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More Changes Coming to Disney, Company Looks for Outside Help to Make ESPN “More Compelling”

ESPN Chief Jimmy Pitaro dropped some surprising news about the Disney subsidiary in a recent event with CNBC.

The winds of change are a-blowing at the Walt Disney Company! From the restructuring and layoffs that made headlines at the beginning of the year to the recent theme park updates, a lot has changed in the House of Mouse. Most recently, the ESPN Chief, Jimmy Pitaro, shared news about what fans can expect from the Walt Disney Company sports subsidiary.

ESPN Logo
ESPN logo / Credit: ESPN

Disney is In Talks with Potential Partners for ESPN

Jimmy Pitaro spoke at an event on Tuesday sponsored by CNBC and Boardroom, and one of the primary takeaways from the event was that the Walt Disney Company is looking for a “strategic partner” for the sports network 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 at the event when asked to elaborate on previous comments made by Disney CEO Bob Iger in a recent CNBC interview with David Faber.

disney movies release
Disney CEO Bob Iger / Credit: Loren Javier, Flickr

Pitaro added further context, “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.”

As reported by The Hollywood Reporter, Pitaro dodged questions about who, in particular, Disney was considering, although CNBC shared last week that the House of Mouse has been in talks with the NBA and the NFL network about partnership deals.

Magic Kingdom Disney World
Mickey Mouse and Friends at Magic Kingdom Park, Walt Disney World Resort / Credit: Disney

While Pitaro included content in his list of items that Disney was looking for in a strategic partnership, he elaborated further on the subject.

“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 commented. “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.”

Stay tuned to Disney Fanatic for the latest Disney news.

Priyanka Kumar

Priyanka is a writer, artist, avid reader, and travel enthusiast based in Chicago. In her free time, she is probably walking by the lake, catching up on the latest releases on TV, or spending inordinate amounts of time rewatching Moana, Encanto, and her Disney Channel life-long favorites Zack and Cody wreak havoc on the Tipton.

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