Media

TV execs welcome broadband tv packages

Disney chief financial officer, Jay Rasulo, would welcome the prospect of a virtual cable operator as another outlet to sell the “package” of Disney channels.

Speaking at the same UBS media conference yesterday, Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman, predicted that 2014 would be the year that the industry sees a single operator begin to deliver a national package of TV channels via broadband.

Rasulo said: “I think the virtual MVPD (multichannel video program distributor) is coming and we would certainly be happy to license our content. They’d have to buy the package of services we sell…We’d be happy to have another entrant.”

Still the Disney boss mounted a strong defense for the current TV system, which sees Disney take the biggest slice of fees for its programming bundle, including top tier ESPN at $5 a month per household.

Rasulo said the firm expected to reap $500 million from retransmission fees that distributors must pay to ABC stations in order to carry the rest of Disney’s package.

“This [current] system is the most valuable way it can be offered. What you get for extended basic for $75 is 100 channels of high quality programming. When you think about the alternative structures they’re simply not consumer friendly.”

Rasulo said current operators had done a good job of offering consumers more services.

When asked about the biggest technological change roiling the industry, Rasulo told investors that mobile was undoubtedly the most important shift. He noted that in markets like India, mobile phones might be the first, not a second screen for millions of households. Though he added the industry still hadn’t figured out a way to fully monetize mobile viewing.

While Disney is partially selling mobile products such as its “Watch app,” there is still no industry standard for it. “We have tried a couple of pilot programs with ratings agencies, as of yet we have not arrived at a vehicle for them to cover it, but there is going to be demand to it measured objectively,” he said.