The air in the Disney boardroom probably isn’t great these days. Or at least, that’s the impression you get reading the latest reports.
The headline: Disney is reportedly hemorrhaging cash, some $30 million a week, because of the ongoing blackout on YouTube TV. The blackout, now in its second week, affects major channels like ABC and ESPN. Morgan Stanley, you know, those guys, are the ones crunching the numbers.
It’s a tough situation, really. The blackout began, as per reports, because of a dispute over distribution fees. Disney wants more money; YouTube TV, it seems, isn’t keen on paying it. And so, viewers suffer. The Mouse House suffers. Everyone kind of suffers, in a way.
The tricky part is the ripple effect. Beyond the direct loss of ad revenue, there’s the potential damage to Disney’s brand. People get frustrated when they can’t watch their favorite shows, their sports. That’s what I’m thinking, anyway.
“The longer this drags on, the more significant the impact will be,” a media analyst, I read, told Reuters. No name given, but the sentiment is clear. The longer this goes, the worse it gets.
And it’s not just about the money, of course. It’s about perception, about who has the power. Disney, a behemoth, versus Google, another giant. It’s hard to know who will blink first.
Remember the last big blackout? Feels like these disputes are becoming more common, honestly. The media landscape is shifting, and these standoffs, these battles over distribution, they feel like a symptom of something bigger.
The losses, as estimated by Morgan Stanley, are substantial. Thirty million dollars a week. That’s a lot of money, a lot of lost opportunities. Or maybe I’m misreading it.
Still, you have to wonder what’s going through the minds of the executives right now. The pressure, the negotiations, the public face. It’s a high-stakes game. And the game, as they say, is afoot.
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