By Lisa Richwine and Bill Rigby
(Reuters) - Nagging investor concerns over viewers cutting the cord on cable television and moving online turned into a rout in the sector's shares on Wednesday after Walt Disney Co
ESPN, which is available only as part of broad cable TV packages, has been seen as a savior of the bundling business model with its line-up of live sports and highlight reels. But the latest figures suggest even that may not be enough to stop viewers demanding slimmer cable packages or moving online to watch standalone streaming services.
"I haven't seen this much red in a long time," said John Miller, a portfolio manager at Ariel Investments, watching the broad stock decline. "It seems like people's concerns regarding cord-cutting have accelerated."
Disney's shares fell 9 percent on Wednesday, wiping $18 billion off the company's market value, a day after it lowered the profit outlook for its cable networks and Chief Executive Bob Iger said ESPN saw "modest" subscriber losses.
"If Disney can get dinged, maybe nobody's safe," said Barton Crockett, an analyst at FBR Capital Markets.
Time Warner Inc
Shares of the media company, which launched its own standalone streaming service HBO Now and struck a deal with video-streaming service Hulu, hit their lowest since early February, closing at $79.80.
Discovery Communications Inc
Twenty-First Century Fox Inc
CBS Corp
Shares of cinema and cable company Viacom Inc
Bucking the trend, Dish Network Corp
Even so, the second-largest U.S. satellite TV company said net subscriber losses almost doubled to about 81,000, and noted the momentum toward cord-cutting.
Dish's "linear TV business has matured and is now declining," Dish CEO Charlie Ergen told analysts. "Over-the-top is growing."
(Reporting by Lehar Maan, Sagarika Jaisinghani and Anya George Tharakan in Bengaluru, Lisa Richwine in Los Angeles; Writing by Bill Rigby in New York; Editing by Mary Milliken, Toni Reinhold)