News about television

ABC station owners are irritated that Disney is airing the Super Bowl across several platforms, including Disney+, ESPN2, NFL Network and ESPNU, even though the game is already on ABC and ESPN. A station group CEO estimates that the combined platforms could cut broadcast ad revenue by up to 35% compared with last year. Local affiliates typically earn about 3% of annual ad revenue from the Super Bowl and pay network owners reverse retransmission fees, but Disney+ lacks geofenced ad insertion, so affiliates cannot sell ads to streaming viewers. Disney says national commercials will be identical on all platforms and that streaming major live events is standard industry practice. Super Bowl LX drew 125.6 million viewers in February.