Walt Disney Studios, for instance, released three runaway hits — “Avengers: Endgame,” “Aladdin” and “Toy Story 4” — and ESPN delivered increased profit as a result of higher advertising revenue and bigger fee payments from cable providers. Disney has reported a 51% fall in profits to $1.44bn for its first quarter after buying most of Fox for $71.3bn. Rising streaming costs were blamed and CEO Robert Iger said the period had been part of a “strategic transformation” at Disney as it cuts its dependence on declining cable channels. Developing new streaming platforms has been expensive, and the Disney division that includes streaming saw losses rise from $168m to $553m. The company said those losses would rise to $900m. Netflix is also facing pressure over how much money it makes off each subscriber.
Disney has reported a 51% fall in profits to $1.44bn for its first quarter after buying most of Fox for $71.3bn. Rising streaming costs were blamed and CEO Robert Iger said the period had been part of a “strategic transformation” at Disney as it cuts its dependence on declining cable channels. Developing new streaming platforms has been expensive, and the Disney division that includes streaming saw losses rise from $168m to $553m. The company said those losses would rise to $900m. Netflix is also facing pressure over how much money it makes off each subscriber.