Disney to Sell Off TV Stations and Networks?

Disney CEO Bob Iger dropped a bombshell while talking to CNBC on Thursday.

Iger said he is thinking about selling the company’s linear TV assets. This would include the ABC O&O’s.

Most of the O&O’s are the no. 1 rated station in their markets and they are located in the biggest TV markets in the country.

Iger doesn’t see a rosy future for TV as the business struggles during the media industry’s transition to streaming and digital offerings.

“After coming back, I realized the company is facing a lot of challenges, some of them self-inflicted,” Iger told David Faber at Allen & Co.’s annual conference in Sun Valley, Idaho, noting he’s accomplished a lot of work in seven months but there’s more to be done.

Disney owns a portfolio of TV networks, from broadcast station ABC to cable TV channels like ESPN. 

Disney is going to be “expansive” in its thinking about the traditional TV business, leaving the door open to a possible sale of the networks. “They may not be core to Disney,” Iger said, adding the creativity that has come from those networks has been key for Disney. 

An ABC News spokesperson declined to comment.

H/T CNBC