ESPN's subscriber losses, first revealed in the August 2015 earnings call, kicked off a period of panicked, reckless consolidation across the entire traditional media landscape.

(03:01:08) >> Yeah. Now, market cap isn't everything, but it is a measure of what the investment community believes your company's cash flows are worth in the extreme long run. So, we're not here saying, you know, Disney's revenues been flat or profits been flat, although we we'll get to all that. But what we are saying is 11 years ago, people thought Disney's future was exactly as bright in the form of future

(03:01:35) cash flows that they believe today. >> Yep. Well, we're about to talk about what happens to the whole rest of the traditional media landscape after this earnings call. >> Yeah. Disney managed to stay independent. >> Yeah. Yeah. So, that moment kicks off I really don't know how to say it other than the most insane period of panicked frenzy in media landscape history. I mean, maybe in any industry's history.

(03:02:08) Basically, everyone in the TV and film landscape decides all at once that they need to take dramatic action to respond to cord cutting and the rise of streaming. So, over the next couple years, Time Warner sells itself to AT&T. AT&T changes its mind, spins out Time Warner, [laughter] which then merges with Discovery. Viacom remerges with CBS, but none of those brands are any good. So, they decide to

(03:02:40) name themselves Paramount after the studio that they own. Paramount almost collapses under its debt load and David and Larry Ellison. Yes, of course, that Larry Ellison buy it and merge it into Sky Dance Media. So, it becomes Sky Dance Paramount, >> which is the thing that David Ellison kind of founded and runs. >> Yep. And then of course this all culminates in what's happening here real time here in 2026 where Warner Brothers