Is Disney Selling the ABC Network to a Dallas Media Group? It's Possible

Disney CEO Bob Iger ain't having the greatest year. Well, compared to most people, he's probably having a great year, making ridiculous amounts of money — but Iger's also in the middle of a huge writer and actors' strike that doesn't show any signs of progress.

He's not helping the matter by opening his big mouth and saying stuff about the people on strike like, "There’s a level of expectation that they have, that is just not realistic," referring to demands like a living wage in exchange for professional work and not giving companies the right to use artificial intelligence to steal people's physical identities and do shoddy work for free.

Then there's his Marvel Economic Universe, where Marvel's visual effects team have unanimously voted to form a union, which couldn't be worse news for the CEO of an unchecked media monopoly. Oh, and the subscriber totals for the company's streaming service Disney+ are showing a Disney-minus that's dragging the whole streaming operation to a net loss.

So it's downsizing time in ol' Disneyland — the metaphorical land of the Disney company, not the theme park; the latter is one of the few things Disney has that's actually turning a profit. Instead, Iger is looking at sectors such as Disney's longtime ownership of the ABC television network, and this could actually have a benefit on our backyard.

Several outlets, including Reuters, Bloomberg News and The New York Post, have confirmed from inside sources that Iger is talking with Nexstar Media Group, the Irving company that owns channels such as The CW, AntennaTV, NewsNation and 200 local broadcast stations including KDAF The CW 33, to see if the company are willing to add ABC to its lineup.

So far, the discussions are reportedly about exploring the possibilities of Disney selling off ABC, which the Mouse House has owned since 1995, when former Disney CEO Michael Eisner bought the company for $19 billion, according to news archives.

Nexstar isn't the only party that wants a piece or the whole ABC pie. The same reports state that entertainer and media entrepreneur Byron Allen is also interested in the deal and has already submitted a $10 billion offer.

The news of ABC's sale isn't a surprise, given the rise in viewers of streaming services like Netflix and HBO Max that have changed the entire television money-making model away from traditional networks and even cable networks. Iger told Reuters in July that Disney might sell off some of its TV properties, like ABC, that "may not be core to Disney." So far, the deal won't include the cable sports network ESPN, which came with Eisner's 1996 deal.

No one at Nexstar has publicly confirmed the talks with Iger, and a Disney spokesperson said in a statement that reports of ABC's possible sale are "unfounded."

There are probably a bunch of good and bad ramifications to having the corporate entity of a major television network, even a terrestrial one, in our neck of the woods that we can't even fathom yet because it's barely in the discussion stage. If it did happen though, there are tons of pluses. It could help rebuild Dallas' attractiveness as a hub for TV projects that are already in the works with projects like the renovation of South Side Studios.

And, man, it would be great to know that Glenn Beck's network is no longer the biggest television operator in our jurisdiction.