Needham: Disney Should Scrap ABC, Stream Content

Walt Disney should shut down the ABC network rather than sell it and transfer the channel's content to its streaming platforms to lower regulatory risks and unlock higher valuation, brokerage Needham wrote in a client note Tuesday. The recent "FCC intervention has made owning broadcasting licenses too expensive and too volatile for DIS shareholders, in our view," the brokerage said. Disney's decision to take Kimmel's show off the air last week added fuel to the debate of free speech in America amid conservative uproar around the late-night host's comments surrounding...