Three powerhouses in sports programing are coming together in a united front in a single streaming channel. While the group is trying to frame it as a mastermind decision, I view it as an act of desperation.
Disney has been hurting all the way around. Iger has been doing everything he can to paint a good picture. He made significant job cuts. He upped his prices. He pressured his operating folks (like Jack Welch) to post good numbers.
Disney’s latest movies tanked. Their parks have gone from nickle and diming their customers to dollar and five dollaring their customers. They cut people that they were already paying next to nothing to.
So, now they are teaming up with historical powerhouses Fox and Warner Brothers to combine their efforts stream sports. All these players paid through the nose to the billionaires who own sports franchises to be able to show their sports in their streaming packages. Without uniting together, they would have embeded huge losses based upon the lucrative contracts the sports franchises negotiated. Without passing the high costs through to the streaming subscribers, they would have to eat the costs themselves.
Can anyone say collusion or anti-trust? Don't worry. Since the billionaires have congress and the "political elite" in their back pockets, there will be no fear of anti-trust action.
Believe me, these three are hurting and like banks hightly invested in commercial real estate loans are hiding the real pain.
