The election is over, but ABC is exploring the possibility of a new 24-hour digital news channel.
Our distribution tipsters say that some months ago, ABC owner Disney has been looking into such a news service channel, though it wouldn’t launch until next year.
ABC used to have its own stand-alone news channel, ABC News Now, which it rolled together with Univision’s Fusion.
But when ABC exited the Fusion joint venture, it left the network without a stand-alone channel, just at a time when other outlets were recording sky-high ratings thanks to the election.
Our sources say ABC News chief James Goldston is spearheading the effort, and is bullish on it given the election bump from recent Facebook live experiments.
Before anything can launch, Disney boss Bob Iger needs to head for talks with Altice, since the Mouse House’s deal with the big cable operator is said to be up in early 2017.
Altice, which acquired Cablevision last year, has been making noises about keeping the lid on programming costs, and talks with Disney will be the first major test of its negotiating abilities