Long known as the ‘Worldwide Leader in Sports,’ ESPN is grappling with cord-cutting, rising rights fees and skepticism from Wall Street.The publicly traded stocks of station group owners Nexstar, E.W. Scripps and Tegna all saw significant declines in their price since Iger’s remarks. All three were trading significantly higher on Thursday after the Bloomberg report about sale talks with Disney circulated.
Disney’s eight television stations would enhance Nexstar’s portfolio as they have the top-rated local newscasts in several of the country’s top markets including Los Angeles , New York and Philadelphia . The stations reach 23% of the U.S. Any deal to sell ABC to Nexstar would likely face significant regulatory hurdles because Nexstar is already at the Federal Communications Commission’s cap for station coverage in the U.S. after its deal four years ago to buy Tribune stations.
conference Wednesday that the company is interested in acquiring assets, pointing out that that was how the company grew into a giant. Carter then cited Disney as a possible seller.Carter said a deal for Disney’s stations would only require a few divestitures in order to keep the company in line with federal TV ownership regulations. Station owners are limited to stations that cover 39% of the U.S., and Nexstar is already there.