Disney loses ground on news of ESPN slide

ESPN’s declining subscriber base — down seven million in two years — is presenting owner Walt Disney Co. with tough choices.

The company said late Wednesday in an annual regulatory filing that its flagship ESPN sports channel lost three million subscribers in the latest fiscal year, finishing with 92 million, according to estimates from Nielsen. Other Disney networks also registered declines.

If Disney, the world’s largest entertainment company, can’t halt or slow the decline at its flagship sports network, subscriber and advertising dollars will shrink and undermine the company’s single largest source of profit. Disney fell 3 per cent to $115.13 at the close in New York Friday, dragging down other media stocks in the first trading day after the regulatory filing. They were are up 22 per cent this year.