By Gavin Boyle
As Disney continues to distance itself from the dying linear TV business, it laid off several hundred employees working in marketing, TV publicity, casting and development and corporate financial operations.
“We continually evaluate ways to invest in our business and more effectively manage our resources and costs to fuel the state-of-the-art creativity and innovation that consumers value and expect from Disney,” the company said last September when announcing it would lay off 7,000 employees by the end of summer 2025. “As part of this ongoing optimization work, we have been reviewing the cost structure for our corporate-level functions and have determined there are ways for them to operate more efficiently.”
Though Disney remains one of the most successful entertainment companies around, traditional players in the industry have been facing immense hardships in the years since the pandemic as viewer tendencies have shifted, while production costs have skyrocketed. Moreover, multiple one-off events such as 2023’s dual strikes and January 2025’s Palisade fires have further complicated business and forced cost-cutting measures.
While Disney continues to hold onto its linear TV assets, the company has made it clear that its focus moving forward is streaming.
“We actually are at a point where the linear networks at our company are not a burden at all. They’re actually an asset,” Disney CEO Bob Iger said in February. “We are programming them, and we are funding them at levels that actually give us the ability to enhance our overall television business that obviously includes and leans into streaming, which, let’s face it, is really the future of the television business.”
Other legacy companies have made a similar shift, with Comcast and Warner Bros. Discovery even creating offshoot companies to take control of the linear TV assets to protect the larger business if they go under.
“The spin-off looks little like others of its kind. The new Comcast company won’t be loaded down with debt like rival Warner Bros. Discovery,” Comcast executives told Variety last November. “Its managers are veterans, including new CEO Mark Lazarus, who has held senior operating TV roles for years. And Comcast expects the new entity to be an acquirer of assets.”
Even as it cuts its workforce to save money, Disney plans to launch a new streaming service in the near future, offering sport fans a first-of-its-kind experience through a streaming service only offering live sports. This further highlights how the company is shifting its focus towards streaming, even as it struggles in other areas.
Related: Is Disney Happy With its Linear TV?
ESPN will soon reveal the name of its upcoming DTC platform, which has long been referred to “Flagship.”
The company plans to do so ahead of next week’s upfront presentation.https://t.co/X82z9Do3gM pic.twitter.com/JMFuhYEmUS
— Sports Business Journal (@SBJ) May 7, 2025
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