“For Q4, we expect this business to generate operating losses up to $100 million worse than last year's fourth quarter.”

In context

“rofitability by the end of fiscal 2024, we don't necessarily expect the progress to be linear each quarter as the impacts of the transformative work we are doing take time to realize. We expect to see more meaningful improvement in our D2C losses by middle of fiscal 2024. These expectations and plans remain subject to all of the risks and assumptions we previously identified and are noting here today, which will require close and ongoing assessment. But we remain encouraged by the early results we've already realized and are optimistic about our path ahead. Moving on to our content sales line of business. Operating results declined by a little over $200 million versus the prior year. Lower results in the third quarter versus the prior year were due to lower TV/SVOD and theatrical results. For Q4, we expect this business to generate operating losses up to $100 million worse than last year's fourth quarter. And at Linear Networks, operating income declined versus the prior year by $580 million driven by declines at both domestic and international channels. The decrease at domestic channels was driven by lower advertising and affiliate revenue and by higher programming and production costs driven by the NBA and the new Formula One agreement. While domestic linear advertising revenue declined year-over-year, ESPN ad revenue increased by 4%, demonstrating the relative strength of sports. Quarter-to-date, ESPN domestic linear cash ad sales are pacing down, reflecting in part the absence of the Big 10 this year. It's worth noting, however, that the absence of the Big 10 is expected to drive overall operating income favorability in Q4 versus the prior year. The fourth quarter will also hold one ad”