- On the Walt Disney (NYSE:DIS) earnings call, following the company's Q2 miss, CEO Bob Iger shied away from talking financials and confined his remarks mainly to the $71B Fox asset deal and Disney's streaming plans.
- Disney's branded direct-to-consumer service is on track for a late-2019 launch, he said, noting he's encouraged by data showing many consumers are members of three different subscription video on demand products, with most having more traditional pay-TV subscriptions of some kind. Consumers are making "their own personalized mix of content," he says.
- As for the Fox (FOX, FOXA) deal, "we're obviously thrilled with the results of the shareholder vote," he says -- about 10 minutes of voting secured approval from both companies shareholders -- and he looks forward to boosting Disney's international growth with Fox's portfolio (notably mentioning Sky (OTCQX:SKYAY), currently sitting on a higher bid from Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA)).
- CFO Christine McCarthy noted the company would be suspending buybacks of shares until there's an improvement in its credit rating.
- Pressed by analysts about competing with Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) with their nascent "Disneyflix" streaming offering, Iger says Disney's product "does not have to have anything close to the volume that Netflix has, because of the value of the brand." The price of the service will reflect the lower volume of content vs. a Netflix as well, he says.
- And asked whether speed of getting the service out (and not letting the market pass Disney by) matters more than getting it right: "We don't see a rush" because of the market's development, Iger says. "The only place to get original Disney, Star Wars product is this app, so whenever we launch, it will be attractive."
- Disney shares have trimmed postmarket losses after the call and are now down just 1%.
- Now read: The Right Way To Value Netflix (Victor Dergunov)
Original article