We’ve all known television has been in a period of upheaval and decline for years. With streaming services spending billions of dollars a year on content and many consumers fleeing cable amidst rising prices, the gradual shift away from linear TV has been collectively accepted as inevitable, but exactly what that meant for the giant companies still involved with linear TV has always been a question mark. Would they stick it out? Would they sell? Well, Disney CEO Bob Iger recently sat for an interview and now, those questions are louder than ever.
The sitdown happened earlier this month with CNBC, and you’ve no doubt seen some of the headlines that came out of it. He talked about Governor DeSantis and Disney’s lawsuit against Florida. He talked about the SAG-AFTRA strike and diluting the Marvel brand with too much content. Also, more quietly, he talked about linear TV and dropped the bombshell that ABC and its other channels “may not be core to Disney,” meaning there’s potentially a future in which they’re either not part of the Mouse House’s extensive portfolio or they’re so insignificant they don’t matter to the overall direction of the business. Here’s what he said…
