Disney Headlines for September 3rd, 2024

In this week’s Disney’s Headlines, your favorite company makes moves for the future that are not popular at the moment.

We’ve got a blackout, the closing of a fan program, and the de facto abandonment of an international market.

These are strange times for fans of the Mouse.

The Line in the Sand

As Justin Hermes covered on Sunday, The Walt Disney Company faces another standoff with a cable company.

Technically, DirecTV is a satellite service, a distinction that mattered greatly 20 years ago. Now, it’s more of a “Remember when…?”

The future is digital, a concept DirecTV once understood better than most. Alas, the company couldn’t get out of its own way.

When cable consumption pivoted to streaming, DirecTV was at the forefront of streaming bundles. They just…didn’t want to sell them.

Streaming bundles like DirecTV Stream cut into the sales for DirecTV’s main service.

So, executives made one of MANY shortsighted decisions at the time to deprioritize a product that could have saved them.

Now, DirecTV is a dinosaur that has already watched the comet strike.

The company has a market cap of about $10 billion. This seems like a good time to mention AT&T purchased it in 2019 for…$49 billion. Mistakes were made.

Anyway, with the business in dire straits, DirecTV is making the same mistake Charter Communications, Inc. did a year ago.

That story resolved like this. Disney CEO Bob Iger slapped around Charter so much that the latter company later apologized to its shareholders.

An even more desperate DirecTV is repeating the same mistake with a total Hail Mary play doomed to fail.

The reason why is that Disney holds all the cards. Here’s what is happening. Warning: it’s gonna give you déjà vu.

Bluffing with a Losing Hand

For a few weeks now, MickeyBlog has alerted you to the fact that DirecTV may lose Disney programming.

The carriage renewal was approaching, and archaic businesses like DirecTV are desperate.

Disney has stated all along that it would happily renew with DirecTV, but the latter company is trying to get a better deal.

Obviously, Disney knows that and acts accordingly. That doesn’t stop DirecTV from posturing and bluffing, though.

Here’s a recent comment from their executives: “(Disney wants to) chase maximum profits and dominant control at the expense of consumers – making it harder for them to select the shows and sports they want at a reasonable price.”

That’s corporate speak for, “It’s them, not us!” Everyone knows it’s DirecTV, but they must say that to save face.

Meanwhile, DirecTV still serves 11 million subscribers. That’s 11 million people whose Disney channels went dark on Sunday.

A Case of Bad Timing

What happened on Sunday night? USC and LSU played in the first high-profile game of the college football season.

So, DirecTV customers were every bit as irate as Brian Kelly by the end of the night.

Now, they’re wondering why they still pay DirecTV’s high prices if they’re not getting any Disney channels.

That’s a problem with the NFL season beginning this week and college football now in full swing.

There are implications beyond sports as well. The Presidential Debate occurs on September 10^th…on ABC.

If DirecTV doesn’t return by then, it risks permanently alienating its most loyal customers, many of whom are older and more interested in politics.

For its part, Disney has taken the unusual step of having three of its top executives decry DirecTV’s posturing.

The statement led with this: “DirecTV chose to deny millions of subscribers access to our content just as we head into the final week of the U.S. Open and gear up for college football and the opening of the NFL season.”

Then, the executives punctuated the argument with this: “We urge DirecTV to do what’s in the best interest of their customers and finalize a deal that would immediately restore our programming.”

Everyone but Iger and Disney Experiences Josh D’Amaro signed off on the statement. It’s a fastball aimed at the throat of DirecTV.

What’s the Endgame Here?

With other companies like NBCUniversal pivoting to streaming and Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount in freefall, DirecTV is pinned.

If the company cannot keep Disney content, it will shed customers at an even more alarming rate.

So, everyone knows they’ll fold here, just as it’s predictable that some will report that DirecTV has beaten Disney at its own game.

Facts don’t matter to some, but Disney is doing what’s best for business here.

Just because DirecTV is struggling doesn’t mean that Disney should give it what it has requested, which is a better deal than Charter got.

Disney won this fight last year when DirecTV wasn’t even in it. After Charter fell, DirecTV’s fate was sealed.

Still, Disney will absorb a slew of headlines about corporate greed throughout the conflict.

That’s the cost of doing business when you dominate the entertainment industry as much as Disney does.

I’m Really Gonna Miss Our Cricket Talks

Speaking of ABC, one of my favorite shows from the 1990s was the Aaron Sorkin program that wasn’t The West Wing.

Sports Night was a behind-the-scenes look at an ESPN-like cable channel.

Sorkin’s sparkling dialogue shined through in this early episode with a subplot about cricket:

Whenever I write about cricket, I think about this scene because it’s also pretty much the extent of my knowledge about the sport.

Alas, I’ve written extensively about cricket since 2019 because Disney acquired broadcasting rights as part of the Fox purchase.

Cricket is wildly, incomprehensibly popular in India and Pakistan.

Some of the largest concurrent viewer totals in the history of streaming involve cricket matches.

Disney has broadcast several of them, but it’s not making any money in the process.

So, the company is finally doing what I suggested three years ago. It’s merging Star India with Reliance India.

The deal finally gained governmental approval last week, making it a foregone conclusion.

The move will help Disney a lot because its Star India operations have been a financial black hole.

At one point, some valued this business in the $15-$20 billion range. Disney held on long enough to sell it for about ten percent of that.

AT&T and DirecTV aren’t the only ones capable of terrible business decisions.

The End of the Road

Speaking of which, my heart is breaking over this news. Disney Movie Insiders is shutting down soon.

In fact, the last day you can claim rewards is September 6^th.

For those unfamiliar with the program, Disney DVD, Blu-Ray, and digital purchases earn points.

You may exchange those points for rewards, which I’ve done, according to my account history, 20 times…since September 2022.

Yes, I was a heavy user in this program and probably earned at least 100 rewards.

That’s what happens when you own thousands of movies in physical and digital form.

People like me are why Disney is shuttering the program. It rewards the most loyal users, but the algorithms have changed that.

Disney has recognized that people like me are gonna buy this stuff no matter what. So, why should Disney give us more?

Rewards programs are declining in popularity, as any Best Buy, Game Stop, or airline user can tell you.

That’s the right business choice, but it’s a shame for the customer. Ah well.

Personally, I choose to look on the bright side that the program ever existed in the first place than to be sad about its closure.

Plus, I had enough points to order an Elemental mug, Deadpool & Wolverine socks, a Wong keychain, and some Disney wall art.

How about you? Were you an active participant in Disney Movie Rewards? If so, what’s the best thing you ever got?

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