LAS VEGAS — ESPN’s decision to offer an over-the-top option with Sling fits squarely in parent company Disney’s long-held approach of experimenting with new distribution. The company was one of the first content providers to offer TV shows on iTunes back in 2005, says Jay Rasulo, Senior Executive VP and Chief Financial Officer at Walt Disney, in an interview with Beet.TV at the Consumer Electronic Show in Las Vegas.
“We have a strong philosophy of how we do deals outside of the MVPD ecosystem. We do them short-term, in a non-exclusive fashion and we want to be paid for our product. We are eager to experiment in new forms of distribution,” he explains, adding that now Disney content can be found on iTunes, Netflix and other outlets.
Beyond TV, Disney’s corporate priorities this year are on opening Shanghai Disneyland and the release of Star Wars in December, he says. For more insight into Disney’s focus this year, check out this video interview.
We spoke with him at CES after his session moderated by Wenda Harris Mallard, COO of MediaLink.
Beet.TV coverage of CES 2015 is sponsored by Adobe Primetime. Find all our coverage here.
