Former Disney CEO Bob Chapek is back in front of a camera. This is the first time that Chapek has done a public interview since he was fired back in November 2022. The topic of the interview was ESPN and the strategic future that Disney has opted for. The interview was part of a wide-ranging documentary called “ESPN’s Fight for Dominance”.
Disney CEO Bob Iger has previously said that he will consider selling a minority stake in ESPN as it plans a roll out to a direct-to-consumer model. Chapek says that he would not bring on additional partners for ESPN.
Chapek said that while he was CEO, it would’ve been impossible to sell off ESPN because of all of the debt from the Fox acquisition and the COVID-19 pandemic. Chapek said that ESPN was a cash flow generator and they needed the cash.
Chapek was asked about Iger’s move to create a separate business silo for ESPN instead of keeping it under the old DMED structure. Chapek said that he believes that Disney will spin off ESPN and that putting it in its own financial bucket is a precursor to that move.
Chapek said that ESPN is the epicenter of sports and that the future of ESPN should be a clearinghouse of sorts, providing a single portal for consumers to find the game they’re looking for. Chapek uses the example of AppleTV.
When you search for a movie or show on AppleTV, you don’t necessarily care to open the Netflix or Disney+ app. Instead, AppleTV finds where you can stream the media and presents it to you. Chapek envisioned a similar future for ESPN. He says that you can’t purchase every single streaming right for all sports, but ESPN can be a centralized hub to find every game you might want to watch.
Chapek said that ESPN could then use “shoulder programming” on ESPN to talk about the game before or after to capture the viewer.
Chapek also talks about sports betting and fantasy sports. For a look at the full interview, check out CNBC’s video below.
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