By Emily Kelberman

 

Disney/ABC Television Group

500 Buena Vista Street

Burbank, CA 91521

818.560.1000

About the Company:

Disney/ABC Television Group operates many different platforms of media including entertainment properties, news properties, owned television stations, radio, and publishing businesses. The group includes ABC Entertainment Group, ABC News, ABC owned television properties, Disney Channels Worldwide, ABC Family, SOAPnet, as well as Disney/ABC Domestic Television and Disney Media Distribution. The company also has equity interest in A+E Networks. [1] [2] [3]

Key Executives [4]:

Robert Iger – Chairman & CEO of Walt Disney Company

Anne Sweeney – President & Co-Chair of Disney/ABC Television Group

Paul Lee – President, ABC Entertainment Group

Gary Marsh – President, Disney Channels Worldwide

For more information on Disney/ABC Television Group’s executives click here.

Financials:

Disney/ABC Television Group is apart of The Walt Disney Company’s (NYSE: DIS). This includes the company’s global entertainment, broadcast news, owned television stations, distribution, publishing, and radio business. The Walt Disney Company is also made up of other segments such as Parks and Resorts, Studio Entertainment, Consumer Products, and Interactive. [5]

The company delivered strong results for the third quarter of 2013. Disney’s Media Networks Group had an operating income of $2.3 billion, up 8% from the previous quarter. Revenue rose 5% to $5.35 billion. The broadcasting division of the group fell 20% due to higher programming costs, yet Disney/ABC’s cable networks operating income was up 12% to $2.09 billion. [6]

Disney & Technology [7]:

• Disney Using Tablet

Disney/ABC Television Group is taking advantage of the new technology of tablets, beginning to use it for television purposes. Disney is going to launch the first nine episodes of a new series on mobile devices and tablets before it airs on television. The show, Sheriff Callie’s Wild West, features a cat in pink cowboy hat and it hopes to reach a pre-school audience on a screen like the iPad, in which many kids have been brought up viewing. The series will premiere on the Watch Disney Junior App and also on a related website in late November 2013. The television show will then premiere on Disney Channel and Disney Junior early next year. The application keeps audiences linked to their cable operators. Viewers must enter their subscriber information in order to watch the shows on the tablet. [8] [9]

• Disney Teams with Roku

Disney and ESPN have recently reached a new deal with Roku, which is a streaming player that can deliver movies instantly from Netflix onto a television using the Internet. Now, viewers can stream live cable-TV channels and programming to their televisions if they are currently subscribing to a participating TV provider. Participating viewers can watch their programming on the devices of their choice, creating a more enjoyable viewing experience. [10]

Disney/ABC & Marvel [11]:

Disney has recently acquired the rights to Marvel, which allows the Disney company to use that franchise in all aspects of the company. It has been recently announced that Disney and Netflix have partnered together to bring viewers a new miniseries based on Marvel’s most popular characters.

It will exclusively start streaming on Netflix in 2015 with four serialized programs, preparing the way for a miniseries programming event. The miniseries is produced by Marvel Television and ABC Television Studios and is said to have groundbreaking live-action storytelling. This is following a previous deal with Netflix, which allows members to watch a wide range of Disney, ABC TV, and Disney channel movies wherever Netflix is available. Marvel is a well-known and loved brand with movies such as ‘Iron Man’ and ‘The Avengers’, so pioneering the new miniseries idea will hopefully take this form of live-action television viewing to the next level.

The series is going to focus on “Daredevil”, “Jessica Jones”, “Iron Fist”, and “Luke Cage” separately, leading up to an Avenger-style combination of the characters to create the miniseries titled The Defenders. This new platform that Disney is testing will enable the viewers to watch when and where they want, granting flexibility. ABC’s new show, “Marvel: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D” has become a hit for the network, giving the new miniseries a promising outlook [12] [13] [14]

 ESPN & College Basketball:

Fall is the season of college basketball, which is great news for ESPN, a Disney owned company. The first game of the season, Kentucky vs. Michigan, attracted four million viewers. According to Nielson, this is the second largest audience ESPN has had for a non-conference game. The Duke vs. Kansas game averaged 2.98 million viewers, which is higher than in previous years. ESPN is also thriving in the local markets. The only cable show program that was higher in the men’s 18-49 bracket was “Sons of Anarchy” on FX. The interest in college basketball seems to be growing, which will benefit Disney and ESPN. [15] [16]

Programming:

The fall season is a showcase of all the new shows ABC and other networks have to offer for the new season. Disney/ABC has recently confirmed a new singing competition called “Rising Star”. It is a show that has been breaking records in Israel, with more than half of TV audiences tuning in to watch the show. ABC is planning on airing the show in Summer 2014 with a 10-episode run. With the summer slot, it will not compete with other singing competition shows, such as Fox’s “American Idol” and NBC’s “The Voice”, seeing as those occupy fall spots. This show differs from other singing competition shows because viewers vote for live performances during real time through an application. The show reinvents the reality singing competition model with the use of new technology. Disney/ABC acquired the show from Keshet DP, parent company of Dick Clark Productions. [17] [18]

• Shows to be Canceled/Renewed:

For the current 2013 season, ABC has canceled “Lucky Seven” and “Back in the Game”. A few shows such as “Betrayal”, “The Neighbors”, “Once Upon a Time in Wonderland”, “Trophy Wife”, and “Super Fun Night” with Rebel Wilson are likely to be canceled by the end of the season in May, depending on ratings.

“Last Man Standing”, “Nashville”, and “The Goldbergs” are likely to get a renewal for next season, but it will depend on the ratings. “Castle”, “The Middle”, “Once Upon a Time”, “Grey’s Anatomy”, “Revenge”, “Modern Family”, “Scandal”, and “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” are certain to be renewed by May. [19]

ABC is now getting ready for its midseason premiere with returning shows like “The Bachelor” and “Suburgatory”, as well as four new shows. The new shows include “Resurrection”, “Killer Women”, “Mixology”, and “Mind Games”. The TV group has decided to push “Revenge” back to the 10pm slot for the midseason. [20][21][22]

Sources:

[1] About Disney/ABC Television Group

[2] Disney/ABC Careers

[3] Business Week Snapshot of Disney/ABC

[4] About Disney/ABC Executives

[5] Disney Financials

[6] LA Times – Disney Financials

[7] NY Times – Disney & Tablet

[8] Sheriff Callie – IMDB

[9] Disney Channel – About Sheriff Callie

[10] Variety- Disney Lands a Deal With Roku

[11] Yahoo Finance – Disney Press Release Regarding Marvel

[12] Wired – Marvel and Netflix Deal

[13] Variety – Marvel and Netflix

[14] Marvel Website – Logo

[15] Variety – Ratings for ESPN 2013

[16] TV by the Numbers – ESPN Ratings

[17] Variety – ABC Greenlights New Singing Competition Show

[18] TV by the Numbers – ABC’s ‘Rising Star’

[19] TV by the Numbers – ABC’s Recent Ratings

[20] Variety – ABC Midseason Premieres

[21] Hollywood Reporter – ‘Revenge’ Pushed Back

[22] Huffington Post – ABC Full Midseason Schedule