The smoke surrounding a potential sale of ABC by Disney continues to rise.
Bloomberg reported Thursday that Disney has held preliminary talks with both Nexstar and media magnate Byron Allen about a potential sale of ABC and Disney’s owned-and-operated ABC affiliates. Nexstar, which purchased broadcast “netlet” The CW less than a year ago, is the nation’s largest station owner.
In response to the Bloomberg story, Disney said that it has made “no decision” about selling ABC or its other linear channels, but is “open to considering a variety of strategic options for our linear businesses.”
Disney CEO Bob Iger has been open about the company’s willingness to part ways with its linear channels, ESPN being a noted exception. In the event that Disney would sell ABC and keep ESPN, it is not clear how ESPN’s existing rights deals would be affected. ESPN’s NFL deal includes two Super Bowl games simulcast on both ESPN and ABC. Its NBA deal, which expires in two years, includes the NBA Finals on ABC every year.
There is not much recent precedent for what happens to sports rights when corporate siblings are separated. Disney’s 2018 acquisition of 21st Century Fox cable networks FX and FXX had little impact on sports coverage as most of Fox Sports’ cable programs aired on FS1 at the time of the sale.
When then-News Corporation sold Fox Family to Disney in 2001, the rebranded ABC Family inherited the network’s Major League Baseball rights and aired ESPN-produced games the following October.
Nexstar has been aggressive in trying to enter the live sports space, acquiring rights to LIV Golf, ACC football and — starting in 2025 — the NASCAR Xfinity Series. Acquiring ABC, which has a storied history of sports coverage wholly independent from both ESPN and Disney, would accelerate the company’s sports ambitions whether or not it acquired the sports properties ABC currently shares with ESPN.
Allen purchased The Weather Channel in 2018 and his Allen Media Group owns 36 television stations in 21 markets.
(News from Bloomberg 9.14)
