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Disney CEO Bob Iger said he sees “tremendous value” in the company’s 11-year rights extension with the NBA despite the significant increase in costs over the previous agreement.
The CEO said securing the NBA Finals every June for more than another decade would provide a major tentpole for ABC and ESPN, giving the company a consistent advertising and distribution vehicle. Live programming, he said, has been an “advertiser’s delight and an audience’s delight” in recent years. The “growing value of women’s sports” and the WNBA component of the deal would also justify the cost, Iger added. The long-term agreement also “secures our ability to bring ESPN in a digital direction,” Iger added, especially with the planned 2025 launch of ESPN’s flagship stand-alone streaming service
Mike Vorkunov: CEO Bob Iger didn't want to give much on impending new NBA rights deal during Disney earnings call but did say: "We're confident or optimistic we're going to end up with an NBA deal that will be long term that'll be in our best interest and the best interest of our subscribers."
During Smith’s appearance at the BSM Summit Wednesday, I asked him about Jimmy Kimmel’s comment last month that the late night host might retire after his current contract expires in 2026. Fifteen months ago, Smith told Sean Hannity that he’d “love” to be considered “heir” to Kimmel—so I asked Smith, whose current ESPN contract expires in July, 2025: Is that still the case? “I’d be very interested in succeeding him,” Smith answered. But only if his bosses at Disney, such as chairman Bob Iger, asked him to follow in Kimmel’s footsteps as ABC’s late night star.
Disney CEO Bob Iger on NBA rights: It's our goal to stay in that relationship
Mike Vorkunov: Disney CEO Bob Iger, at the Morgan Stanley investor conference, on its involvement in the next NBA media rights deal: "We love our relationship with the NBA. That negotiation is unfolding. It's our goal to stay in that relationship because we love the sport."
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Mike Vorkunov: Disney CEO Bob Iger says on CNBC the company intends to launch its flagship ESPN direct-to-consumer product in late August/fall 2025. Says it will be different than this new Fox/ESPN/WBD bundle because it will have more features and calls this new joint venture a channel bundle.
Disney CEO Bob Iger said on CNBC Wednesday that the launch of a direct-to-subscriber version of ESPN will not occur any later than 2025, marking the first time that he has publicly set a deadline for the move. Iger previously described the direct-to-subscriber move as “inevitable” but had been non-specific as to when it would occur.
Iger also reiterated that Disney is seeking one or two strategic partners to invest in ESPN. Front Office Sports reported Wednesday that the NFL and NBA are emerging as the preferred option, though tech and private equity firms remain contenders.
Disney CEO Bob Iger must have known his move to explore potential equity partners for ESPN would yield interest from many of the biggest entities in sports, media, and entertainment — and now, that search could pay off big. Following previously reported interest from the NFL, NBA, MLB, as well as telecommunications giant Verizon, Amazon is now the latest to discuss acquiring a minority stake in ESPN, according to The Information.
Amazon’s discussions, like those of Verizon, have been centered on aiding in the development of a full, direct-to-consumer version of ESPN, something Iger said recently is “not a matter of if, but when.”
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To many, Disney is the favorite to keep the rights. It has the full suite to offer — a broadcast channel in ABC, a cable channel in ESPN and a streaming service in ESPN+. ESPN has a history with the NBA that goes back four decades and a close relationship with the league. Disney CEO Bob Iger is a NBA fan who has known Commissioner Silver since the 1990s. The ties run deep. When the NBA resumed its 2020 Covid-disrupted season, it did so at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex.
Disney boss Bob Iger was prevented from bidding on the Phoenix Suns because of a deep-seated grudge held by the NBA team’s disgraced former owner against the media tycoon, The Post has learned. Robert Sarver, who was run out of the league after Disney-owned ESPN exposed Sarver’s history of workplace misconduct, refused to allow Iger to take part in the auction. “No sales book, no Non-Disclosure Agreement, no conversation,” a source close to the situation said.
Now, Comcast’s NBCUniversal wants an NBA package including playoff games for its broadcast network and regular-season games for its Peacock streaming platform, according to CNBC. That means the stars could align for a WWE-like rematch between Comcast chairman/CEO Brian Roberts and his nemesis, Disney CEO Bob Iger — who has won most of their battles. But if NBC snatches the NBA from ESPN, Roberts could win the war. “Brian Roberts and Bob Iger are personal rivals — as well as business rivals,” noted Matthew Belloni, former editor of The Hollywood Reporter turned co-founder of Puck News. “If they can make a smart choice for their own company — and screw over the other guy — they are going to do it.”
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