ABC could possibly leave the Disney family

[dragonflies]

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6294LU20100310

Disney chief executive officer Bob Iger told shareholders Wednesday that he was keeping his options open when it to ABC, even possibly spinning the network off from Disney, Reuters reports.

ABC has come under scrutiny lately, specifically in its news division. The network recently cut 300 to 400 jobs from its news division, as part of a larger focus to regain viewers lost to the Internet.

Iger noted that he is satisfied with ABC and its assets currently, but avoided getting locked in to saying that he'd never remove ABC from Disney.

"There are no guarantees in terms of what will remain part of our company and what will not," he said.

Analysts quoted by Reuters said Iger wasn't necessarily signaling at anything immediately drastic in terms of ABC, especially in the wake of a fight with Cablevision over retransmission fees for ABC.

The squabble blacked out ABC on Cablevision customers TVs in New York City a majority of Sunday, and even blacked out the first 15 minutes of the Oscars before a last-minute deal was struck.

[bellcurve]

What would this mean for SOAPnet, which is(despite the decline in recent years) a huge part of the ABC Network(because of the repurposing of soaps? Would they sell part or all of it to SONY or to the new owner?

ABC leaving Disney would be very interesting.

[DRW50]

I'm sure there are still plenty of Being Erica and Bank of Real Belle's Bumcrack episodes left.

[dragonflies]

Hey Iger, get rid of Frons and that frees up ALOT of money

[Cat]

See, this is where Iger & co are setting themselves up for an EPIC FAIL. There is no way to turn back the tide of viewers turning to the internet. That march is unstoppable.

It figures that after NBC's mega-implosion the last couple years, the next network to start having the fever shakes would be ABC. Lucky for ABC they don't have that dickwad Jeff Zucker running things.

Les Moonves, you're next!

I would welcome an ABC bereft of Disney's influence (loved it when the network was run by Capital Cities) but without Disney's film-making resources, a Disney-less ABC would probably make a lot less of those glossy high-end dramas. And that is ABC's bread-and-butter right now.

[bellcurve]

Pretty much word to everything here.

But Les Moonves' network has always skewed older, even when his shows were doing well in the male 18-49(on Monday nights) and in the female demographic. It's just the way it goes. Not to say that he won't suffer from similar issues, but I think his shows are safe because his older viewing auds don't have the patience or energy to try to watch their shows online or to torrent them.

And Moonves, unlike the dickwads at ABC, is smart enough to realize when to cut losses and what to expand on. ABC is learning the hard way. Their Sunday nights are suffering because both of their marquee shows(Housewives/Brothers and Sisters) are practically the same. I hated Grey's for taking the Boston Legal timeslot(and because it was generally a suckass show), but at least Grey's was comparatively different from Housewives than Brothers and Sisters. Both shows are a creative nightmare.

[Cat]

Les Moonves and CBS are still delaying the inevitable, though. Eventually, the viewership for the CSIs and Criminal Minds and other cornerstone police procedurals will fade to the point where it worries advertisers. The network will have to flail around looking for new shows that draw in audiences. CBS News, I am sure, is already feeling the same pinch hitting ABC and NBC news divisions (shame -- I grew up with the trustworthy Tom Brokaws, Peter Jennings and Dan Rathers of the medium).

I hear ya about Housewives and B&S. And Grey's, too. I feel like I have outgrown these shows. Housewives is the only one that I still DVR and that's out of habit. I want to support them because this programming ostensibly appeals to my taste for glossy Primetime soaps. But maybe my taste is changing, LOL. I can't stomach the cutesy, isn't-this-funny musical cues anymore or the cringeworthy Emmy-compatable monologues (Izzy on Grey's comes to mind). Perhaps Ugly Betty's cancellation was a sign that the wheel was turning on the genre.

[Ryan Chamberlain]

I would love to have ABC out of Disney's reign.

Like another poster said. The channel was so much better when it was owned by Capital Cities. All my favorite ABC sitcoms come from that era (Perfect Strangers, Anything But Love, Head of the Class, Full House) and the soaps were so much better back then. They all had great writers and their own identities. I would love to see this happen! For sure!