According to The Hollywood Reporter, The Walt Disney Company has officially acquired 100% of BAMTech, the streaming video technology company that it acquired majority ownership of in 2017 from Major League Baseball.
What’s Happening:
- According to a footnote in the company’s annual report, which it filed Tuesday, Disney paid Major League Baseball $900 million for its 15% stake in the company, now known as “Disney Streaming,” earlier in November.
- Disney and the sports league had the right to force a buyout of the stake based on its fair market value beginning earlier this year. Disney had bought the National Hockey League’s 10% stake in BAMTech for $350 million last year.
- BAMTech technology powers Disney+, Hulu and Disney’s other offerings, and has become a critical part of the company’s streaming infrastructure.
- In his first tenure as CEO at the time, Bob Iger called the acquisition and announcement of Disney+ and ESPN+ “the beginning of the reinvention of The Walt Disney Company.”
- BAMTech can trace its origins to 2000, when the league sought to create a digital hub for the league, and to help develop online ticket sales. The result was MLB Advanced Media, which in the ensuing years developed in-house streaming video technology to bring baseball highlights and full games to the internet. MLB Advanced Media streamed its first baseball game during the 2002 season.
- BAMTech would go on to power a variety of streaming services, including offerings from the NHL and HBO.
- The league spun off its streaming video division as BAMTech in 2015, with Disney acquiring a minority stake a year later. Disney would go on to acquire its majority stake in 2017, buying out its remaining partners at the NHL and MLB in 2021 and 2022, respectively.