• by Wayne Friedman , 2 hours ago

Walt Disney’s domestic linear TV ad businesses -- including ABC Television Network and its TV stations -- sank 10% in its most recent reporting quarterly period ending June 28.

The exception was ESPN, and all its sports programming, which witnessed advertising revenue growth of 3%; Disney did not disclose further domestic TV advertising financial details.

A decline in affiliate revenue contributed to overall domestic linear TV revenue, which fell 4% to $2.05 billion. Operating income nosedived 14% to $587 million.

Globally, sports revenue sank 5% to $4.3 billion in revenue. Higher programming and production costs in the U.S. pushed operating income down 7%.

Disney direct-to-consumer businesses revenue was 6% higher to $6.2 billion.

Globally, Disney+ and Hulu went 2.6 million higher with subscriptions to 183 million. For its part, the company’s core Disney+ business grew 1.8 million versus the previous quarterly period.

DTC advertising was down 7%. But taking out the troubled Star India business issues, Brian Wieser, media analyst of the substack publication, Madison And Wall, estimates growth of around 2%.

Operating DTC income grew rapidly and firmly into positive territory --- now $346 million versus $19 million net loss a year ago.

Disney sees sharply higher total Disney+ and Hulu subscriptions in the next quarterly period -- up 10 million, this coming from an expanded domestic distribution deal with Charter Communications.

Additionally, Disney said Hulu will be fully Disney+ incorporated into Disney+, with Hulu eventually phased out as a separate streaming service in the U.S. by 2026.

However, Hulu will continue to remain as a brand, existing as a "tile" on the Disney+ programming screen page. Additionally Hulu + Live TV, the virtual internet-delivered pay TV network bundle will remain as a separate service.

Globally, Disney linear TV business lost 15% in revenue to $2.3 billion, with much of this coming from international linear TV (Star India, in particular) where revenue sank nearly 60% to $219 million.