Mike Florio ,
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Two weeks into a corporate tug-of-war that has millions of consumers caught in the middle, a top executive with one of the two companies has made it clear that there are no immediate plans to release the rope.
“ We’re ready to go as long as they want to ,” Disney CFO Hugh Johnston said Thursday in a quarterly earnings call, via Sports Business Journal .
“They” is YouTube TV. Which owned by Google. Which is owned by Alphabet, a multi- trillion -dollar company.
Disney CEO Bog Iger attempted to justify his company’s intransigence during the call.
“The deal we have proposed is equal to or better than what other large distributors have already agreed to,” Iger said. “We are not trying to break any new ground. While we have been working tirelessly to close this deal and restore our content to their platform, it is imperative that we make sure we agree to a deal that reflects the value that we deliver, which both YouTube and Alphabet have told us is greater than the value of any other provider. The offer that is on the table is commencing with details that were already struck with distributors larger than they are.”
Are they really “working tirelessly”? Or is this just a staring contest? “Working tirelessly” would entail (as we’ve said since the outset of the fight) going into a room, locking the door, and staying until a deal gets done.
Per SBJ , Morgan Stanley believes Disney is losing close to $4 million per day during the absence of its channels from YouTube TV. It’s also been estimated that ESPN is losing 15 percent of its audience for Monday Night Football , college football, and College GameDay .
Johnston added that Disney is “picking up some [revenue] by consumers moving to other services.”
And the consumers continue to get the short straw. We’re the ones who have to find other ways to get content we already paid for. (A $20 credit is available, but you have to go claim it. And you should .)
They don’t care about us, plain and simple. We’re the limitless pawns in their power play. Eventually, one side or the other will blink.
That’s no way to do business, not by companies that genuinely care about their customers. These two don’t even care enough to pretend they do.
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