I used to know someone very well whose solution to any family crisis was to open their checkbook. That’s especially easy to do when the majority of their net worth was either inherited or controlled through marriage. Show up in person to watch a child receive an honor from a national organization when it happened to occur during the time when their second home wasn’t being rented out? A three-figure gift card was their way to get a pass. Miss a significant birthday or anniversary celebration because of a trip that just happened to coincide with that date every year? No apology necessary (or offered), but a four-figure gift was their version of a make-nice. Got a child with a significant drug addiction who reaches out for a hug and some showing of emotion? Not possible, but a five-figure check was in their mind a way to gain absolution. No, I wasn’t a fan of this person, and I’m still not.
But having seen the way the Walt Disney Corporation has been conducting themselves lately, at least I now know what may have been their inspiration.
Ol’ Bob AIger and team have indeed had a pretty good 2024 at the box office and is apparently poised for an encore, as COLLIDER’s Raoul Maholtra observed last week:
Disney led all studios, with $2.2 billion in total revenue. It’s the only studio to pass the $2 billion mark in the post-pandemic era, and the first to deliver two billion-dollar hits. This number could increase to three if Moana 2 lives up to expectations; it has already passed the $900 million mark worldwide. The studio has an incredible slate lined up for this year, with films such as Captain America: Brave New World, Fantastic Four: First Steps, and Avatar: Fire and Ash all primed to deliver big numbers.
And thanks to a specially contrived cut of data they were able to extract (via a significant contract extension, no less) from Nielsen, as Barrett Media reported late last month.
Nielsen Media Research recently released its Media Distributor Gauge for the month of November 2024, demonstrating an aggregated look at total television usage by company cutting off on Sunday, Nov. 24. The Walt Disney Company led the group for a second consecutive month, finishing with an 11.1% share of television viewing. Streaming on Disney platforms represented 43% of the total company share, which was measured ahead of the addition of an ESPN tile added to the Disney+ streaming service.
So that may help to explain how yesterday’s surprising headline of how they made yet another potential problem go away came to pass. As NEWSWEEK’s Matthew Impelli enumerated:
Disney’s Hulu + Live TV and sports streaming platform Fubo on Monday announced a partnership as part of a broader agreement that includes settling a legal dispute over the launch of Venu Sports.
Fubo announced it has resolved all legal disputes with Disney and ESPN concerning Venu Sports, the sports streaming platform initially planned by ESPN, Fox, and Warner Bros. Discovery.
Fubo also said that the settlement was also reached between the company and Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery in related litigation.
And as VARIETY’s Todd Spengler noted in the background he provided for his coverage:
In February 2024, Fubo filed a federal antitrust lawsuit against Disney, Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery seeking to block the launch of Venu, alleging that the companies (together with Disney’s ESPN and Hulu) have “engaged in a years-long campaign to block Fubo’s innovative sports-first streaming business resulting in significant harm to both Fubo and consumers.” Last summer, Fubo won a preliminary injunction halting the three companies’ launch of Venu.
But as Spengler also detailed, that’s all now water under the bridge to Cinderella’s Castle:
Disney announced a deal with pay-TV streaming provider Fubo to combine Hulu + Live TV with Fubo’s operations in a joint venture. Disney will own 70% of the pay-TV joint venture and Fubo will hold the remaining 30%; the combined business will operate under the Fubo publicly traded company name. The Hulu + Live TV and Fubo brands will remain separately sold and marketed. The companies said the Fubo joint venture will negotiate carriage agreements with content providers for both Hulu + Live TV and Fubo services independently from Disney.
Also under the deal, Fubo will create a new “sports and broadcasting service,” featuring Disney’s sports and broadcast networks. Disney is entering into a new carriage agreement with Fubo for the new tier that will feature networks including ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, SECN, ACCN and ESPNews as well as ESPN+.
In connection with the deal, Disney, Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery will make a cash payment to Fubo of $220 million. In addition, Disney has committed to provide a $145 million term loan to Fubo in 2026 as part of the transaction. Furthermore, a deal-breakup fee of $130 million will be payable to Fubo under certain circumstances, including if the transaction fails to close due to the failure to obtain requisite regulatory approvals on the terms and conditions in the agreement.
But such a scenario is now all the more unlikely, especially in light of how generous Disney was with their checkbook last month when another potentially litigious situation was headed off at the pass. As THE NEW YORK TIMES’ Michael M. Grynbaum and Alan Feuer reported:
ABC News is set to pay $15 million to settle a defamation lawsuit brought by Donald J. Trump. Under the terms of a settlement revealed on Saturday, ABC News will donate the $15 million to Mr. Trump’s future presidential foundation and museum. The network and its star anchor, George Stephanopoulos, also published a statement saying they “regret” remarks made about Mr. Trump during a televised interview in March. ABC News, which is owned by the Walt Disney Company, will pay Mr. Trump an additional $1 million for his legal fees.
And as the now former cartoonist for the Washington Post Ann Telnaes reminded this weekend, Disney and AIger are far from unique in how they are using money to curry favor with the incoming autocra–er, adminsitration. Notice the little figure in the red shorts that’s especially prostrate in what turned out to be her final piece of work while an employee for the newspaper–one that its owner wouldn’t allow to be published. Telnaes obviously didn’t use AI to make her point, and I envy her talent all the more as the program I use has become increasingly reluctant to provide anything they consider to be copyrighted images–or even a reasonable facsimile of it–for their requests.
Politics has certainly been dominated by transactional relationships for centuries. Obviously, the family I referenced at the top of their musing was defined similarly. And now it appears that media behemoths are more than ever doing so as well–few as egregiously as Disney has been demonstrating of late.
But in spite of giving the Fubo management team a needed influx of cash and the assurance of a slightly longer lifeline, it doesn’t make Venu Sports any more of a compelling proposition to true sports fans. Until a service that includes the ENTIRE gamut of games and leagues–including the ones that are part of the Paramount Global and Comcast branded entities–is made available, let alone at a price point that the common fan can stomach, Venu is a flawed offering that is ultimately being seen as a money grab and at best a minor, incomplete bundle that could save a few bucks a month but doesn’t address the desire for uberfans to have a one-stop shopping source for their obsessions.
And even if it is better accepted that most observers are laying odds on, it isn’t necessarily bringing back the thousands of jobs that Disney has slashed from their payrolls in recent years when the box office gods weren’t smiling upon them in the same generous manner they were last year. One only wonders what some of those one-time employees might have been able to do with a fraction of the $365 million the prostrating rodest found in those red shorts yesterday.
Not that Bob AIger is listening to someone like moi, and more than likely you as well. He’s far too busy figuring out who will eventually succeed him–sometime this century is perhaps the closest thing to a time commitment he’s capable of these days. And when (if?) that happens, whatever collateral damage any underperformance of expectations from the Disney/Hulu-Fubo alliance might produce will be quickly forgotten. At least in the corporate world, throwing money at a problem seems to work.
But that’s not necessarily the case with families, especially the one I referenced at the top of this musing. That child with the drug problem that needed a hug? They’ll be dead five years this summer.
If you’re a current Disney employee, or even a shareholder, I suppose you should be thankful you’re considered anything but family.
Until next time…