‘Can’t Cry Over Spilled Milk,’ Says Disney CEO Iger on Failed Bid to Land Sky

Direct-to-consumer content delivery continues to be one of Disney’s “top priorities,” said CEO Bob Iger on a Thursday earnings call. More than a million subscribe to ESPN Plus, and “we continue to see impressive growth,” he said. That “bodes very well” for Disney’s overall direct-to-consumer ambitions, including the Disney Plus-branded service to launch late 2019, he said. The company will give “a first look at Disney Plus, along with some of the content we're creating for it," at an investor conference in April, he said. “You can't cry over spilled milk,” said Iger about Disney’s failed bid to land Sky, which went to Comcast. “We would have loved to have had Sky, both because we believe in the asset and we thought it could have helped us in terms of introducing a direct-to-consumer service in the European market.” Disney still plans to launch Disney Plus in Europe, he said: Without Sky, it’s possible “it takes us a little bit longer to penetrate some of these markets.”