The Walt Disney Company announced Tuesday that it is acquiring a 33 percent stake in streaming services company BAMTech, Inc., a spinoff company from Major League Baseball’s MLB Advanced Media business.
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Disney said it will collaborate with BAMTech to launch and distribute a new ESPN-branded multi-sport subscription streaming service in the future. – Reuters picLOS ANGELES, Aug 10 ― Walt Disney Co reported third-quarter results that reflected tough times for its TV business and said it’s taking big steps in online video to adapt to changing consumer viewing habits.
“Actually, the problem isn’t solved yet, but… we think Disney owning this technology gives it the ideal mechanism to offset cord-cutting at ESPN, and across its networks”, Nollen told clients.
Overall the company’s earnings earnings per share increased 10 percent to $1.59.
BAMTech provides direct-to-consumer video solutions with a focus on live events with high viewership using video platform back-end technology that is capable of serving live content to tens of millions of consumers around the world.
Hollywood Reporter states that Disney beat expectations for its third fiscal quarter, pulling in earnings of $1.62 per share on $14.28 billion in revenue, the company reported after the market closed Tuesday.
The Studio Entertainment group also experienced a whopping 62% hike in operating income during Q3, benefiting from having five significant release titles during the period-including Captain America: Civil War, The Jungle Book, Finding Dory and Alice Through the Looking Glass-compared to four in the prior-year quarter. Lower equity income from A&E was due to a decrease in advertising revenue and the impact of the conversion of the H2 channel to Viceland.
But affiliate revenue was up 3.5 percent in the quarter thanks to contractual rate increases.
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Disney said it had a “decline in subscribers” and “higher advertising revenue” partially thanks to a seven game National Basketball Association finals. It will require a subscription fee to access, with Disney set to reveal more information about it in the coming months. Never before has the stuff that Disney produces – Marvel movies and TV shows, Pixar films, Star Wars – been more popular and more lucrative. The results were helped by hits at the box office and its mid-June opening of its new theme park Shanghai Disney.
