AT&T, Comcast, Disney CEOs Possible Pay-TV Captains Through Industry Changes: S&P
AT&T's Randall Stephenson, Comcast's Brian Roberts and Disney's Bob Iger could potentially be the media company CEO who leads the industry through coming turbulent changes, S&P Global reported Monday to investors. It said the chief previously most likely to fill…
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that role was Time Warner's Jeff Bewkes, but AT&T's buy of TW ended that. S&P said while all three are from "old school" companies, new media company executives seem more interested "in disrupting the established order than leading it." It said AT&T, Comcast and Disney are pursuing acquisition strategies to significantly expand their brands, geographic reach and content. The ratings firm said Comcast has yet to fully spell out its proposed future as a media giant. It said Disney could be most disruptive depending on how fast it delinks ESPN from the traditional pay-TV ecosystem, while despite little experience with content, AT&T has an "ambitious global media agenda." The firm said scale is key to media survival, and with those companies having made sizable moves, the rest of the industry should follow.