ESPN Held Talks with NBA, MLB About Partnerships

Walt Disney Co.’s ESPN has held discussions with major sports leagues about selling them a minority stake in the network, according to Bloomberg citing people familiar with the matter.

ESPN held talks with the National Basketball Association and Major League Baseball, according to the people, who asked not to be identified discussing an internal matter. Network officials raised the idea in negotiations with the NBA over renewing its media rights, one person said.

The sports broadcaster has also held talks with the National Football League about becoming a minority investor, according to CNBC, which first reported the discussions earlier Friday.

The talks follow the disclosure last week by Disney Chief Executive Officer Bob Iger that he is looking for a strategic partner for ESPN and and that other broadcast businesses — channels like ABC and NatGeo — may no longer be core assets.

Disney isn’t willing to sell all of ESPN, Iger told CNBC last week, but he said “we are going to be open-minded” while “looking for strategic partners who can either help us with distribution or content.”

ESPN has been in business with sports leagues for years as a broadcaster. Disney owns 80% of ESPN, while Hearst Corp. owns 20%.

Like other TV channels, ESPN is struggling with the decline of cable-TV subscribers as more consumers embrace streaming. Last month, the network laid off about 20 on-air employees. That came after a previous round of layoffs in April focused on behind-the-scenes employees.

In the coming months, Disney plans to begin breaking out ESPN’s quarterly results for the first time, putting the business under Wall Street’s microscope.