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...COMCAST This cable operator owns a modest amount of television programming, including E! Entertainment Television, the Style Network, the Golf Channel, Outdoor Life Network, Comcast SportsNet and CN8--Comcast Network...
ESPN is certainly an MVP at Disney. The company turned the sports network into a 300-lb. fullback that relentlessly pounded cable-system operators with price increases--some 20% annually over the past five years. Because the inclusion of ESPN in the basic package is essential to any self-respecting cable operator, cable companies have been furious over the beating they have been taking from Eisner & Co. but helpless against it. "Disney is trying to use the leverage they have with ESPN to make up for all the other businesses that may be troubled at this time," complained Pat Esser...
...Warren Buffett has said he likes businesses that are like a castle with a big moat around it," says Burke. "ESPN is a great castle with a very big moat." ESPN's Sunday Night Football is the top-rated show on ad-supported cable, and the network just completed its eighth straight quarter of ratings growth. The brand has also expanded into publishing, radio and even restaurants...
...merger expert at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology: "Comcast shareholders will not let the company give up this power. They will say, 'What the heck, are we running a charity shop?'" Plus, ESPN may need to maximize revenues to keep pace with its escalating cost of rights fees; the network is the first to air all four major professional sports simultaneously...
ESPN employees are counting on Comcast to be less synergy minded than the Mouse. They bristle at promoting Disney movies on their jock network, even though cross promotion is standard operating procedure at media conglomerates (and ESPN certainly isn't shy about endlessly pushing its programs, such as the X Games). But there is one part of Disney they want to retain, says an ESPN worker: "I just hope they keep our free theme-park passes...