Disney fires Chapek, brings Iger out of retirement

Funny, this thread has me doing an unplanned treasure hunt of the things I have in storage in our basement. Found a great stockpile of cds, tapes, and walkman that still works that the 11-year old is currently rocking.

This thread had me buy some digital movies that were missing from my collection.

Best Buy had a post Christmas Sale on movies. I know own the Back to the Future Trilogy in 4K and was pleased to see Back to the Future: The Ride is one of the bonus features. Also picked up the 4K Star Trek Kalvin Timeline and Inglorious Bastards.

Maybe the 8 month bump is appropriate?

Neat read regarding the two CEO's and the dynamics going on within. After reading seems like neither of them should be in charge anymore and someone fresh should have been selected.

Disney’s wildest ride: Iger, Chapek and the making of an epic succession mess

That feature has some great reporting. Really worth the (long) read.

I haven't had a chance to read it (dang ad blocker at work), but it has been pushed hard in Twitter and Facebook ads this week.

One of the biggest take-aways in that story for me was communicating. We’ve become a world so worried about what others think (ie. niceties) versus being honest and direct, that it’s hurting us in many ways. Are we all really that fragile now that we have to play “nice” games?

Honesty and empathy are not mutually exclusive. That you have to be a dick to be successful is a myth.

The irony of course is that while being 'nice' to his face Iger was being a total dick to Chapek behind his back. Between the revelations of his behavior in this article (many of which were rumored but are now fact in the court of public opinion) and his disastrous takes on the ongoing strikes I feel like Iger's reputation is tarnished if not all but ruined.

If he pulls them out of the disintegration of linear TV into profitability with direct to consumer, his reputation will be diamond-crusted gold.

He already saved the company by his early commitment to Disney+. The cost of new shows and movies may have been high, but from the start he didn't make the streaming an also-ran. He made it the premium thing. It's like the opposite of what print media mostly did with the web, making it essentially a value-add instead of the thing. Peacock, Paramount, they're mostly crap and back-catalogs because they don't want to cannibalize the linear TV. Disney probably did cannibalize their own TV, but if your incumbent business is inevitably going to be disrupted, you might as well be the disrupter.

And I don't think his personality matters in the long run either. He took the company from princess stories to add LucasFilm, Marvel and 20th Century, all under one roof.

From my perspective, D+ is not the replacement for Disney's linear TV. It's the replacement for (or an augmentation of) film and their home video sales, whether DVD or digital.

The real money-maker at Disney for linear is not Disney Channel/ABC. It has been ESPN. Sports is pretty much the last thing that large audiences feel the need to watch live--in other words, the last reason why people will watch commercials rather than record and skip over them. ESPN gets about $9 per cable subscriber per month--whether they watch it or not--by far the most expensive channel in any cable bundle.

But, the ESPN linear revenues have been slowly strangled by cord cutters while at the same time sports rights fees have skyrocketed. The Charter/Disney spat is close to an existential question for ESPN as a linear channel (and maybe cable bundles at all). And Iger has been talking about (a) making ESPN purely DTC and (b) getting a partner (or two) for distribution and/or content. That's a difficult dance.

Most analysts believe a DTC-exclusive version of ESPN is going to have to pull about $30/month per subscriber to break even vs. current carriage fees--and I'm not sure how many people are going to pay that.

That's my take on Disney+ too. The original series haven't been compelling enough for me to tune in for quite awhile. It's to the point that we won't be renewing when our year is up in November. I own most of the back catalog that I have any interest in. But at the same time that's true for our other services. We'll keep Peacock (free), Apple Tv (included with Apple One), and Netflix (drastically reduced price through T-Mobile).

I know I'm an anecdote but we cut the cord two years ago because we were sick of paying the regional sports fees. I haven't seen any games involving the Bulls, Blackhawks, Cubs, or White Sox in that time frame. I don't really miss it all that much. I'm perfectly content watching college football, the NFL, the NCAA basketball tourney, and the occasional Indy Car race.

Brian Noble:

Most analysts believe a DTC-exclusive version of ESPN is going to have to pull about $30/month per subscriber to break even vs. current carriage fees--and I'm not sure how many people are going to pay that.

If that's true (and I don't disagree), then carriage fees are obviously going to have to come down (or stop rising as fast) at some point, which would in turn mean that athletes are going to be paid less, and/or the cost of a sports franchise will drop.

I find the roles of CEOs in vast entertainment companies like this to be fascinating. I am never sure if it's an ego thing on the part of individuals that get to this level or if there is an expectation on Wall St or somewhere else that these guys should get involved in the detail in a way that no CEO I have ever worked with has.

In Iger's book he talks pretty openly about he would send JJ Abrams ideas for Star Wars etc.

In Jack Welch's (first) book, he talked about being a chemical engineer for 30 years and then all of a sudden GE buys NBC and he's choosing pilots for primetime.

I haven't read much from Eisner firsthand, but DisneyWar (great read) suggests that was his way too.

They almost make Kinzel look hands off.

I'm not sure the math is that high. You can get ESPN through some digital pipes now, including Sling (that's how I'm watching the US Open, one of two sportsballs that I like), and that's $40/month with the ESPN's, CNN, some of the Warner networks, the "basic cable" classics like TBS, TNT, Comedy Central, etc. I think that if Disney wants to go the streaming-only route, it has to talk the leagues into per-viewer fees, since that's apparently the model they're using for cable providers. No idea if they'd go for that, but it's conceivable that sports could price themselves out if they're not careful. In an a la carte world where non-sports fans aren't picking up part of the tab, as with cable, the whole cost structure changes.

Jeff:

Honesty and empathy are not mutually exclusive. That you have to be a dick to be successful is a myth.

Elon Musk would like a word. ;)

I think that's a different case. Being autistic, it's not that he doesn't have empathy, it's that he doesn't know how to use it. I can, wait for it, empathize. But my journey doesn't have endless cash to shield me from self-awareness. (Sidebar: Interested to read the new Isaacson bio. The Vance bio felt somewhere protective of him.)

I read "Power Play: Tesla, Elon Musk, and the Bet of the Century." It was not flattering of Elon, but it was the story of Tesla, not the story of Elon.

As a casual observer, I'm a car guy, not a business guy, he comes across as a massive A-hole. Certainly not someone I'd want as a boss. Fortunately, CEO's of large corporations rarely interact with their "cost units."