Disney in Talks to Sell E! Stake for $1.2 Billion to Comcast: LAT

Disney is in talks to sell its stake in the E! cable TV network to Comcast for $1.2 billion and it is close to signing multi-billion dollar deals to provide content to Comcast and Time Warner Cable, the two biggest cable companies, the Los Angeles Times reports today. Whether there are any digital implications isn’t clear The negotiations have been going on for years and cover a wide range of issues, including the license fees Disney will charge for ESPN, the Disney Channel and its other networks.” the report says. “Comcast already pays Disney about $1 billion a year in fees for the basic-cable channels…Time Warner, about half the size of Comcast, which has 21 million subscribers, pays substantially less. The deals are important because they would increase Disney’s financial predictability and would set precedents for what it can expect to charge other cable firms around the country.”