Item 1A. Risk Factors
ITEM 1A. Risk Factors
For an enterprise as large and complex as the Company, a wide range of factors could materially affect future developments and performance. In addition to the factors affecting specific business operations identified in connection with the description of these operations and the financial results of these operations elsewhere in our filings with the SEC, the most significant factors affecting our business include the factors discussed in our 2025 Annual Report on Form 10-K under Item 1A, “Risk Factors” as updated below:
RISKS RELATED TO OUR BUSINESSES AND INDUSTRY
We face risks related to the renewal of long-term programming or distribution contracts on sufficiently favorable terms.
We enter into long-term contracts for both the acquisition and the distribution of media programming and products, including contracts for the acquisition of programming rights for sporting events and other programs, and contracts for the distribution of our programming to content distributors. As these contracts expire, we renew or renegotiate the contracts, which from time to time has led to service blackouts when distribution contracts expired before renewal terms were agreed. We may lose programming rights or distribution rights if we are unable to renew these contracts on acceptable terms. Renewal negotiations with certain MVPDs for distribution contracts scheduled to expire in fiscal 2026 could lead to temporary or longer-term service blackouts, negatively impacting our results of operations. For example, in the first quarter of fiscal 2026, the Company’s channels were temporarily removed from YouTube TV following the expiration of the parties’ distribution contract without agreement on renewal terms. Further, our portfolio of acquired programming rights, such as sporting events, and the distributors of our programming and the portfolio of programming rights our distributors acquire have changed and will continue to change over time. Even if these contracts are renewed, the cost of obtaining certain programming rights has increased and may continue to increase (or increase at faster rates than our historical experience) and programming distributors demand terms (including with respect to the pricing for, and the nature and amount of, programming distributed) that reduce our revenue from distribution of programs or increase revenue at slower rates than our historical experience. For example, the terms of certain renewals of carriage agreements have included fewer of our linear networks or the opportunity to offer multiple genre-specific bundle options of fewer than all our linear networks while providing for certain of our DTC streaming services to be made available to the distributor’s subscribers. Moreover, our ability to renew these contracts on favorable terms is affected by a number of factors, such as consolidation in the market for program distribution and the entrance of new participants in the market for distribution of content on digital platforms. With respect to the acquisition of programming rights, particularly sports programming rights, the impact of these long-term contracts on our results over the term of the contracts depends on a number of factors, including the strength of advertising markets, subscription levels and programming rights costs increases, effectiveness of marketing efforts and the size of viewer audiences. There can be no assurance that revenues from programming based on these rights will exceed the cost of the rights plus the other costs of producing and distributing the programming.
The seasonality of certain of our businesses and timing of certain of our product offerings could exacerbate negative impacts on our operations.
Each of our businesses is normally subject to seasonal variations and variations in connection with the timing of our product offerings. See our 2025 Annual Report on Form 10-K under Item 1 – ENTERTAINMENT – Competition and Seasonality; – SPORTS – Competition and Seasonality; and – EXPERIENCES – Competition and Seasonality and Part 1, Item 2 – SEASONALITY in this Form 10-Q for a discussion of seasonal and other timing variations, as well as certain other fluctuations, on our results of operations. Further, negative impacts on our business occurring during a time of typical high seasonal demand, such as our park closures due to hurricane damage during the summer travel season or other high seasons or sports league work stoppages during that sports season, could have a disproportionate effect on the results of that business for the year.
RISKS RELATED TO INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, LITIGATION, CYBERSECURITY AND REGULATORY REQUIREMENTS
We face risks related to the intellectual property rights that we hold as well as rights asserted by third parties.
The value to us of our IP is dependent on the scope and duration of our rights as defined by applicable laws in the U.S. and abroad and the manner in which those laws are construed. Where those laws are drafted or interpreted in ways that limit the
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extent or duration of our rights, or if existing laws are changed, our ability to generate revenue from our IP may decrease, or the cost of obtaining and maintaining rights may increase.
In the United States and countries that look to the United States copyright term when shorter than their own, the copyright term for early works and the specific early versions of characters depicted in those works expires at the end of the 95th calendar year after the date the copyright was originally secured in the United States. The terms of some copyrights for IP related to some of our products and services have expired, and other copyrights will expire in the future. For example, the copyright term for the short film Steamboat Willie (1928) and early versions of characters depicted in this film have expired. As copyrights expire, we expect that revenues generated from such IP will be negatively impacted to some extent.
The unauthorized use of our IP typically increases our costs, including in connection with our efforts to protect rights in our IP, and may reduce our revenues. The convergence of computing, communications and entertainment devices, increased broadband internet speed and penetration, increased availability and speed of mobile data transmission and increasingly sophisticated attempts to obtain unauthorized access to data systems have made the unauthorized digital copying and distribution of our films, television productions and other creative works easier and faster and protection and the enforcement of IP rights more challenging. The unauthorized distribution and access to entertainment content generally continues to be a significant challenge for IP rights holders. Further, the availability of certain AI tools has facilitated the creation of infringing works based on the unauthorized use of our IP. Inadequate laws or weak enforcement mechanisms to protect entertainment industry IP in one country can adversely affect the results of the Company’s operations worldwide, despite the Company’s efforts to protect its IP rights. Distribution innovations have increased opportunities to access content in unauthorized ways. Additionally, negative economic conditions or a shift in government priorities or policies could lead to less enforcement. These developments require us to devote substantial resources to protecting our IP against unlicensed use and present the risk of increased losses of revenue as a result of unlicensed distribution of our content and other commercial misuses of our IP. The legal landscape for some new technologies, including some AI tools, remains uncertain, and development of the law or other regulatory frameworks in this area could impact our ability to protect against unauthorized uses.
With respect to IP developed by the Company and rights acquired by the Company from others, the Company is subject to the risk of challenges to our copyright, trademark and patent rights by third parties. In addition, the availability of copyright protection and other legal protections for IP generated by certain new technologies, such as generative AI, is uncertain. Successful challenges to our rights in IP typically result in increased costs for obtaining rights or the loss of the opportunity to earn revenue from or utilize the IP that is the subject of challenged rights.
The Company is also subject to the risk of claims and litigation asserting that the Company is infringing certain third-party IP rights. Technological changes in industries in which the Company operates and extensive patent coverage in those areas increase the risk of such claims being brought and prevailing. For example, the Company’s streaming services and technology are subject to patent infringement claims and litigation both in the United States and outside the United States. In defending such matters, we have developed, and may in the future develop, alternatives to features, functionalities and services in the relevant jurisdictions or more broadly, which increase our costs through investment of engineering and other resources and may result in some customers discontinuing use of our services. Adverse results in these matters and other matters asserting infringement of other types of third-party IP rights may include substantial payments by us, including royalties, licensing fees or monetary awards, and orders preventing us from offering or requiring us to change certain features, functionalities or services, which could harm our businesses and in aggregate negatively impact our results of operations.
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Text extracted from the filing as submitted to EDGAR. Formatting, tables and exhibits are simplified for reading; the original document is authoritative for anything you rely on.