Walt Disney Co.

Walt Disney Co. CEO Robert Iger may stay at the company longer than expected if it buys major entertainment assets from 21st Century Fox. Iger had said he would retire from the Burbank entertainment giant when his deal there expires in 2019. The Disney board is expected to extend Iger’s contract so that he can oversee the integration of Fox properties with Disney, according to a person familiar with the matter who was not authorized to speak publicly.

Walt Disney Co. and 21st Century Fox are closing in on a deal and it could come as soon as next week, according to sources familiar with the matter. The enterprise value of the Fox assets in the deal is seen as more than $60 billion.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Walt Disney Co. has re-engaged in discussions with 21st Century Fox to purchase some of the media giant’s assets, and Comcast Corp. remains in the mix, with deal talks gaining momentum, according to people familiar with the situation. The talks center on the Twentieth Century Fox movie and TV studio and international assets. Fox News, the Fox broadcast network, the Fox O&Os and sports network FS1 aren’t expected to be sold. Journal subscribers can read the full story here.

A shareholder proposal calling for 21st Century Fox Inc to do away with its dual-class share structure was rejected on Wednesday, based on preliminary results announced at the media company’s annual meeting.

Journalists at the paper, in the middle of organizing a union, disagreed with the new editor’s call to lie low on social media.

Walt Disney Co.’s shares rose 3% on Friday, as Wall Street shrugged off poor financial results and focused instead on the media giant’s commitment to build a service that will compete aggressively with video streaming pioneer Netflix.

Walt Disney Co. reported a fiscal fourth-quarter profit of $1.75 billion, but its financial results fell below what analysts were expecting, sending the stock down 3% in after-hours trading. Within the unit’s broadcasting group, which includes ABC, operating income was down 15% to $229 million. In the cable networks group, home to ESPN, segment operating income declined 1% to $1.24 billion.

In a statement Tuesday, Disney said it was restoring access to the newspaper after “productive discussions with the newly installed leadership” at the Los Angeles Times. Disney had barred the Times from its screenings after the paper published a two-part investigative series on the company’s business dealings in Anaheim, Calif., where Disneyland is.

Personalities, egos and dollar signs never can be discounted when sizing up major media business maneuvers, but one motivation above all others led 21st Century Fox and Disney to the negotiating table: the rapidly shifting media landscape.

21st Century Fox has been holding off-and-on talks to sell most of the company to Walt Disney Co., leaving behind the broadcasting and sports assets, according to people familiar with the situation. The talks have taken place over the last few weeks and there is no certainty they will lead to a deal.

The editors of the Times said Friday that Disney declined access to its slate of films for the paper’s holiday film preview citing “unfair coverage” of its business ties with Anaheim.

Robert Iger, the 66-year-old chief executive of entertainment giant Walt Disney Co., is starting to find his voice on matters having nothing to do with PG-rated blockbusters or amusement park rides. And he is emerging as a credible contender in the 2020 presidential speculation game.

The cable service will pay more for ESPN and other Disney-owned networks under a tentative contract renewal. Disney shares rose $1.29 on Monday.

The prospect of TV channels going dark due to a standoff between a media conglomerate and an MVPD has become so commonplace in recent years that it barely registers anymore. And with less than 4% of Disney’s total TV reach coming through its New York-based cable TV footprint, Altice USA may not have loomed too large as challenges go for Bob Iger. But the implications of Disney reaching agreement on an affiliate-fee renewal Sunday after extended talks with Altice shouldn’t be easily ignored.

Cable operator Altice USA and Disney have reached “an agreement in principle” after days of tense contract talks. Talks between Altice and Disney went down to the wire Sunday afternoon against a 5 p.m. ET deadline for a new carriage agreement to avert a black out of ESPN, WABC-TV New York and other Disney-owned channels on Altice USA’s Optimum platform serving about 2.6 million New York-area subscribers.

Walt Disney Co. is facing a crucial test of the strength of its ESPN sports empire as a New York pay-TV provider is balking at the Burbank entertainment giant’s contract demands, setting the stage for a high-stakes showdown. Altice is refusing to meet Disney’s demands to carry ESPN and Disney’s entertainment channels, including ABC, saying Disney is asking for too much money, particularly for ESPN, which has been struggling with subscriber losses and ratings declines.

Disney and the cable company once known as Cablevision are at it again. The two companies, whose fractious carriage negotiations in 2010 resulted in viewers in New York and Connecticut missing 13 minutes of ABC’s broadcast of the Oscars awards ceremonies, are heading for an impasse in current discussions, according to Disney.

The head of the ABC O&Os has been named president of Disney International’s Europe, Middle East and Africa operations, effective Jan. 1, succeeding Diego Lerner and reporting to International Chairman Andy Bird. She will be stepping down from the station group, but no word on a replacement there.

Disney’s Star Wars and Marvel comic-book movies will be included in the upcoming service, making it the only way to stream those movies on demand in the U.S. as part of a monthly subscription. (So, not on Netflix.) A price hasn’t been announced yet. The service is expected in late 2019 after Disney’s current deal with Netflix expires.

Having suffered a string of legal defeats, VidAngel is hoping to have better luck in a Utah courtroom. On Thursday, VidAngel brought a lawsuit against a host of entertainment companies and is seeking declaratory relief that its streaming service that filters profanity, sex, violence and more from movies is permissible by law.

The company, led by Ben Sherwood, is aiming to reduce costs by 10 percent by the end of the fiscal year. The cutbacks could mean staff reductions and restructuring. However, a source says there is no specific headcount as plans for the possible cutbacks are still in the early planning stages. The group includes broadcast network ABC, as well as cable channels ESPN, Freeform, Disney Channel and Disney XD.

Hearst says it is donating $1 million to the Greater Houston Red Cross to aid in Harvey rescue and recovery efforts and will match employee donations up to an additional $1 million.The Walt Disney Co. and its Houston ABC O&O KTRK have pledged $1 million to the Red Cross for Harvey relief efforts and will also match, dollar for dollar, employee donations to the Red Cross and other organizations involved in Harvey relief.

The idea that content is king has long rested on the notion that distribution — in whatever form it takes — is a low-margin commodity, and the biggest share of profits flows to the creators of original programming, who can sell to the highest bidder. But as internet streaming disrupts channels like cable and broadcast, Disney now appears to have set its sights on distribution — and a potential new revenue source.

VidAngel, the self-touted family-friendly technology service that burst onto the Hollywood scene with a plan to clean up filthy language, nudity and violence from films and television shows, has suffered yet another blow. On Thursday, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed an injunction in a copyright lawsuit brought by Disney, Fox and Warner Bros.

Disney’s upcoming branded streaming service will likely be priced around $5 per month in order to drive wider adoption, according to MoffettNathanson analyst Michael Nathanson. He says that the new Disney streaming service and the upcoming ESPN services need clear distinctions. The ESPN service will likely test different prices as it prepares ESPN to be ready to go fully over-the-top, according to the report, but the Disney service is about building asset value instead of taking licensing money from SVOD deals.

Bob Iger’s plan to launch two streamers — one for family fare, another for ESPN — carries huge stakes for the media giant and the future of the cable bundle itself.

Disney’s announcement this week that it will launch two Internet-based streaming-TV services — one for sports and one for family fare — is a declaration of independence from cable and satellite companies that would have subscribers pay for hundreds of channels they may never watch.

The Walt Disney Co. finally unveiled its plan to offer an over-the-top video streaming edition of ESPN for the growing number of fans who want live sports — but not the big cable bill that a previous generation paid. Now the question is whether the revenue generated by the new service to be launched in 2018 will be enough to offset the subscriber dollars that go away every time a household decides it can do without cable.

Walt Disney Co’s shares fell 5% on Wednesday to their lowest in eight months as investors doubted whether the world’s biggest entertainment company can succeed with its plan to launch its own streaming services rather than rely on Netflix Inc to reach online viewers.

Disney’s creating its own streaming service for its central Disney and Pixar brands and another for live sports. That would allow it to bypass the cable companies it relies on — and Netflix — to charge consumers directly for access to its popular movies and sporting events. “They’re bringing the future forward. What they talked about were things that looked inevitable, at some point,” said Pivotal Research Group analyst Brian Weiser. (AP photo / Richard Drew)

Verizon Communications’ Lowell McAdam could be hiking the Sawtooth Mountains in Sun Valley next week, perhaps in search of his next deal now that the phone company closed its acquisition of Yahoo. One rumor making the rounds last week was that Verizon may be eyeing a Disney purchase. While that sounds fantastical, a well-placed banker says not to count Verizon out.

The Walt Disney Co. led all companies in Shareablee’s U.S. Media 100 Index measuring social media interactions. According to the firm’s numbers for May, Disney chalked up 327.6 million consumer interactions, making up 10.5% of total engagement within the media industry in the U.S. The results showed that Disney also logged 33% growth in content shares and 22% growth in video views.

Disney chairman and CEO Robert Iger sold $83.8 million in Disney stock between Wednesday and Friday of last week, according to an SEC filing. After exercising some options, Iger’s pre-tax net proceeds from the sale comes out to be more like $69.3 million.

Walt Disney Co. reported an 11% jump in profit in its second fiscal quarter, boosted by several hit films and growth in its theme parks operation. But the company’s closely watched media networks unit, which includes ESPN, had a tough quarter. Operating income fell 3% to $2.2 billion, which the company attributed in part to higher programming costs and subscriber losses during a period of upheaval in the television business.

CBS and Fox networks have the best multiyear investor outlook, Wall Street research firm MoffettNathanson said in a report for investors today. The report noted that the viewership trends for media companies in the first quarter of 2017 will historically be seen as some of the weakest numbers ever. But the media sector was still “a strong out-performer in the first 100 days of the year,” and MoffettNathanson’s research team raised its EPS estimates for Viacom, 21st Century Fox and Time Warner.

The CEO has now re-upped his contract until July 2, 2019, amid concerns among industry observers that there is no heir apparent within the company’s executive ranks.

The 1990s TV show Home Improvement starring Tim Allen made more than a billion dollars, and now an appeals court has ensured that producers will get a chance to fight over Disney’s conduct related to participation statements.

“I don’t believe my membership in that group in any way endorses or supports any specific policy of the president or his administration,” Disney CEO Bob Iger told shareholders.