Portsmouth chairman Michael Eisner looks on prior to the Sky Bet League One match between Portsmouth and Northampton Town at Fratton Park on December 30, 2017 in Portsmouth, England. (Photo by Pete Norton/Getty Images)
As chairman and CEO of the Walt Disney Company, Michael Eisner oversaw the acquisition of ABC/ESPN. He then started an investment firm, Tornante Company, whose portfolio includes an independent digital video studio, Vuguru. Last year, he purchased Portsmouth FC, an English soccer club.
Through this variety of experiences, Eisner has become immersed in sports broadcasting rights and, in particular, the power of digital video.
“If a team in the third division in English football is being streamed to 166 countries,” Eisner said, “the world is changing.”
Eisner spoke to SportTechie on the red carpet prior to the Sports Business Awards, where he received a lifetime achievement honor. He is bullish on the power of streaming as a complementary technology that will not fully replace cable. He pointed to the history of video and the industry’s fears with each new rollout: TV didn’t supplant movies, home video didn’t kill cable, DVDs didn’t either, and nor will streaming eliminate cable.
“The fact of the matter is, one and one here adds up to three because you’re not going to lose cable,” Eisner said. “You’re not going to lose broadcasting. And streaming is additive.
“So, yes, you may not have 110 million subscribers to ESPN on cable, so maybe it’ll go down a little bit, but you’re going to pick up a lot of customers on having cut the cord. So the two together add up to a bigger business. One is not going to replace the other, just like television diminished movies.”
His former company, Disney, purchased a controlling interest in digital streaming company BAM Tech last year, and ESPN recently released its OTT product, ESPN+.
“I grew up with [ABC Sports president] Roone Arledge creating stop-motion instant replay,” he said. “I saw [president] George Bodenheimer at ESPN put in the yellow line [for first downs]. All of these technologies have made sports better, and the new technologies are making it even better. For instant replay, for officiating, for people interfacing with the team in the stadium on Wifi—all of these things only enhance it. They don’t diminish it.”
