Hollywood Reporter: ESPN Chief Says Disney Looking for Partners That Can Make Sports Brand “More Compelling”

Story from Hollywood Reporter:

Yes, Disney is talking to potential partners for ESPN, but the company intends to be strategic about who it chooses to work with.

That was one of the key takeaways from ESPN chief Jimmy Pitaro, who spoke at an event Tuesday sponsored by CNBC and Boardroom.

Pitaro was asked about comments by his boss, Disney CEO Bob Iger, who indicated in an interview with CNBC July 13 that the company was interested in finding a “strategic partner” for ESPN.

“We are going to be making our flagship channels available direct to consumer. And yes as a part of that we are interested in partners. Partners that we think can make the flagship product more compelling,” Pitaro said. “And so we’re looking at things like distribution, technology, marketing, and content and yeah, Bob and I have had conversations, we’ve been having conversations. It’s early, but we’ve both been very pleased by what I’ll call a healthy level of interest in ESPN.”

Pitaro dodged when asked about what partners in particular would make sense for ESPN, though CNBC reported last week that the company had held discussions with the NBA and NFL about partnership deals. The leagues, if given an equity stake in ESPN, might be able to contribute in the form of content, be it rights or other forms of media.

“I will emphasize the fact that we believe that there are parties out there that can help us on the content side. And so you can draw whatever conclusions you want from that,” Pitaro said. “But, you know, my priority is when we do launch flagship channels directly to the consumer a la carte, that the content proposition is as compelling as it can be.”

ESPN, of course, is facing long-term challenges as the traditional pay TV bundle declines. Pitaro repeated a common refrain from Iger in recent months, namely that ESPN will go direct-to-consumer eventually, but it wants to balance that future with the lucrative present, with the company pulling in billions of dollars annually in carriage fees from cable and satellite companies.

“We are obviously very aware of what’s happening in the traditional television world. And that business model has been very good to ESPN and the Walt Disney Company,” Pitaro said. “At the same time., Bob and I have been clear that taking our channels, our flagship channels direct to consumer is a when, it’s not if.”

Pitaro added that “when we do that it’ll be in parallel with the traditional world,” suggesting that a direct-to-consumer ESPN will not necessarily mean the end of ESPN’s linear offerings.