“We now expect Q2 DTC operating results to improve sequentially by approximately $200 million as improvements in the first quarter materialized more quickly than previously expected.”

In context

“as I have mentioned before, our expectations are built on certain assumptions around subscriber additions based on the attractiveness of our future content, churn expectations, the financial impact of the Disney+ ad tier and price increases, our ability to quickly execute on cost rationalization while preserving revenue and macroeconomic conditions, all of which, while based on extensive internal analysis as well as recent experience provide a layer of uncertainty in our outlook. We remain focused on showing incremental improvements in our DTC metrics, and we will continue to provide transparency into our progress and key drivers. In our prior earnings call, we noted that we expected the improvement in Q2 operating results at direct-to-consumer would be larger than the improvement in Q1. We now expect Q2 DTC operating results to improve sequentially by approximately $200 million as improvements in the first quarter materialized more quickly than previously expected. Additionally, our view on Q2 now incorporates more challenging addressable advertising headwinds. Moving on to linear networks, first quarter operating income decreased by approximately $240 million versus the prior year. Domestic channels operating income grew year-over-year but that growth was more than offset by decreases at international channels. The increase at domestic channels was due to higher results at cable, while broadcasting results were comparable to the prior year quarter. Higher cable results were driven by lower programming and production costs, partially offset by decreases in advertising and affiliate revenue. The decrease in programming and production costs reflect lower NFL and college football playoff or CFP rights costs. The decline in NFL rights expense reflects t”