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Going to Disney Will Cost You More Than Ever

But it hasn’t always been so pricey. (January 2019)

[INTRO MUSIC] On the ESPN side-- because, if you're talking about technological transformation, there's definitely a lot of that going on in the sports world; so, you had phenomenal ratings for several live sporting events recently, the NBA finals was highest rated I think on ABC or ESPN since 2006. At the same time, there's been a slight slip in subscriber numbers on ESPN side. So, how do you think about what's going on? Is this an exciting time to be in the sports broadcasting business, is it a challenging time? Well Vicky, I actually spent 13 years of my career at ABC Sports, working for a guy named Roone Arledge, who was known as someone who embraced technology. And he adopted slow motion and rear angle camera and live satellite technology et cetera and so on, and he was quite inspirational to me. I think this is the most exciting time in sports media, for a variety of reasons. It starts with the power of live, and the power of sports, and the power of the brand ESPN, but live and sports today has never been more popular. And then when you think about technology-- and just what I was talking about-- first of all, the technology that can be now used to tell the story-- no, we don't tell the sports story as much as we show the story. Sometimes we tell it but, if you talk to Draymond Green who's here, you'd say, well, he tells the sports story and we cover him telling that story. But, the technology that is now available to us to do that is unlike any we've ever had before. And that makes the experience of watching the sport, I think, even better. Secondly, just think about the different places you can now consume sports. So, you talk about losing some subs or ratings being down, we had the highest number of people streaming game seven of the NBA finals than we've ever had before. And what's great about the technology that's available today, particularly mobile technology, and the technology that enables us to stream at a higher quality, without the interruption, and basically a better fan experience; it's unbelievably exciting. The number of people yesterday-- I didn't get home in time to watch the Portugal-France match-- It's OK. I got home to watch-- Yeah. You don't want me to talk about it? No. You didn't miss much, I was going to say. But-- [LAUGHTER] Oh, I got home in time to see the overtime periods. But, I was in a place where people were watching on iPhones, all over the place. That's incredible, because back in my day if you wanted to watch something on sports, you had to go home and watch it on a fixed set-- on a fixed television set on a wall, or you had to go to a sports bar-- those that existed back then. Now you can watch wherever you are. By the way some of the technology that Ronnie's invested in and that others invested in, you'll put some kind of glasses on and you'll just look up and there'll be a gigantic screen in front of you with an ESPN-- hopefully, an ESPN-- live sporting event on. So I think it's a great time to be in that business. I think we're going through a transition that involves the distribution side of that business, but one that I'm convinced that-- since sports is so great-- when you think about storytelling, you can't tell a better story than the NBA finals; seven games, the team that won the most games ever-- Draymond probably doesn't want me to talk about this but-- breaks the record for the most games, has a guy who wins the most valuable player award, unanimously, playing LeBron James-- rematch of the series a year earlier-- goes to game seven, no idea what the outcome is, goes down to the last shot of the game. That's a great story. So I think, if you think about content and IP, fantastic. And fortunately we have the NBA rights for a long time. [LAUGHTER] Yes. And you're paying for it, you're paying a lot of money for it. We're paying a lot of money, but I think for a good reason. It says a lot. You pay money for things that are of value, that other people want, so we're paying a lot of money for very good reason. [OUTRO MUSIC]

Insights: Disney’s Bob Iger Isn’t Worried About Losing ESPN Subscribers

Disney’s Bob Iger Isn’t Worried About ESPN Subscribers

Viewers are turning to mobile. (July 2016)

on the ESPN side because if you're talking about technological transformation, there's definitely a lot of that going on in the sports world. You have phenomenal ratings for several live sporting events recently, the N B A Finals was highest rated. I think on 80 Peoria can since 2006 ATTN. The same time there have been there's been a slight slip in subscriber numbers on the ESPN side. So how do you think about what's going on is, it's an exciting time to be in sports. Broadcasting business is a challenging time. I actually spent 13 years of my career at ABC Sports, working for a guy named Rune Arledge who was known as someone who embraced technology. And he adopted slow motion, rear angle camera and live satellite technology and so on. And he was he. He was quite inspirational to May. I think this is the most exciting time in sports media, for a variety of reasons, starts with the power of live on the power of sports and the power of the brand ESPN. But Live and sports today has never been more popular, and then when you think about technology and just what I was talking about. First of all, the technology that can be now used to tell this way. Don't tell the sports story as much as we show the story. Sometimes we tell it. But if you talk to Ramon Graner's Hear you say, Well, he tells sports story, and we cover him telling that story, Um, but the technology that is now available to us to do that is unlike any we've ever had before. And that makes the experience of watching the sport even, I think even better. Secondly, just think about the different places you can now consume sports. So you talk about losing some subs, Ratings being down. We had the highest number of people streaming the Game seven of the N B A finals then we've ever had before. And what's great about the technology that's available today, particularly mobile technology and the technology of the navel of the stream, and a higher quality without the interruption. Basically better fan experience. It's unbelievably exciting in the number of people. Yesterday I didn't get home in time to watch Portugal France match. I got home to watch. Yeah, you know you didn't. No, you didn't miss much I got home in time to see this the overtime period, but I was in a place where people were watching on iPhones all over the place. That's incredible, because back in my day, if you wanted to watch something on sports, you had a you had to go home and watch on a fix set on, fixed over and sat on a wall. Or you had to go to a sports bar that those that existed back then. Now you can watch wherever you are and when you think By the way, some of the technology that Ronnie's invested in that others invested in, you'll put some kind of glasses on and you just look up and there'll be a gigantic screen in front of you with an ESPN with, hopefully ESPN live sporting event on. So I think it's a great time to be in that business. I think we're going through a transition that involves the distribution side of that business, but one that I'm convinced that sports so great you can't when you think about storytelling, you can't tell a better story than the N B. A Finals seven games. The team that won the most games ever. Dreamin probably doesn't want me to talk about this, but breaks the record for the most games has a guy who wins the Most Valuable Player award unanimously playing LeBron James rematch of the series the year earlier goes to Game seven. No idea what the outcome is. Goes down to the last shot of the game. That's a great story. So I think you think about content and I p fantastic. Fortunately, we have the MBA rights for a long time, and you're and you're and you're paying for it. You're getting a lot of money to pay a lot of money, but I think for a good reason it says a lot. You don't you pay money for things that are of value that other people want, so we're paying a lot of money for very good reason.

Insights: How Disney Won the Summer Box Office

How Disney Won the Summer Box Office

But the industry struggled in general. (September 2019)

[THEME MUSIC] Today, we are talking about Disney and the company's plans to launch two new streaming services. Andrew, what do you think? Well, I think this is really interesting, right? So two different services as you mentioned. One is for ESPN, right? So all sports all the time and including games. Very, very compelling. And then the other one is Disney itself. All the Disney movies that you might find on Netflix today. By the end of 2018, they're going to be off of Netflix and they're going to be on this Disney branded service. I think it's brilliant. I think Disney is a strong brand. On one hand it's like, OK what took Disney so long? On the other hand, it's like they're trying to protect this cable revenue. Once they let sports as a stand alone thing-- I mean, that was pretty much propping up all of the other cable channels that nobody else watches. So once you combine sports directly, ESPN, I think that's going to have a huge ripple effect on the entire cable world. And if you're a cable company you have to ask yourself how much you won't even want to split up your portfolio. So two different franchises we haven't mentioned that are still hanging out on Netflix for Disney, are the Marvel comic series and then also Star Wars. Yeah, so it's interesting that they decided to let those go because I think people would also pay for those. My theory is that they are worried about fatigue. People subscribing to too many services and getting completely overwhelmed. Already we have Hulu, Netflix, Amazon Prime. Totally. How many other subscription services can one person subscribe to? Well, and what you're putting your finger on is definitely a kind of a user experience problem-- too many different things. On the other hand, it's not such a crazy idea to have a Disney Channel, a CBS channel, and maybe even a Star Wars channel on your television. Today, the bigger problem I think is just multiple bills and how does this all even work financially-- And also I mean, now that Disney's jumping off of Netflix and some of these providers, they're still beholden to the people who make the box like the Apple TV, or the Roku, or whatever. So they're not really fully independent and owning their own destiny here, and they're not really in control of what the user experience is going to be like. Well, and we've been talking this entire time about the user experience. My bigger thing-- I think this is going to succeed. I think Disney is one of the strongest brands in the media business, and if anybody can do it it's them. But the bigger problem here is that this is not going to turn around Disney's fortunes. You know, it's experiencing declines in this business. This is going to do it. It's just going to get it forward. All right. [THEME MUSIC]

Insights: Disney’s New Streaming Services Aren’t Such a Crazy Idea

Fortune discusses whether  Disney’s plan to is a smart move.

Disney’s New Streaming Services Aren’t Such a Crazy Idea

Fortune's Erin Griffith and Andrew Nusca discuss whether or not Disney’s plan to create two new streaming services is a smart move. (August 2017)

today we're talking about Disney and the company's plans to launch two new streaming service is Andrew. What do you think? I think this is really interesting. Right to two different service is, as you mentioned, one is for ESPN, right? So all sports all the time and including games, right. Very, very compelling. And then the other one is Disney itself, right? All the Disney movies that you might find on Netflix today. By the end of 2018 they're gonna be off of Netflix, and they're gonna be on this Disney branded service. I think it's brilliant, I think that way. Okay, what took me so long? On the other hand, if they're trying to protect this cable revenue once they let sports as a standalone thing, that I mean, that was pretty much propping up all of the other cable channels that nobody else watches, though once my sports directly. Yes. And I think that's gonna be I have a huge ripple effect on the entire cable world. Well, and if your cable company, you have to ask yourself how much you won't even want to split up your portfolio, right? So two different franchises, we haven't mentioned that are still hanging out on Netflix for Disney are the Marvel comic Siri's and then also Star Wars. And they decided to let those go because I think people would also pay for those. My theory is that they are worried about fatigue, people paying people, subscribing to too many service's and getting completely overwhelmed. Already we have Who Netflix, Amazon prime. How many other like subscription service is? Can one person described well, and what you're putting your finger on is definitely a kind of a user experience problem, right into many different things. On the other hand, it's not such a crazy idea to have a Disney Channel, CBS channel and maybe even Star Wars channel on your television today. The bigger problem, I think, is just multiple bills. And how does this even work? And also, I mean, no, but disease jumping off of Netflix and some of these providers like I mean, they're not. They're still beholden to the people who make the box, like the Apple TV or the Roku or whatever. They're not really fully independent owning their own destiny here, and they're not really in control of what the user experience is gonna be like, Well, and we've been talking this entire time, but the user experience my bigger thing. I think this is going to succeed. I think Disney is one of the strongest brands in the media business, and if anybody can do it them. But the bigger problem here is that this has got it not going to turn around Disney's fortunes. You know it's experiencing declines in this business. This is going to do it. It's just going to get it, get it for you.

[MUSIC PLAYING] I'm excited to announce that Disney+ will be available to US consumers on November 12, 2019. And we will be launching the service with a very attractive monthly price of $6.99, as well as an annual option for $69.99, which works out, for those mathematically inclined, to $5.83 per month. [MUSIC PLAYING] 

Insights: Disney Unveiled Its Streaming Service: Disney+

Disney Unveiled Its Streaming Service: Disney+

I'm excited to announce that he will be available to US consumers on November 12 2019 and we will be launching the service with the very attractive monthly price of 6 99 as well as an annual option for 69 99. It works out for those mathematically inclined to 5 83 wait.

[INTRO MUSIC] You mentioned VR and some of the technologies that you use in the park, and I know Lucasfilm now has a partnership with Magic Leap-- which you are a fan of. What happens when you can have these experiences at home? I can sit at home, and I can feel like I'm at Shanghai Disney. How does that affect your business? Well, I think that might be an example that would probably be used as more of a marketing technique than a product that would simulate a theme park experience in full. I think that would have limitations; less so than ever before, but the combination of storytelling and technology is extremely powerful. If you think back to Walt Disney, what he did with a multiplane camera and creating backgrounds for some of his early movies that seemed dimensional and real; if you think about what George Lucas did with Star Wars, what John Lasseter and Ed Catmull did with Pixar and really evolve digital animation; you think about what Jim Cameron did with Avatar-- I think that using technology, whether it's Magic Leap-- which certainly would be a great example of that, to tell stories in much more compelling ways is very exciting. And to tell more story stories in different places, making characters and stories come alive in a child's bedroom, for instance-- very, very exciting. And one of the experiments that Magic Leap is doing with ILM is something called Trials in Tattooine, Tattooine being a place-- I think everyone here knows what that is, come on. [LAUGHTER] Know your audience. [LAUGHTER] Sorry. I don't know. But you can imagine taking a walk in Tattooine, and interacting with Star Wars characters. Where it gets complicated is rendering stories in real time and being able to focus a consumer's attention on a certain element of the story. But, that it will all happen and will all evolve. Parks, I think we'll probably stick to the great immersive experience of actually going to a physical place and enjoying that experience with a few, maybe 100,000, of your friends at one time, after waiting at a line for a few hours. But I think that there are all kinds of ways that we'll use technology like that to expand our storytelling. And they did something for me recently, which we kept secret to my group because they weren't ready to show it to everyone, but they took Tinker Bell-- I'm a big fan of the character Tinker Bell-- Who knew? --but we won't get into those details. We're learning so many interesting things tonight. But I stood in a room and they had Tinker Bell basically flying around me, flying right up to me and around me, and looking untethered, extremely real-- very, very real-- so much so, I thought that I could touch the character flying right in front of me. That starts-- This is Magic Leap we're talking about? Magic Leap did that. That starts to get very, very exciting when we think about what kind of stories we could tell. [OUTRO MUSIC]

Insights: Disney’s Bob Iger Discusses the Future of Interactive Storytelling

Bob Iger Discusses the Future of Interactive Storytelling

you mentioned v r and some of the technologies that used in the park on guy? No. You guys have Lucas film now has a partnership with magically, which, uh, you're a fan of, um, what happens when you can have these experiences at home? Like I couldn't sit at home and I can feel like I'm at Shanghai Disney. How does how does that affect your business? Well, I think that might be an example that would probably be used in more of a marketing technique than a tech than a product that would simulate a a theme park experience in full. I don't think that would have limitations less so than ever before, but you know, there's nothing more powerful were the combination of storytelling and technology is extremely powerful. If you think back to Walt Disney what he did with multi plane camera and creating backgrounds for some, his early movies that seemed dimensional and real rethink about what George Lucas did with Star Wars, what John Lasseter and Capital did with Pixar and really evolved digital animation. You think about what Jim Cameron did with Avatar. I think that that that using technology, whether it's magically which was certainly would be a great example of that to tell stories and much more compelling ways. Very exciting and to tell more stories. Stories in different places making characters and stories come alive in a child's bedroom, for instance. Very, very exciting. And one of the experiments that magically was doing with I a limb is something called trials in tattooing. Tattooing being a place, I think everyone knows what you Sorry, I don't know. But you can imagine taking a walk in Tattoo in and interacting with Star Wars characters Where it gets complicated is rendering stories in real time and being able to focus a a, uh, consumers attention on a certain element of the story. But it's definitely that it will happen. It will all about parks. I think we'll probably stick to the grate immersive experience that actually going to a physical place and enjoying that experience with a few maybe 100,000 of your of your friends at one time after waiting on the line for a few hours. Um, but I think that there are all kinds of ways that will use technology like that to expand our storytelling, and they did something for me recently. I was kept sort of secret to my group because they weren't ready to show it. Everyone, but they took Tinkerbell. I'm a big fan of character, Tinker Wear learning so many interesting things. But I stood in a room and and they had Tinkerbell basically flying around me, flying right up to me around me and looking untethered, extremely rial. I mean, very, very real. So much so. You know, I thought that I could touch the character flying right in front of me. That magically did that. That starts to get very, very exciting. When when we think about what kind of stories we could tell.

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