Apparently, Disney is in talks about selling ABC and Disney Channel

ABC, Disney Channel, and Freeform are the linear channels of Disney. Recently, the CEO of the company Bob Iger stated that Disney’s linear channels might not be moving forward with the company. The statement was made during the Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference in Sun Valley, Idaho. The official shared his thoughts with CNBC.

Even if Iger doesn’t say it out loud, it sounds like he is implying that such channels might be sold. In addition to this, the CEO mentioned the increase in cord-cutting and admitted that linear television segment is no-growth business. Although when it comes to the sports category it is a different scenario. Sports channel holds a large fan base. Given the broadcast nature of sports channels, the category stands out as compared to remaining standard TV programming.

Disney might introduce a separate ESPN streaming service

Besides this, the CEO shared that the company is in talks with some strategic partners regarding the launch of a separate direct-to-consumer (DTC) streaming service. The streaming service will be related to the ESPN family of networks. The heads of Disney and ESPN are considering the potential of collaborating by placing all of ESPN’s programming under one label.

Such discussions are going on for quite some time now. However, they have now ramped up in the past few months. Back in February, Iger claimed that the company was not ready to take that big step. However, it has been reported that Disney has been attempting to renegotiate carriage agreements with cable and satellite providers in order to make ESPN fully streamable.