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The Walt Disney Company

5/19/2013, 8:41 PM ET

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Friday, May 17, 4:11 PM DirecTV (DTV) has joined the ranks of companies weighing a bid for Hulu (DIS, NWS, CMCSA), with an eye towards expanding its arsenal of TV Everywhere content, the WSJ reports. The scoop shortly follows a report Time Warner Cable and other MSOs are talking about a possible bid. Comment! [Tech, Consumer, M&A]
Friday, May 17, 1:16 PM Disney's (DIS -0.7%) Iron Man 3 officially crossed the $1B mark in global box office sales including a smashing +$100M grab from China. A strong performance from Oz: The Great and Powerful helped the company beat estimates in FQ2 and it looks like Iron Man 3 will do some of the heavy lifting in FQ3. 3 Comments [Consumer]
Friday, May 17, 9:53 AM Disney's (DIS -0.3%) ESPN snatched the rights to the U.S. Open tennis tournament for 2015-2025 away from CBS (CBS +2.5%) after the network aired the finals and semifinals for almost 50 straight years. It's another example of a content grab by the sports juggernaut which helps it land the highest carriage fees in the industry and adds just a bit more to the I-Would-Be-A-Cord-Cutter-If-Not-For-Sports mentality. 4 Comments [Consumer]
Friday, May 17, 9:44 AM Hulu (NWS, DIS, CMCSA) could be even more valuable than people think due its rich user experience and advanced advertising system, reasons BTIG's Rich Greenfield. The analyst isn't convinced a cable industry joint venture would work well, but says he could make the case why almost any large media/tech company (Google?) could use Hulu to position itself in the "rapidly fragmenting" video world. Comment! [Consumer, Tech]
Thursday, May 16, 7:00 AM Time Warner Cable (TWC) is in talks with other cable companies about making a bid for Hulu (DIS, CMCSA, NWS), according to the New York Post. If the cable companies can land control of Hulu they have the option of turning it into an authenticated service for paying cable customers. 1 Comment [Consumer, Tech]
Wednesday, May 15, 11:41 AM Senator Mark Warner calls the bluff of broadcasters (CMCSA, CBS, DIS, NWS, NWSA) threatening they will pull their major networks off the air to cable if Aereo isn't stopped in courtroom battles by noting FCC broadcast licenses could be pulled in that scenario. With Aereo growing around like the country like a weed, and the proposed Television Consumer Freedom Act including a ban on networks converting to cable, the headaches of the industry have become a little more pronounced. Don't expect CBS head honcho Les Moonves to stay quiet on the latest development. 4 Comments [Consumer]
Tuesday, May 14, 12:51 PM Almost no network has more to lose from the proposed Television Consumer Freedom Act than ESPN (DIS -0.2%), but execs remain unperturbed. ESPN President John Skipper notes the bill lacks the momentum to get through Congress. Skipper also exudes confidence over the emergence for rival sports channels from NBC and CBS by noting the long string of major sporting events ESPN has locked up for years. So far, the rival sports channels have barely dented ESPN's ratings. 1 Comment [Consumer]
Monday, May 13, 11:24 AM Aereo says under a new pricing plan subscribers can pay $8 per month for unlimited streaming of local broadcast programming and up to 20 hours of remote DVR storage. For an additional $4 per month, users can receive up to 60 hours of storage. The counter-attack: CBS (CBS +0.3%) is busy with legal maneuvers while ABC (DIS +0.1%) says it will launch an iOS app this week that allows residents in New York and Philadelphia to watch local stations live on their iPhones or iPads. 4 Comments [Consumer]
Monday, May 13, 7:37 AM The U.S. movie box office had a vibrant weekend to make up just a bit for the soft start to 2013. Disney's (DIS) Iron Man 3 scored another $72.5M to record the fourth best second weekend for a film ever, while counter-programmed The Great Gatsby took in $51.1M for Warner Bros. (TWX) on strong female demand. Comment! [Consumer]
Monday, May 13, 7:30 AM Broadcasters ABC, CBS, Fox, and NBC will settle for the lowest round of average rate hikes in three years during the "upfront" selling season, according to industry watchers. Though the expected increase in ad rates of 6% sounds fairly lush, annual rate increases were in the double digits only two years ago before the impact of streaming alternatives and a step up in cable programming was fully felt. Upfront ad rate forecast: CBS +6.5%, ABC (DIS) +6%, Fox (NWS, NWSA) + 5.5%, NBC (CMCSA) +5%. Comment! [Consumer]
Friday, May 10, 7:22 AM ESPN says it will consider subsidizing wireless data plans for users of its mobile content, according to the Wall Street Journal. The move by the Disney (DIS) property could help it ensure that the monthly data caps of wireless carriers aren't limiting the upside potential of its business. Comment! [Consumer]
Thursday, May 9, 3:05 PM Senator John McCain officially introduces the Television Consumer Freedom Act of 2013 in Congress in a milestone for the movement toward "a la carte" cable market pricing for consumers. On the floor of the Senate, McCain singled out Comcast's (CMCSA -0.9%) NBC and Disney's (DIS +1.1%) ESPN-ABC family of channels as examples of media concerns forcing consumers to pay for bundled channels they don't want. Analysts think the combined heft of the broadcasting industry stands a good chance of keeping McCain's bill spinning in place. (full bill) 9 Comments [Consumer]
Thursday, May 9, 9:53 AM Blowing up the well-entrenched pay TV model won't be very easy for Senator John McCain with the politician not even on the Senate Commerce Committee anymore observes AllThingsD's Peter Kafka. But if a la carte pricing were to ever become a reality, one network that has a lot to lose is Disney's (DIS -0.1%) ESPN. The sports channel lands a whopping +$5 per subscriber from providers while only 25% of those paying the bills say they watch the network regularly. Another way Disney could ultimately be exposed is through its piece of A&E Networks which is able to bundle many add-ons around mega-hit The Walking Dead to ratchet up carriage fees. 4 Comments [Consumer]
Thursday, May 9, 8:04 AM Senator John McCain will introduce legislation shortly to overhaul the TV business by giving consumers the option to buy channels on an individual basis (a la carte) - instead of seeing only large bundles as options. The politician will face fierce resistance from broadcast (NWS, DIS, CMCSA, CBS, AMCX, SNI, OUTD, DISCA, VIAB) and cable companies (CVC, CHTR, TWC) but may have a friend in upstart Aereo which has been rankling a few feathers as well. (Aereo timeline) 28 Comments [Consumer]
Wednesday, May 8, 9:39 AM Heard during Disney's (DIS -1%) earnings call: 1) Investments in Fantasy Land at Magic Kingdom in Orlando look to be helping traffic. An all-time single day attendance record was set at the park during Easter weekend. 2) CEO Robert Iger addresses the one segment that is under-performing at the company (TV business) by noting that TV markets are compressing, but the exec sees market share improving. 3) Disney is working on opportunities to utilize the Star Wars franchise into television and theme parks. Details will follow later this year. (transcript) 5 Comments [Consumer, On the Move]
Tuesday, May 7, 9:19 PM Marissa Mayer (YHOO) held a preliminary talk with Hulu (DIS, CMCSA, NWS) execs about a bid for the video site, "numerous sources" tell Kara Swisher. Amazon (AMZN), Guggenheim Partners, and ex-News Corp. COO Peter Chermin (previous) are also said to be weighing bids. Yahoo was one of the companies offering to buy Hulu back in 2011, and with the French government having thwarted its Dailymotion bid, Hulu and its 4M+ premium subs might not be a bad backup plan. But much likely depends on the content rights Hulu's risk-averse old media owners are willing to give. 1 Comment [Tech, M&A, Consumer]

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