alisa: i'm alisa parenti from washington. you are watching "bloomberg technology." let's start with a check of first word news. a white house decision on the withdraw from the paris climate agreement has been delayed for a second time. president trump pledged to renegotiate but has wavered since taking office. white house spokesperson sean spicer says the president will make an announcement after the g7 summit in may. more american troops could be on the way to afghanistan. military advisers are urging president trump to send up to 5000 new troops. there are already 8400 troops backing afghan forces. prosecutors in istanbul are

demanding 40 consecutive life sentences for the man who attacked a nightclub during a new year celebration. that is according to turkey state run news organization. the attack killed 39 people and wounded 79 others. prosecutors want separate life sentences for each of the victims. plus, attempting to overturn turkey's order. the british artist banksy letting the world know how he feels about brexit. he painted a huge mural in dover. global news 24 hours a day, powered by more than 2600 journalists in more than 120 countries. i'm alisa parenti, and this is bloomberg. ♪ emily: this is "bloomberg

technology." i'm emily chang. all this week bloomberg tv and , radio are on the ground in boston showcasing tech giants and startups, plus breakthrough technologies in the field of biotech and robotics. we are speaking with innovators, venture capitalists, and government officials across the city. caroline joins us from outside the museum of science in boston overlooking the charles river. caroline, i see spring has not quite sprung in boston. you are all bundled up. caroline: you are right. it's a touch chilly, but beautiful nonetheless. indeed, the sun breaks out for us, a special edition of bloomberg technology for you. welcome from the ever popular museum of science, welcoming more than 1.5 million visitors a year. i had way too much fun playing on the musical steps. but i digress. today we will take a look at the massachusetts biotech sector.

it benefits from funding from local bench capitalists and institutions such as the institute of health. meantime, while the trump administration has proposed cuts that could hamper future growth, and many local companies are opposing the president's other initiatives, such as the affordable health care act and the tightening of h-1b visa restrictions. for a look at how local companies are responding, we are joined by our bloomberg biotech reporter doni bloomfield, and a venture capitalist. thank you for joining me. paint the picture for us. we keep talking about boston as a biotech hub. which company should be on the agenda here? what trend should we be looking at? >> i think some of the central companies here are biogen, varitek, some of the largest companies are based here. so many little tiny companies spring up all around them and

around universities around here. i think the trends we should be looking at are the moves towards rare diseases. we talk so much about pricing in this industry, and there has been so much pressure, but some of the folks who have been resistant to the trend are those focused on rare diseases. insurers and payers are a lot less willing to fight back against very high prices. for example, vertex treats cystic fibrosis. they have a couple of drugs there and they are working on more. for those they charge hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. biogen came out with a new drug for a deadly muscle disease. the first year of treatment is about $750,000. these are areas that local companies are pushing into and across the country as well. caroline: when you are helping in such crucial areas, there's also plenty of money that needs to go into funding these long-term bets.

how much of the ecosystem you have been looking at, how much is it growing? >> the ecosystem is booming. boston is the absolute epicenter of biotechnology. every major pharma company has research and development here. it is education. you have 50 colleges in the boston area, 200,000 students come here. we convinced them to move from around the world to a place with great weather. they stay. they join pharma companies. it makes incredibly fertile ground for funding. caroline: maybe not for our funding from the government at the moment. talk to us about the concerns that have come in. nih seems to have kept the money flowing for the short term. there is worry about the affordable care act changes, and the trump administration and their viewpoint on health care in general. reporter: a lot of local companies have major concerns

about the immigration orders, which has been stayed by the courts, because attracting people means people from all over the world. as there are problems because of religion or country of origin, that will be an issue for innovation around the area. that is what a lot of the companies have said. when it comes to pricing, i think some of the concern around the changes to obamacare in this act of the just passed the house, needs to go through the senate. there are concerns we could get lifetime limits back. these are limits on how much insurers will pay for it patient care. we are talking about a drug that could potentially cost $350,000 or more a year. that adds up very quickly. i think that's a major concern for some companies moving into these rare diseases, because if those lifetime limits are back, they will be facing major struggles when people hit their caps. caroline: you have a perspective on not overnight success stories. how can you factor in the

politics? >> it is important, because no city feels health care funding from the government like boston. the top four funded from nih are in boston. when the funding dries up, it means people who are entrepreneurs and want to start companies will think about private funding, and we are there to fill the gap. caroline: how much are we seeing the vc community expand here in boston? many feel that silicon valley is just so much of a bigger brother. are you seeing vc's coming from there, or is there a building up of money to build support? >> in traditional technology, silicon valley, where we also have offices, is of course, the big brother. it might actually be the grandfather. however, in biotech, this is the center of excellence. you see venture capitalists swarming from around the country because we have the three ingredients. universities that draw students,

big pharma which bills of -- builds up clusters of entrepreneurial excellence, and radically decreasing costs of building a company in this space, which means that if you are a young researcher at one of these companies and you have an idea, it doesn't require $50 million to see whether it works. maybe you can do it for $5 million. caroline: do you see international money coming in? reporter: there is international money coming in. an example of clustering is, for example, crispr, the gene editing technology, they have research centers in cambridge. that is because of the clustering effect going on. caroline: lastly, when you are looking at how the investments you continue to make, where are you looking to in terms of exit? are we seeing money getting refueled back into the system? are we seeing m&a? are we seeing ipos?

>> the ipo market has been muted at best, but we are seeing an opening of a window. in biotech, it has been wide open. that is one of the reasons you have venture capitalists moving into biotech. it is more important than that. it used to be silos with health care on one side and technology on the other. now with the powers of machine learning and ai, we are seeing the converging of the spaces. caroline: and you are in a number of companies. 400 startups at least. you have exited half of them. which company portfolios should we look at? >> broadly, pilpac is making fundamental changes to the labor -- to the way prescription drugs are covered. we have another in the bay area which is changing people's access to doctors reports and booking, using the power of the data. i think the resounding theme is the convergence of traditional technology with health care.

it is incredibly exciting. caroline: it has been great having you. welcoming the cold. thank you very much. it has been great. thank you. more on boston, shortly. let's take a quick look at today's top tech headlines. amazon has just unveiled the echo show, which is voice-activated, and a seven inch touchscreen. we reported on this device last november. you can have calendar appointments, display music, and play videos. it is the first echo speaker with a built-in camera that makes video conferencing possible. it will be available late next month and will be the fifth product powered by alexa digital assistant. coming up, more from boston's tech scene with the president from the director of the museum of science here in boston.

he joins us to discuss how the world-renowned cultural institution is inspiring the next batch of tech innovation and engineers. all episodes of "bloomberg technology," are live streaming on twitter. check us out weekdays 5 p.m. in new york and 2 p.m. in san francisco. this is bloomberg. ♪ caroline: welcome back to this

special edition of "bloomberg technology," live from the boston museum of science, a

cornerstone in maintaining and growing the city's tech ecosystem, passing the love of innovation and science to the next generation. we are in a place that is aiming to do just that. the boston museum of science offers programs and interactive exhibits and introduces more than 1.5 million annual visitors. earlier, i spoke to the director of the boston museum of science. i asked about the age demographic coming through the door to visit the exhibition. >> and museum is designed for all ages. the age range that most of the visitors fall into our children from five years old to about 14 years old, with their parents, with relatives and friends along , with school groups. but what is appealing to people of all ages is that we don't only present science and how the natural world works, but also

engineering, how the human world works, and how the two interact together. caroline: how is technology wrapped up in the way science is consumed here? >> we present technology and science as the total world, existing together. we have a fabulous new gallery that presents how technology and science coexist and how the natural world and human made world has made this environment here on the charles river possible. it is the perfect example of the interaction between natural world and human made world. caroline: interaction, talk to us about how the ecosystem works with the museum of science and feedback into it. >> boston is a fabulous city for science and technology, and a great city to live in. we had some of the best universities, hospitals, corporations, and the high-tech area and technology area.

the museum offers a wonderful window to the public. we partner with a lot of companies and universities to present the wonderful work they do in technology development. caroline: does money flow how , have you found funding? >> we have been very fortunate to attract funding from federal sources and local sources, corporations, and philanthropy. we are the number one funded institution from the federal government. money is very important for what we do, but because of the kind of work that we do and the engagement we offer to funding sources, we have been very fortunate. caroline: the willingness to give, how much is that wrapped up with the willingness for diversity? there is concern that part of the reason why we might not have as many ethnic minorities and

females in the tech world is that stem is not being educated the way it should be. >> one of our top priorities is to present science and engineering in a way that is equally appealing to both boys and girls and men and women, and to present science in a way that would be appealing to groups coming to the science center. we have been very fortunate. to give an example, one of my favorite exhibits is where children can spend about half an hour designing and building something, competing with each other. one would think boys would be more interested in that, but we have more girls that are interested in the engineering activity. caroline: you are very much talking about the role in education. how do you see yourself? it is not just more than one million people walking through the doors every year, is 12 million you are educating worldwide. i want to get your focus on where it goes globally.

>> the museum does have a wonderful platform to introduce engineering as a discipline into children's lives all over the world. we started this endeavor when i came here in 2003, and now have become the primary driver of engineering education for children worldwide. we developed a curriculum being used for 14 million children. we have trained about 150,000 teachers. now we operate internationally. caroline: how much bigger can that become? what is your outlook for the next 10 years? >> my dream is to have every child, anywhere in the world, to understand the natural and human made world. and have engineering become a part of every child's life. engineering offers a wonderful way to learn how to problem solve which is a skill you can use anywhere. caroline: how optimistic are you in today's environment, we have

concerns about the administration's dedication to the funding of biotechnology, is it something that worries you? >> it is a concern, of course. what i have seen through the years is if you do good work and stick with it, it is not a big issue. you can plow through it. caroline: that was boston museum of science president and director ioannis miaoulis. softbank is said to be close to completing its technology fund as early as next week, up to $95 billion. companies like apple and qualcomm have previously said they are investing money into the japanese company. coming up, gene editing is seen as the next big breakthrough in medicine, and there are three massachusetts-based firms working on it. we will bring you details on the companies using crispr. from boston, this is bloomberg. ♪ caroline: welcome back to a

special edition of "bloomberg technology," from boston. crispr is a new gene editing tool that could transform biotechnology. the technique and its dna with unprecedented accuracy, and hopefully will play a big role in medicine. we spoke with the three companies in cambridge that are racing to use crispr in real life, and proves it can work with treating disease. reporter: the gene editing tool crispr is boosting crops, tweaking the genetics of mosquitoes, and creating lyme disease proof mice. now companies are racing to use the technology for humans. >> crispr is, in my lifetime,

probably the most exciting single invention i have seen. reporter: these are the only public crispr companies in the u.s., all with labs in a three mile stretch of cambridge, massachusetts. >> crispr is a technology to accomplish what is called gene editing. this is for patients with diseases caused by mistakes in the dna. the ability to go to the level of dna and repair the broken gene. reporter: the biotechnologies, -- biotech companies which all , went public last year, and to test theto first technology and relatively simple genetic diseases, where a small genetic tweak can cause devastating damage. >> in essence how this works is think of a gps localization , signal or a zip code. you put a zip code onto what we call a pair of molecular scissors.

the scissors don't work until the zip code delivers the molecular scissors to the part of the region or genome we are targeting it to. reporter: crispr therapeutics want to start human trials by 2018. >> crispr is moving at a rapid pace. if you had asked me to her three years ago how long it would take to get to the clinic, we would've predicted a much longer time frame than what we are staring at now. reporter: crispr therapeutics wants to start by genetically engineering the cells of people with rare blood disorders outside the body before putting them back in. and editas aims to inject crispr tools into the eyes of people with a rare form of genetically caused blindness. his company hasn't given a timeline for when it will put products into people. >> given the fact that you are modifying dna, which we have not been doing with other therapeutic approaches, there are considerations we need to be

thoughtful about. reporter: scientists in china are moving faster. researchers there started the first crispr human trial last year. scientists have used crispr to modify the genome of human embryos. >> where do you draw the line? that it is a potential curative treatment for disease versus an enhancement to an individual. reporter: for now, the three leading crispr companies in the u.s. are focusing on tackling disease, and they are in a complex series of battles in the u.s. and europe. >> the issue is about inventor ship. who actually invented this? reporter: with the academic groups behind crispr and intelia on one side, and editas on the other side. in february, there was the and roads institute that

fended off a challenge from the uc berkeley and the u.s. to keep both alive for now. intelia and crispr are appealing the decision. >> it is too early to say which companies are going to be best at developing drugs at this stage of developing medicines. reporter: ultimately, human trials in the next three years will tell us more about how this revolutionary technology will change our genes and our health. >> i think the impact, we are only beginning to understand it. there are 6000 genetically defined diseases. 95% of them have no approved medicine. it's a very long list of patients who could potentially be helped by this. caroline: fascinating stuff. coming up, we take a look at boston's biotech scene even further with ceo nick leslie. and, discuss why the company chooses boston about a place to develop its business. if you like bloomberg news, check us out on the radio.

you can listen on the bloomberg radio app, bloomberg.com, and in the u.s. on sirius xm. this is boston, and this is bloomberg. ♪ ways wins.

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call today. comcast business. built for business. kong. i am sophie kamaruddin with the latest first word news. moon korea's new president jae-in takes office. 41% of the vote. there are worries over north korea, u.s. protectionism, and their biggest company behind bars on bribery charges. closely scrutinizing developments to resolving risk -- the chinese insurance

regulatory commission is focused on insurers of major stock purchases and investment real estate and alternative assets. china's anticorruption agency began an investigation. softbank is said to be close to the filling its technology funds, reaching $95 billion. they may wind up with interest from saudi arabia and abu dhabi. softbank plans to contribute $25 billion of its own capital in the next five years, as well. apple's tenure rally since the arrival of the iphone, the company is now worth $800 billion. she has continued to rise, even as they report slow sales and the device declines 33%. having $185 billion in market cap. 4.wall street high of $20

global news 24 hours a day, powered by more than 2600 journalists and analysts in more than 120 countries. this is bloomberg. >> checking the markets midsession, we are risk on today. we did not have the concerns about geopolitical worries after north korea indicated it would be firing a sixth missile. offstors have breasted that -- brushed that off. on monday with that record high. the hang seng index up by 9/10 of 1%. huge diversions between hong kong and the asian market in china. we have seen them snap that recent losing streak. up for tenths of 1%.

asx 200 is up 1/10 of 1%. we're seeing gains come up. that is a player across asian markets this wednesday. ♪ caroline: welcome back to this special edition of "bloomberg technology." i'm caroline hyde. we are live from boston all this week, showcasing the innovation, diversity, and power of the cities tech economy. one thing boston is known for is the booming biotech scene. one major player in the scene is bluebird bio. the company's platform and -- encompass gene-editing. glaxosmithkline will pay undisclosed sums to license technology to delivering genetic material. joining us is the ceo of bluebird bio, nick leslie.

give us how your gene therapy, vis-a-vis the competition in boston or abroad, compares. >> gene therapy is a broad space. what we try to compare on is the data we have and the impact on patients. the concept and promise of gene therapy is to alter disease, potentially cure disease. that is the big differentiator. there are some really terrible diseases and we have been able to announce small numbers of patients, but going from not just ameliorating, but potentially curing the patients and giving them a lifeline -- lifelong benefit. that's what all of us have been rooting for. that is what bluebird is all about. that is what we are trying to do. as a whole class of us trying to really do something important for patients.

caroline: and doing it here in boston and the greater massachusetts area. how important has the ecosystem been for you and some of your rivals or for enemies? >> i think we are all trying to do the same thing, but boston is fabulous. it has developed into an ecosystem where you have everything you need. it starts with academia and ideas with research and innovation that comes with it. that moves to the medical institution and translational nature it brings and the talent along with it. then you have investors who start to see it, and companies just like bluebird. then you have public investors and others that can help carry it to the next stage. then you have biofarma and pharmaceuticals. the research and development centers are here. you have everything you need, plus the talent.

a perfect storm. talent, how much at the moment is that an area of optimism, or is there any concern, particularly with the administration clamping down on immigration? >> that is an important context. talent to cure disease has to come from a global pool. it's not all going to be in boston. there's a lot of people coming here to study, and would like to stay here to continue their research or ideas. that is important that wherever we land politically, that we have an open gate towards innovation. that is something that a company like bluebird has benefited from. that is something we are trying to actively support and encourage. boston in and of itself has been incredibly supportive. i'm not worried about the talent pool, but it changes. as we get bigger, some people who love working with bluebird want to go back and work on another thing. that's ok.

it creates healthy turnover. it's fun to be a part of. caroline: and perhaps people going off to create other new stuff. what about your previous role as a vc? what about the ecosystem of money being built here in massachusetts? is it starting to build, does it need to? are you waiting for international money to flow in? >> i think it has been here for some time. it has been here in the i.t. and tech sector, and then with biotech right now, it is heavy on the biotech side. but there are different types. there are earlier stage companies like atlas or polaris. they tried to foster and initiate companies. smaller dollars, and then as they get bigger, you need bigger investors. you need fidelity's of the world to carry you to the next step. it is here, it is just a matter

of selecting the right ideas and cultivating them. the ecosystem has been good at that. caroline: you went public. does it do these long-term bets that biotech, bluebird bio, in its nature, does? >> i'm sure you know the quote, you get the investors you deserve. it the company that cultivated itself with a long-term vision. it is a constant struggle as a ceo. one of the things i don't love is the short-term horizon that you have to understand. you don't necessarily have to operate the company for that short-term, because you do have to take a position on where you want to be in three years or five years. that is where bluebird is. you have to be cognizant of both. that is a reasonable pressure. everyone has to do their part. you can be worried about 10 years from now when you have a lot of investors that have supported the company. you have to be cognizant of that.

that is a natural tension that we all have to consider and respect. caroline: what about three to five years? you said you have to be looking at that time frame. talk to us about a deal with glaxosmithkline. how does your business continue to evolve? >> that is an interesting one that dates back to the innovation we talked about and some of the early stage ip in the field, in our case, gene therapy, where we looked to use a particular virus. now it has become a part of many therapies and other programs for important diseases that glaxo is working on. one of the things we don't want to stand in the way of is to take those forward to patients and provide youth. that is what the nature of the deal is, a way to participate and share intellectual property with them. that's a good thing.

we are focused on the main driver for bloomberg, try to do what they are doing, creating products that make a big difference for patients. that is what our shareholders are expecting from us and the standard we hold ourselves to. caroline: wonderful to have you with us. thank you for sticking on with us in the cold. nick leslie, the bluebird bio ceo. facebook famously started by mark zuckerberg in a harvard dorm room, is perhaps considered by boston's tech community, the one that got away. headquartered in menlo park, california, facebook quietly returned to cambridge in 2013 to open an engineering office. today, more than ever, the company is taking advantage of the top talent in the town. kendall square in cambridge is the heart of boston's tech community. west coast software giants have taken note, establishing a presence here. >> facebook is always looking for an opportunity to hire the best talent. we came here because boston is a

combination of talented senior engineers and great universities. caroline: ryan mac helped open the office nine years after facebook was formed. the office has grown, employing about 100 engineers, tackling their toughest challenges. >> most of what we are working on in boston is infrastructure. two thirds are working on the technology that is the underpinning for the products that people see on a regular basis. caroline: he breaks it down into four pillars. compilers, storage, security, networking. these are the systems needed to develop the applications to reach facebook's 1.8 billion users. to cambridge team also support some of the social networks most visible projects, like the live interactive comment stream. >> when you post a comment on a video on facebook, anyone else looking at the video will see

the comment in real-time. caroline: and location-based products like facebook live video map and marketplace that helps users buy and sell locally. the global company with a market cap of $425 billion, the world's fifth-largest, has even more ambitious plans in its outlook. >> we can get more people a voice. caroline: along with the facebook's engineering teams and headquarters in menlo park, seattle, london, and new york, the cambridge team will play its part particularly in canada to -- in connectivity. >> how do we get connectivity to the next billion people? we are doing that by building up foundational technologies to build an ecosystem outside of facebook to make cellular wi-fi technologies it cheaper. we are trying to change the cost curve to deliver fast networks to places that do not have network availability. caroline: social networking on the global and local scale. coming up, disney reports second-quarter results. we hear from ceo bob iger next. from boston, this is bloomberg.

♪ caroline: breaking news from

boston. james comey has been removed from heading the fbi. this is a statement from sean spicer, coming from the president, saying president donald j. trump has informed fbi director james comey has been terminated and removed from the office. president trump acted on clear recommendations from the attorney general. the fbi, trump says, is one of the nation's most cherished and respected institutions, and today will mark a new beginning for our crown jewel of law enforcement. a search for the new permanent fbi director will begin

immediately. so says the statement. with that, we turn our attention to a different focus. of course, earnings day for the media giant disney, and after the close, profit in the quarter declined as the cable division continues to lose subscribers. let's go to my colleague david westin in new york, standing by with the disney ceo bob iger. reporter: we do have bob iger, chairman and president of the walt disney company. he was my boss for some time. welcome back to bloomberg. good to have you here. >> thank you. reporter: you got your earnings out. what i took away from it is that you exceeded the expectations with respect to profitability earnings-per-share. exceeded them by a good margin, fell short of what was expected on revenue. let's start with where you really had a beat on the earnings. it looks like a story on the theme parks in the studios. is that the story from where you sit?

>> it is the story from where i sit from the quarter we just announced. both of those units were up 21%. parks and resorts up 20%, studios up 21%. the result is a continued trend in the marketplace that is positive. certainly, tourism and visitation tour parks across the u.s. and the globe, and a product of the marketplace that is working. on the studio front, it is the result of years that are smart investments, like acquisitions of lucasfilm, and fantastic execution by a first-rate team across the board. reporter: on the theme park subject, how sensitive is your business to consumer spending? there has been a little softness in the last week or two. >> clearly, a healthy consumer is good for walt disney company's theme park business, the vacations and experience we but offer are extremely unique, something that consumers covet, in some cases they save up for a

long period of time. it's part of long-term planning in their lives for a vacation or celebrating something else. they tend to sacrifice that less than other things. we also rely on consumers, not just from the u.s., but from across the globe. we also rely on the intellectual property and storytelling we create as a company. there's a lot in the parks that leverages the great storytelling of the studio and remains in demand, even when times are a little more difficult economically. reporter: shanghai was something near and dear to your heart. there was a big come a big, long-term project you worked on personally for some time. i understand it is now profitable already. it is exceeding expectations. you always expand something that is working. i know there's already plans to expand on shanghai. are you doubling down, or thinking about additional parks in china?

>> this is a important projects -- project for me. i worked on it for over 17 years. i'm extremely proud of what the team ultimately designed and created. i'm also proud of how it has been operated in the first year and proud of how the chinese people have taken to it. we are probably just a few days away from hitting 10 million in attendance. it had been our target for the first year. we celebrated the first year anniversary in mid-june. we are running ahead of where we hoped we would be. about two thirds of the attendance is from outside the shanghai area. that is interesting. it suggests this is a national destination. we did not expect. 2/3 of the attendants to be within the shanghai region. that is encouraging. we have a piece of land that is very large in terms of not only the size but the ability to , build it out, and a willing partner to enable us to do that.

we announced expansion before we opened. so we are building a large toy story land as we speak. we have not announced a date but it is under construction. we believe given the success of this, business, and interest in the land, you will see substantial expansion of this particular facility over the next five to 10 years. that is very encouraging. we have always believed there are other opportunities in china, but our first priority has been to open this one and to do it right. since it is less than one year old, it is premature to speculate on something we might be doing in another market in china, but we hope that opportunity presents itself. reporter: theme parks and studio, big upside. let's talk about the things that might be disappointing, and that is espn.

it has been almost two years ago that you said it was coming. there would be tapering off in espn growth. it is happening now. you have also said the digital alternative, the mobile experience, would replace that overtime. do you have a time when that would take place or when you would make up these alternative revenue sources to make it is happening now. up for what you are losing with cable? >> you are right to point out we were candid about this two years ago. i think moore is being made of e is being made of this than it deserves. espn is still a healthy and profitable business, one of the most profitable businesses. it has live sports that is licensed for a long time that will serve it extremely well, that is serving it well today on the traditional platform. and starting to serve well on new platforms, and for the first -- fo seeable future

reseeable future. it is a product that is in demand. the fact that there is still a lot of competition for sports rights, it points out just how valuable this product is. no one has more of it than espn. what is happening is exactly what we thought would happen, and that is that there is a decrease in the number of expanded basic subs on traditional platforms. that happen for a few reasons. the expanded basic product is more expensive than some of the products that have launched on the new platforms, and has more channels than many people believe they need. it still dominates the business. but it is definitely decreasing. we are starting to see share shift from that, from that, the large bundle, at a price that is typically in excess of $100, the smaller bundles launching on mostly new platforms, over-the-top digital only platforms. in some cases, platforms that

are mobile friendly and user-friendly. that has attracted younger people not just because of the cost, but the usability. that bodes well for us. we are seeing nice growth. but other brands are launching as well. youtube launched there is a rs a month ago and hulu just launched theirs last week. it is tough to say, but we are encouraged by the signs we see. we believe we have a great product offer. -- itieve we have a great is imperative for them to succeed in that space. that is why there negotiating deals are at espn. it is only the beginning and it will continue. we are feeling optimistic about it. i think the reaction to it suggests otherwise, but that's not the case. we have taken a number of steps to contend with what we are seeing.

it is not something we are getting too, something we have been working on for a few years. i think it is high time people start looking at espn in a positive way and not a negative way. think about how mobile devices are being used, and what for. that live sports window, or the player that has live sports on it, is very valuable when you have a smartphone or tablet, whether in your office, in the bus, or wherever. i think that the pessimism about espn is highly exaggerated. reporter: thank you very much. i'm running out of time. i have a lot more questions, but i appreciate you taking the time. caroline: fascinating conversation. david westin, thank you, with none other than bob iger. much more ahead. ♪

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