The Walt Disney Company (DIS): Exclusive Licensing, Theme Parks & Other Reasons To Be Bullish

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5. Sports and mobile

Disney’s ESPN unit is attempting to enable users to watch games and highlights directly on their smartphones. The company is reportedly in talks with at least one major U.S. carrier. Once a deal gets a green light, it would be a true breakthrough for mobile users and the entire industry.

There are about 46 million digital users of ESPN, of which 15 million access content directly through mobile devices. The company’s mobile usage has been growing rapidly, its average users per day has more than tripled in the last three years.

6. Superiority over peers

Time Warner Inc (NYSE:TWX) is one of The Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS)’s most important rivals and is also a well-diversified company. However, Time Warner Inc (NYSE:TWX) is planning to spin off its magazine business and focus on its core business. The deal will free up resources to avenue into more lucrative units, as the magazine unit is one of the worst-performing segments for Time Warner Inc (NYSE:TWX). Besides, I believe that Disney’s is better positioned than Time Warner given it strong cash flows, which ensure the company would be able to retain its dividend-paying track record and potentially look for a dividend hike this year, while the same cannot be said about Time Warner with much confidence.

News Corp (NASDAQ:NWSA) is also a well-diversified global media company operating in cable network programming, filmed entertainment, television, direct broadcast satellite television and publishing fields. News Corp (NASDAQ:NWSA) is more of a media company while Disney is close to a conglomerate with its highly diversified businesses.

The Foolish bottom line
The “war” between the two rivals has escalated due to the battle over the sports media giant, ESPN. Recently, the two companies have been engaged in a bidding war to buy the video-streaming service Hulu.  According to Bloomberg, The Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) prefers an advertising-focused business model, while News Corp. would like Hulu to rely on subscriptions.  If Disney wins the battle over Hulu along with its exclusive agreement with Netflix, it is going to dominate the online viewing field.

The article 6 Reasons You Should Buy This Entertainment Stock Now originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Yaniv Hirsch.

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