Looks like the Magic Kingdom is lacking some sparkle.
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To put it in perspective: With ESPN now at 92 million subscribers, there are more people watching other Disney networks, including the History Channel, Lifetime and A&E, than the once-dominant sports net, which has been the mainstay of Disney’s cable offerings for years.
Not all channels lost subscribers, though, as Disney outside the U.S., Disney XD in the U.S. and internationally, and Disney Junior in the U.S. all saw their subscriber numbers rise.
In the previous fiscal year, the sports channel had about 95 million subscribers, and in 2013, the company registered a high number of 99 million subscribers.
In fact, as Iger acknowledged in August – a revelation that sunk the stocks of the entire industry – Disney’s cable TV channels in general have been losing subscribers for two years running, presumably as consumers cord-cut or cord-shave, taking much of their viewing online with Hulu, Netflix and others.
CNN Money adds that the fears about the cable company losing subscribers have been already been lingering for months. The subscriber figure is now the same as that ESPN had in 2006.
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Disney joins it rivals in struggling against the trend toward media streaming that has battered media stocks for the past year. The revelation came from a regulatory filing late Wednesday. It remains to be seen how investors will react, and whether they’ll continue to be spooked over the possible impact from “cord-cutting” (a term for households dropping cable TV altogether) and “cord-shaving” (households choosing smaller bundles of cable).
