ESPN president Bodenheimer "bullish" on ad growth (Reuters)

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Walt Disney Co's sports chief,George Bodenheimer, said on Tuesday he is bullish on growthprospects for the cable sports network ESPN, whose solidperformance in recent years has been the main engine forDisney's operating income and revenue.

"Ratings are up ... and I am bullish on our continuedadvertising (growth)," Bodenheimer, co-chairman of Disney'sMedia Networks and president of ESPN, said at a Deutsche Bankmedia conference in New York that was accessed via webcast.

"We're bullish on continued growth of the company ... we'repeddling as fast as we can on every business that serves sportsfans," he said.

Bodenheimer declined to give growth targets but said strongupfront advertising sales for Disney's ABC broadcast networklast week "bodes success for us."

"The entire pie to sports consumption is growing ... andESPN is continuing to ride that wave," he said. "Ratings onESPN are up significantly this year."

Bodenheimer gave no indication of current advertising sales-- something investors would be keen to hear, said David Bank,managing director of equity research at RBC Capital Markets.

"What everybody really wants to know is what's going onwith the advertising environment," Bank said. "People want toknow what is going on with budgets and the tone of theadvertising markets."

ESPN has all of its 96 million subscribers under contractthrough 2010, and 80 percent through 2012. Bodenheimer said thenetwork has been "extremely successful in locking up sportsrights ... long term," which helps maintain stable distributionrates.

The network's key growth driver, its television business,"continues to be very strong and continues to grow at the sametime we are expanding rapidly in digital media," he said.

Disney said in its most recent earnings conference callthat it expected ESPN to defer $120 million more in revenuefrom television affiliates in the fiscal third quarter than itdid a year earlier.

But on Tuesday, Bodenheimer said this was no longer thecase because ESPN had met its performance targets earlier thanexpected.

ESPN's international business also was "growing nicely" andactively looking for new broadcasting rights, including for theupcoming Olympics and English Premier League soccer,Bodenheimer said. "I am bullish on international growth."

The network was especially looking to expand offerings forits Spanish-speaking fans, he said.

The network is working to bring some of its TV franchisesonline through paying distributors, and Bodenheimer said healso sees growth online in fantasy sports and Web video.

Through the recent purchase of a high school sportspublication dubbed ESPN Rise, the network hopes to capture anew generation of fans.

Disney shares were up 80 cents, or 2.4 percent, to $33.98in afternoon trade on the New York Stock Exchange.

(Editing by Brian Moss and John Wallace)