A Mouseful
Add Disney [DIS] pres Bob Iger to those believing broadcast and cable should be subject to the same indecency regulations. "It’s all TV," Iger told a Deutsche Bank conference Tues. "It should be regulated as one or not regulated at all. .. I’d prefer no regulation." — Iger said there’s no timeline for ESPN to begin talks with the NFL. Covering the full NFL season has "paid off handsomely" for Bristol, he said. "I’m not suggesting that ESPN wants to do without the NFL, but it could survive without it," he added. "The priority is to extend the agreement." — Cox’s [COX] Jim Robbins feels good about the upfronts. "Cable clearly has got more eyeballs than broadcast … [and it’s] closing the gap between eyeballs and dollars every single year," Robbins says. Over time, he thinks cable programmers’ good fortunes will flow down to the local cable advertising business. "I have a window as to what goes on at Discovery … and I know for a fact that the Discovery upfront has been very nice this year." — Mediacom [MCCC] CFO Mark Stephan reiterates the MSO is working to offer VoIP by year-end, adding that the company’s trying to settle on a provider. "The more we wait, the more enhanced the arrangements can be, but we have to cut the negotiations and get a good deal and get things moving," he says.