The net income attributable to the company rose to $2.6 billion, or $1.59 per share, in the third quarter, from $2.48 billion, or $1.45 per share, a year earlier.
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Revenue for Disney’s cable networks including ESPN – which has faced an influx of cable-subscriber losses – rose slightly to 1 percent to $4.2 billion compared with a year ago.
The Walt Disney Company has picked up a 33-percent stake in the video-streaming outfit BAMTech, with plans to launch a new ESPN-branded OTT service.
The deal will see Disney pay out the purchase price in two installments, now and in January 2017, with the option to acquire majority ownership in the coming years. Breaking it down, Disney’s Media Networks revenues rose 2%, Parks and Resorts revenues climbed 6%, Studio Entertainment sales jumped 40% and Consumer Products sales fell 1%.
On the company’s financial health, Walt Disney Co reported $1.36 EPS for the quarter, missing the analyst consensus estimate by $ -0.04 based on the information available during the earnings call on May 10, 2016. The company serves 7.5 million paid subscribers.
Disney said the service – which is planned for launch by the end of 2016 – will offer content from BAMTech and ESPN, including live regional, national and global sporting events.
Disney and other media companies are struggling with “cord cutting” consumers who abandon large bundles of channels sold by cable TV providers.
While Disney will surely use BAMTech’s robust technology across its numerous verticals, it’s clear that priority number one is to create an ESPN streaming package. More details about the new service will be announced in the months ahead. Future online products could include content from Marvel and Star Wars, Iger said on Bloomberg TV.
Disney’s theme park segment also had a strong quarter, especially considering the hardships it faced with the Alligator death at its Florida park, the terrorist attack in Orlando and Zika virus fears.
On Tuesday, Shares of Walt Disney Co (NYSE:DIS) inclined 0.96% to $96.67. But those networks, which make up 50 percent of Disney’s annual profit, have been losing viewers to online media, and Wall Street has responded unfavorably.
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Analysts on average had expected a profit of US$1.61 per share and revenue of US$14.15 billion. The live-action remake The Jungle Book has generated US$941.2 million its since April debut and Finding Dory, the sequel to the 2003 hit Finding Nemo, has taken in US$871.3 million since its mid June release.
