According to CNBC via Deadline Hollywood, an insider trading lawsuit has revealed that Disney may be selling ABC.

Disney Close to Selling ABC, According To Insider Trading Lawsuit'

An insider trading arrest may hold clues to Disney’s plans for selling ABC. A potential sale had been rumored for awhile and as recently as March Disney CEO Bob Iger said that “there are no guarantees in terms of what will remain part of our company and what will not” when asked whether Disney will sell the broadcast network. But now a criminal complaint and a SEC civil suit stemming from the Wednesday arrest of a Disney employee by the FBI in Los Angeles alleges such plans may be more advanced than previously thought. According to a CNBC report, the legal complaints state that Bonnie Hoxie, secretary to the head of Disney's corporate communications, and her boyfriend Yonni Sebbag, allegedly offered hedge funds information about Disney's quarterly earnings report, due out in May. The most intriguing part of the couple's claims: that Iger was in "serious and advanced negotiations" with two private equity firms to sell ABC. According to CNBC, the two were arrested after attempting to sell the information to undercover FBI agents, for which they allegedly accepted a $15,000 payment. As for ABC itself, it’s expected to go for $6-$7 billion if put on the market.

http://www.deadline.com/2010/05/disney-close-to-selling-abc-according-to-insider-trading-lawsuit/#more-43865

So if Disney were to sell ABC, what would it mean for the ABC soaps?

I mean, if I buy a company today, surely announcing changes tomorrow is bad.

On 12th May you're appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer, on 24th May you annouce £6.2bn cuts. That's good.

If a company is loosing money, you need to do something. And not like Comcast wait. It's been six months. More than enough to announce the changes. Going back to your old business model (primetime dramas instead of Leno) isn't really... Anything. Of course, I'm talking about thought-out changes, with a clearly outlined business plan. Not change for change's sake.

You say, investors have no idea who Brian Frons is. So if we replace him, who's going to notice?

Government and business are apples and oranges, big organizations, but not comparable. Government is about 'action' while publicly traded companies are about 'clearly thought out business plans for growth and success'. Government changes for changes sake whether it needs to or not because it's based on ideology.

Comcast is simply trying to restore NBC to what it was prior to the Leno decimation and it needs to do that in order to please its affiliates.

Whose going to notice that Brian Frons is gone? The executives who are above him and the board of directors who will be able to say "Whew, we fired that underpreformer Brian Frons who made mismanagement decisions left and right". That's always been what's bothered me about campaigns to oust executives, they don't give a [!@#$%^&*] about the fans, they only care about the money. Whoever takes over ABC will clearly see that daytime is leaking money like a pasta strainer and guess whose holding that strainer: Chef Frons.

Government and business are apples and oranges

Not really, no.

Comcast is simply trying to restore NBC to what it was prior to the Leno decimation and it needs to do that in order to please its affiliates.

It's doing a lousy job so far. It's still a swamp it always was.

Whose going to notice that Brian Frons is gone? The executives who are above him and the board of directors who will be able to say "Whew, we fired that underpreformer Brian Frons who made mismanagement decisions left and right". That's always been what's bothered me about campaigns to oust executives, they don't give a [!@#$%^&*] about the fans, they only care about the money. Whoever takes over ABC will clearly see that daytime is leaking money like a pasta strainer and guess whose holding that strainer: Chef Frons.

I'm saying: we can fire Frons and it won't affect our shares and stock value because no one knows who Frons is. You... Misunderstood or something. If no one knows, great. Because then we can do whatever we want to do in that department. So that's a quick change, doable, no one's gonna notice. You say.

Damn, y'all are getting deep. Okay I'm not a big money investor of anybody and I'm not even sure how to pronounce "Exchequer" but here are my thoughts as somebody who's worked at media companies when they get sold.

Any bean counter is going to look at ABCD and see it's been bleeding for years for a LOT of reasons. The new company could decide to wipe out the soaps but I wager that wouldn't be one of their top priorities. Better to fire Frons and install a manager they know and trust to staunch the bleeding while they focus on other hotter divisions.

I'm saying: we can fire Frons and it won't affect our shares and stock value because no one knows who Frons is. You... Misunderstood or something. If no one knows, great. Because then we can do whatever we want to do in that department. So that's a quick change, doable, no one's gonna notice. You say.

I did misunderstand, your tone often has a questioning quality to it, so I meant to answer you.

Certainly, a change with Frons could be done swiftly because it would not be evident and quite frankly daytime does not factor a lot of money into ABC's bottom line. It's a big change in terms of CEO, Head of Development and the lineup that would be impactful. Canceling the whole daytime soap lineup would be big, but depending how it's spun, it could still work.

But these changes aren't done quickly simply because it takes the accountants (take a bow KPMG, Price Waterhouse or whomever!) a while to make reports.

Damn, y'all are getting deep. Okay I'm not a big money investor of anybody and I'm not even sure how to pronounce "Exchequer" but here are my thoughts as somebody who's worked at media companies when they get sold.

Any bean counter is going to look at ABCD and see it's been bleeding for years for a LOT of reasons. The new company could decide to wipe out the soaps but I wager that wouldn't be one of their top priorities. Better to fire Frons and install a manager they know and trust to staunch the bleeding while they focus on other hotter divisions.

You pronounce it Ex-Check-Er

And you're absolutely right about what would happen with ABCD.

You pronounce it Ex-Check-Er

And you're absolutely right about what would happen with ABCD.

Haha! Thank you! That's how I was pronouncing it in my head but I've been burned by British pronunciation before. Case in point: "Derbyshire". With my luck it would be Ex-Sheck-Ay

It's... Fun to provoke DaytimeFan (not nastily, just fuelling courteous discussion). One finds out stuff.

Haha! Thank you! That's how I was pronouncing it in my head but I've been burned by British pronunciation before. Case in point: "Derbyshire". With my luck it would be Ex-Sheck-Ay

LOL! Then this is made for you:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_names_in_English_with_counterintuitive_pronunciations#Place_names_in_Britain_and_Ireland

Did anybody read a article in the NYTimes (Online) about Disney to replace SOAPnet? It can be found here. Feel free to start a new topic if neccessary. I didn't know where toput it.

It won't be for another 18 months but its still getting some soap fans up in arms.

I did a double take on this little piece in the article...

Although ABC remains committed to its soaps (“General Hospital,” “All My Children”), other broadcasters have been moving away from the genre, limiting the amount of product available for SOAPnet.

I wonder if its an oversight of the author or something else altogether.

I'll be sad to miss the soaps at night because of work during the day.

It's no surprise that Soapnet is no more. The only thing that surprises me is that they are replacing it with Disney Jr. not making it a full out women's network.

Agreed because I don't think Disney or Nick need anymore channels to showcase what the others already have. But I have to wonder are they not doing it because of the others Lifetime, Lifetime Movie Network, Oxygen, We, and the upcoming OWN network. There could be more Women geared networks that I forgot to name.

Sell ABC, Disney, sell it!