ABC MAY Leave the Disney Family!

[Brian Damage]

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6294LU20100310

Disney chief executive officer Bob Iger told shareholders Wednesday that he was keeping his options open when it to ABC, even possibly spinning the network off from Disney, Reuters reports.

ABC has come under scrutiny lately, specifically in its news division. The network recently cut 300 to 400 jobs from its news division, as part of a larger focus to regain viewers lost to the Internet.

Iger noted that he is satisfied with ABC and its assets currently, but avoided getting locked in to saying that he'd never remove ABC from Disney.

"There are no guarantees in terms of what will remain part of our company and what will not," he said.

Analysts quoted by Reuters said Iger wasn't necessarily signaling at anything immediately drastic in terms of ABC, especially in the wake of a fight with Cablevision over retransmission fees for ABC.

The squabble blacked out ABC on Cablevision customers TVs in New York City a majority of Sunday, and even blacked out the first 15 minutes of the Oscars before a last-minute deal was struck.