Daily Tech Snippet: Monday, December 12

• ESPN, one of Disney’s most popular brands, has investors really worried: ESPN was thrust into the spotlight in November when the ratings company Nielsen predicted the sports juggernaut would lose 621,000 cable subscribers that month. Nielsen estimated the sports network would lose another 555,000 subscribers in December. The staggering losses have led to calls by analysts for Disney to spin off or sell the beleaguered network, which has lost 9 million subscribers in three years, according to company filings. The challenges ahead are not unique to ESPN. The pay-TV industry as a whole has seen may consumers trim back their cable subscriptions in favor of online video services — or, fed up with the rising cost of TV, forgo cable altogether. "There's an underlying theme of the bundle being the problem," said Gene Kimmelman, president of the consumer advocacy group Public Knowledge. "People don't want to pay for what they don't want to get." But ESPN remains one of the world's most profitable sports networks, and its struggles raise troubling questions about the entire TV ecosystem. Long considered the linchpin of the traditional bundle, live sports is often what compels viewers to stay with their cable provider rather than cut the cord. But as more consumers defect in the face of growing cable bills, what is happening at ESPN could end up affecting channels up and down the lineup. And for Disney, one of the world's most powerful media companies, the problems at ESPN risk dampening the success of its other brands, such as Star Wars, Marvel Studios and Pixar. ESPN and its siblings, such as ABC, account for the biggest chunk of Disney's business by far, pulling in $24 billion in revenue this fiscal year. The company's next biggest segment, theme parks, made $17 billion.

• Automaker Honda invests in ride-hailing service Grab: Southeast Asian ride-hailing service Grab said on Monday it had secured an investment from Japanese automaker Honda Motor Co as part of a deal to collaborate on its motorbike-hailing service, in the latest auto industry tie-up of its type. Grab, the biggest rival to ride-sharing service Uber Technologies Inc [UBER.UL] in Southeast Asia, raised $750 million in a funding round in September. A source familiar with the matter said the round valued Grab at more than $3 billion.