Disney looking to play the digital game as ESPN’s cable subscriptions decline

Disney doesn’t appear to have plans in place for its future leadership yet, so there’s speculation that CEO Robert Iger may need to stick around beyond 2018 — the latest date he said he’d step down. The company has had trouble finding a replacement as the landscape of cable TV continues to change and cord cutting erodes viewership. That digital future is something that may well come up when Disney announces earnings today. For example, there are questions about just what that future might look like for Disney’s ESPN, which has seen its subscriptions decline recently. Could Disney’s purchase of a significant stake in Major League Baseball’s streaming media BAMTech give ESPN the muscle it needs to compete in the digital arena?

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