ESPN adds dollars to Disney

The 24-hour sports coverage appetite of American fans helped Bristol-based broadcaster ESPN drive much of the $154 million growth in cable networks revenue seen at The Walt Disney Co., the company said. Disney’s cable division took in about $963 million this past quarter. Contractual rate increases, subscriber growth and higher advertising sales at ESPN more than offset revenue deferrals from some programming commitments and the elimination of the company’s defunct cell phone sports media network, ESPN Mobile. Combined quarterly revenues at Walt Disney were flat, as the company earned $931 million on revenues of $8 billion.