by MICHAEL TORRES

 Corporate Headquarters [2]

500 South Buena Vista Street Burbank, CA 91521-4581

818-560-1000

www.disneyabctv.com

Key Executives [3]

History:

The Disney/ABC Television Group is made up of all of the Walt Disney Company’s Disney and ABC television channels. This includes the ABC Television Network, including ABC Daytime, ABC Entertainment, and ABC News. The group also owns a 50% stake in A&E Television Networks and an 80% stake in ESPN Inc. Although ESPN is a part of The Disney/ABC Television Group, it operates as a separate unit of Disney Media Networks. [3]

Top Competitors:

1. CBS Corporation
2. Twenty-First Century Fox, Inc.
3. NBC Universal Media, LLC [9].

Financials:

Operating income at Cable Networks decreased 2% to $1.3 billion for the quarter. This decrease occurred due to a decrease at ESPN. This was a result of higher programming costs, production costs, and marketing. Another aspect that contributed to this drop was a lower advertising revenue. These decreases were partially offset by things such as affiliate fee contractual rate increases and an increase in subscribers [10].

Current Events:

Expanded relationship with Yahoo

On March 12, it was announced that The Disney/ABC group and Yahoo would be expanding their relationship through what they are calling “an extension and expansion” of their three year business deal.

Starting on March 16, The Disney/ABC Television group started supplying airtime to Yahoo personalities. In return, Yahoo agreed to promote ABC shows online. They kicked off this expansion with a segment on Good Morning America. The segment was called “Yahoo Your Day” and it offered everyday tips in the fields of style, beauty, health, and diet.

In exchange for this air time, Yahoo Screen and Yahoo TV agreed to feature clips from popular Disney/ABC shows such as Jimmy Kimmel Live, Scandal, How to Get Away With Murder, and many others.

This deal is expected to prove beneficial to both parties involved and further expand the success that each company brings each other. The addition of more video to Yahoo is expected to benefit the company by bringing in new ways for marketers to display their messages through advertisements. The Disney/ABC Television Group is expected to benefit through the showing of specialized trailers that will appeal to the target audience [4].

 

Expansion to DISH Network

On April 1, DISH Network Corporation and The Disney/ABC Television Group announced the availability of live and on-demand programming to DISH Network. This deal was made possible through the options of WATCH ABC, WATCH ABC Family, WATCH Disney Channel, WATCH Disney XD, and WatchESPN. The option to include these live and on-demand capabilities allows DISH’s 14 million customers to access entertainment and sports programming through numerous devices such as laptops, tablets, gaming consoles, etc.

As of right now these options are only available to customers in the New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Houston, Fresno, Philadelphia and Raleigh-Durham regions. However, being that these capabilities have just been introduced, the regions of coverage are expected to continuously expand and incorporate much more of the country

Another benefit of these capabilities is the ability to watch ABC and ABC Family television shows the day after they air online at ABC.com [5].

Verizon Cloud Ties in Disney/ABC Software

A new platform that provides a new process for ad insertions has been acquired by Verizon from The Disney/ABC Television Group. This new platform is called Translate and allows for digital ad insertion.

 “By adding Translate to our Video Lifecycle Solution, we not only raise the bar for best-in-class capabilities, we tap the potential of the broadcaster of tomorrow.” – Bob Toohey (president of Verizon Digital Media Services).

Translate is a step forward that brings improvement to the way that ads are inserted and allows for the replacement of linear ads with digitally inserted ads that are specified to different target audiences, making advertising more relevant to the interests of different individuals [6].

Translate also allows viewers to create their own replacement rules for restricted program content, providing an easy way for broadcasters to make sure the right audience it receiving the right content at the right time [7].

“As TV viewing habits change at whirlwind speeds, Verizon Digital Media Services gives Disney/ABC Television Group a next-generation video platform that provides a world-class viewing experience.” – Vince Roberts (chief technology officer and executive vice president of global operations for Disney/ABC Television Group) [6].

Disney Channel in Canada

A new announcement was just made on April 16^th that brings the Disney Channel to Canada.

Corus Entertainment Inc., a leading media and entertainment company in Canada, just announced that Disney Channel’s content will be available in Canada in both English and French. Through a multi-year licensing agreement with Disney/ABC Television Group, Corus has acquired the rights to Disney Channel’s content starting on September 1, 2015.

Another part of the multi-year deal includes simultaneous streaming and video-on-demand rights for certain programs. With this capability, the Canadian Disney Channel allows fans to watch shows at their convenience and brings them ad-supported video.

“With an extensive roster of exceptional content to tap into, we look forward to delivering the full Disney Channel experience to families across the country. This deal underscores our commitment to provide Canadians with the highest quality content from around the world and reinforces our position as Canada’s market leader in kids and family-focused offerings.” – Doug Murphy (President and Chief Executive Officer of Corus Entertainment) [8].

Bringing Disney Channel and all of its content to Canada is expected to yield great benefit and profit to both Disney/ABC Television Group as well as Corus Entertainment. Disney channel is the top-performing destination for kids aged six to fourteen in the United States and with the network reaching over 96 million U.S. homes in the United States, statistics of the same caliber are expected to reach Canada [8].

 Future:

Group’s Top Digital Exec. Will Step Down

Albert Cheng, executive vice president and chief product officer of digital media has announced that he is stepping down. He has controlled Disney/ABC Television’s digital initiatives for more than a decade and now feels that he has achieved his goals and it is time to step down. One of the biggest goals he achieved was making the group’s programming available on numerous digital platforms. He stepped into the business before video streaming was a huge deal and is stepping down at a time where digital distribution has changed the television world.

“Through the strategic and diligent work done by (Cheng) and the talented digital media team, Disney/ABC has evolved itself from a traditional television business into a vibrant, fully integrated, future-focused company with a digital-first mindset and a reputation for smart and bold risk-taking.” – Ben Sherwood (President of Disney/ABC Group) [11].

Sources:

[1] Disney/ABC Television Group Image Retrieved April 17, 2015

[2] Company Overview Retrieved April 17, 2015

[3] The Walt Disney Company Retrieved April 17, 2015

[4] ABC And Yahoo Expand Infotainment Cross-Promotion Deal Retrieved April 17, 2015

[5] Deal With DISH Retrieved April 17, 2015

[6] Verizon Cloud Software Retrieved April 17, 2015

[7] Verizon Cloud Software (2) Retrieved April 17, 2015

[8] Corus and Disney/ABC Television Agree to Deal Retrieved April 17, 2015

[9] Disney/ABC Competitors Retrieved April 17, 2015

[10] Financial Reports Retrieved April 17, 2015

[11] Albert Cheng to Step Down Retrieved April 17, 2015

[12] Ben Sherwood Retrieved April 17, 2015

[13] Tom Ascheim Retrieved April 17, 2015

[14] John Skipper Retrieved April 17, 2015

[15] Yahoo Image Retrieved April 17, 2015

[16] DISH Network Retrieved April 17, 2015