Disney Would Welcome Broadband TV Packages

Jay Rasulo

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, according to The NY Post.

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.

When asked about the biggest technological change roiling the industry, Rasulo told investors that mobile was undoubtedly the most important shift.

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