Disney’s future in traditional broadcast TV has been brought into question despite the company managing to resolve a contract dispute with cable company Charter that saw it pull its channels including ESPN and ABC off of Charter Spectrum cable systems in late August.
The company is reportedly looking to sell its broadcast and cable channels, however, no final decision has been made. Disney released the following statement: “While we are open to considering a variety of strategic options for our linear businesses, at this time The Walt Disney Company has made no decision with respect to the divestiture of ABC or any other property and any report to that effect is unfounded.”
Exiting the traditional TV market has long been a consideration of Disney, with data from Nielsen showing that linear TV viewership fell below 50% for the first time in July. Broadcast TV comprised just 20% of total TV usage, while cable was 29.6%.