primary 5G spectrum band. In addition, if Chairman Pai makes the announcement of a public auction before auction…
24 hours after launching Disney+, Disney issued a press release (link) indicating that they had already reached 10 million subscribers — a staggering number that illustrated the power of the Disney brand and a clear sign of pent-up demand for the product after the most aggressive marketing campaign we have witnessed in our 23 years…
Senator John Kennedy from Louisiana has been a vocal critic of a private auction of C-Band spectrum and has voiced those concerns to the President. That is not new. However, we believe the administration continues to be more interested in winning the Race To 5G and will support the determination of its appointee, FCC Chairman…
While all eyes are on today’s launch of Disney+ (link), we are increasingly fixated on Disney’s decision last week to begin airing FX programming on Hulu in March 2020, just hours after it airs on linear television within the legacy multichannel bundle (with FX set to become the largest content supplier to Hulu, answering one…
The Wall Street Journal reported that T-Mobile CEO John Legere is negotiating a job as CEO at WeWork. It was also confirmed by Fox Business’ Charlie Gasparino. Nevertheless, this story makes little sense to us and we think T-Mobile and SoftBank should deny its veracity, immediately. Legere is certainly qualified to take the WeWork CEO…
In the next few weeks and months, the FCC is likely to decide on key spectrum issues that could end up being pivotal for the success of 5G in the United States. Further delays or unfavorable decisions could trigger bankruptcies, stymie investment or, most importantly, materially delay or impair spectrum that is critical for the…
Yesterday afternoon, Netflix Founder and CEO, Reed Hastings, was interviewed by The New York Times’ Andrew Ross Sorkin at the 2019 Dealbook Conference. The entire 30-minute interview is embedded below (key moments of the interview pulled out below along with timestamps). We were able to ask Hastings a question during audience Q&A and took the…
As we enter the #postbundle world with an increasing array of low-cost (or no incremental cost) direct-to-consumer streaming services, the legacy multichannel video bundle needs to move to an a la carte model or the price/value proposition will collapse on itself. We continue to believe that at best half of the current 85+ million US…
Disney is set to report fiscal Q4 (Sept) 2019 earnings tomorrow after the close, just four days before the launch of Disney+, with direct-to-consumer streaming now the company’s top priority. While investors will be eager to hear more about current theme park trends following Disney’s substantial investment in Star Wars lands at both domestic theme parks, as well as how ESPN is faring in the face of a dramatic acceleration in cord-cutting (total subs likely running down 4% year-over-year with calendar Q4 set to be down ~5%), everything is now secondary to the level of success across Disney’s streaming efforts.
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