Comcast and Disney: Too Cozy? (CMCSA)(TWX)(DIS)
According to the Los Angeles Times, which is for sale by the way, Disney is working on a new deal to distribute its content over the two largest cable systems in the country, Time Warner Cable and Comcast. The paper says that Comcast already pays Disney about $1 billion a year for programming on its basic cable platform.
As part of the overall deal, Comcast may buy Disney’s 39.5% share of the E!Entertainment Network for $1.6 billion. You have to wonder if Comcast will get a slightly better deal on what it pays for Disney programming if it takes a dog like the E! Network off Disney’s hands. E! averages about 469,000 viewers in prime time. That puts it behind stand-out networks like Animal Planet.
If any of the other cable networks want a good deal with Disney, they may have to overpay to take one of the theme parks off of the company’s hands.
Douglas A. McIntyre can be reached at douglasamcintyre@247wallst.com. He does not own securities in companies that he writes about.
As part of the overall deal, Comcast may buy Disney’s 39.5% share of the E!Entertainment Network for $1.6 billion. You have to wonder if Comcast will get a slightly better deal on what it pays for Disney programming if it takes a dog like the E! Network off Disney’s hands. E! averages about 469,000 viewers in prime time. That puts it behind stand-out networks like Animal Planet.
If any of the other cable networks want a good deal with Disney, they may have to overpay to take one of the theme parks off of the company’s hands.
Douglas A. McIntyre can be reached at douglasamcintyre@247wallst.com. He does not own securities in companies that he writes about.
posted by douglas mcintyre at 5:46 AM
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