Bob ANAHEIM, CA – AUGUST 15: The Walt Disney Company Chairman and CEO Bob Iger took part today in ‘Worlds, Galaxies, and Universes: Live Action at The Walt Disney Studios’ presentation at Disney’s D23 EXPO 2015 in Anaheim, Calif. (Photo by Jesse Grant/Getty Images for Disney)

The Walt Disney Company reported strong quarterly earnings on Thursday, which included seemingly good numbers for ESPN.

Despite fears and news of dwindling TV revenues, Disney reported earnings of $1.20 per share, exceeding projections of $1.14 and increasing by 35 percent over last year’s earnings of 89 cents per share. Overall revenue for the company also increased by seven percent over the past year to $52.5 billion, setting a record-high.

So how does this affect ESPN, which has been in major cost-cutting mode this year upon Disney’s wishes?

From Variety:

“ESPN experienced an increase in subscribers due to addition of a full quarter of the SEC Network, offering wall-to-wall coverage of athletics in the sports-crazed Southeastern Conference. The new channel launched in August 2014. But Disney also said it had experienced ‘a decline in subscribers at certain of our networks.'”

However, Disney CEO Bob Iger mentioning a “modest” drop in subscriptions for ESPN back in August resulted in a nine percent drop in stock value (eventually going down to $90 a share) and a major sell-off of Disney and other media stocks. When asked about that again on Thursday in light of its quarterly earnings report, Iger did not back down from those remarks.

“We don’t have anything to really add to the comments we made,” Iger said. “We feel bullish about ESPN and ESPN’s business.” More broadly, Iger said, Disney believes it is well positioned to capture audiences via traditional cable bundles or new web-based delivery systems. “There is not only a silver lining but a glass half-full perspective on this,” he said.

In the wake of laying off more than 300 employees, do Disney executives view ESPN as a weakened asset, one in need of further cuts and overhauls? That wasn’t the company line on Thursday, with Variety‘s James Rainey reporting that the company feels ESPN’s portfolio of live sports rights and other signature programming has made the network “stronger than ever.”

Given high expectations for Star Wars: The Force Awakens and its expected windfall for the company with all the toys, games and theme parks that come with the movie’s release, maybe ESPN should consider incorporating more Star Wars-related programming into its coverage, as it did three weeks ago by playing a new trailer for the Dec. 18 film during halftime of Monday Night Football. Even ESPN could use some of The Force’s help. How about Neil Everett and Stan Verrett dressed up as Han Solo and Chewbacca?

[Variety]

About Ian Casselberry

Ian is a writer, editor, and podcaster. You can find his work at Awful Announcing and The Comeback. He's written for Sports Illustrated, Yahoo Sports, MLive, Bleacher Report, and SB Nation.