When Walt Disney Co. (DIS) - Get Report  CEO Bob Iger talks, analysts study the tea leaves. Such was the case Thursday, Sept. 7, when Iger said earnings for the company's fiscal 2017 would be "in line" with its performance a year earlier.

That translates into net income falling short of Wall Street expectations. While Iger was quick to say Florida hurricanes including Irma would affect theme park results, investors were thinking in bigger terms. So when Comcast Corp. (CMCSA) - Get Report told the same Bank of America Merrill Lynch media conference that it expected to lose as many as 150,000 subscribers this quarter, investors guessed that something more is at play that just hurricane fallout.

It's more likely, Barclays Capital analyst Kannan Venkateshwar wrote on Friday, that Disney is experiencing yet another steep quarterly decline in cable TV subscribers, a trend that falls disproportionately hard on its sports superstation, ESPN.

"This would be the worst third-quarter video [subscriber] trend in six years and follows a weak second-quarter video sub performance," Venkateshwar said.

Yet while ESPN is under pressure, Iger is doubling down on the network, investing billions of dollars in a direct-to-consumer streaming service slated for early 2018 and a second standalone Disney-branded film and TV service platform, which isn't expected until late 2019. ESPN, meanwhile, continues to weigh on Disney stock: Shares have dropped 7.1% this year, compared with a 10.1% gain by the benchmark S&P 500 index.  

Disney stock was down 0.3% to $96.80 on Friday afternoon, a day after dropping 4.4%. Comcast shares were off 2.3% on Friday afternoon to $37.70 after plunging 6.2% on Thursday.

The question of ESPN's future prompts the question as to whether Iger would sell the massive network that in past years was responsible for more than 50% of the company's net income. ESPN's subscriber rolls have dropped to around 87 million from a peak of more than 100 million in 2011, according to Nielsen NV. ESPN also suffered the second-worst season for its flagship "Monday Night Football" during the 2016 season as ratings suffered across the league.

The network is in the midst of a full-scale programming makeover, a transition that prompted more than 100 layoffs of on-air reporters, editors and other editorial talent over the spring. ESPN is clearly an operation in transition.

Billionaire media mogul John Malone, who is anything but sentimental, mused back in November that Disney should indeed consider selling ESPN, arguing that it has become a drag on its finances and stock price. Moreover, Disney's films, theme parks and consumer products have a global reach, whereas ESPN's appeal is largely domestic.

Malone, who has never owned a media property he wouldn't consider selling, argued that Disney's rationale for keeping ESPN is getting harder to justify, given that it has less relevance to the rest of the company's operations.

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"If I had to guess, what you will see is a split of Disney with ESPN spun off and, probably, ESPN could be owned and protected by a distributor in the U.S.," Malone told CNBC. Malone, of course, is one of those distributors, holding a substantial position in Charter Communications Inc. (CHTR) - Get Report , which acquired Time Warner Cable Inc. in 2016. 

Such a sale or spinoff would leave an entity similar to the original Disney, the company before its acquisition in 1996 of Capital Cities/ABC Inc., owner at the time of ESPN. Iger came to Disney as part of that deal, a transaction executed by his predecessor, Michael Eisner. More recently, Iger has scoffed at speculation that Disney would ever sell its most valuable individual asset. 

Having set aside plans to retire in 2018, Iger unloading ESPN would be an admission that he had failed to integrate the TV business into the rest of the company. Disney's decision to invest $2.6 billion in a controlling stake in BAMTech LLC, the streaming technology business launched by Major League Baseball, is further evidence that he has no plans to sell his sports network, despite its shrinking reach. Iger served as president of ABC Television and later operating chief of Capital Cities/ABC before the sale to Disney.

It's also important to appreciate that for the sports leagues that are ESPN's lifeblood, the network has particular appeal because Disney also owns a broadcast network. While ESPN carries dozens of NBA games each season, for example, its championship finals run on ABC. College football games air on both ESPN and ABC, with the College Football Playoff on ESPN.

Much speculation has pointed to Apple Inc. (AAPL) - Get Reportbuying Disney and spinning off the theme park business. Steve Jobs' widow, Laurene Powell Jobs, remains one of Disney's largest shareholders, with a position of roughly 4%.

CEO Tim Cook has said Apple needs to diversify its revenue streams away from hardware, and the company had a $261.3 billion pile of cash and securities as of July 1. Owning TV networks and film studios probably appeals to Apple given that it already owns the distribution channels and is ramping up its creation of original content for its Apple Music subscription service.

Netflix Inc. (NFLX) - Get Report would finally have a genuine rival.

Still, Apple historically has shied away from giant deals, with its largest to date the $2.2 billion acquisition of high-end headphone maker Beats Electronics LLC in 2014. In addition, even though Disney's TV networks continue to be a drag on its earnings and investor sentiment, ESPN remains a valuable brand, and Iger has shown no signs of wanting to sell it. 

A Disney representative declined comment. An Apple representative could not immediately be reached for comment.

Comcast and Apple are holdings in Jim Cramer's Action Alerts PLUS Charitable Trust Portfolio. Want to be alerted before Cramer and the AAP team buy or sell CMCSA and AAPL? Learn more now.

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