On the back of a quarterly earnings report on Monday that exceeded analyst expectations with sales that broke $2 billion (~£1.63B) for the first time, Netflix might have its sights set on a partnership with Disney’s ailing ESPN sports channel.

Netflix’s third quarter earnings showed that the 10 percent average subscription price rise in the past year had not deterred new subscribers. An addition of 370,000 net subscribers in the US surpassed a predicted 300,000, and a gain of 3.2 million international subscribers blew past projections of 2 million.

Analysts now see a partnership between Disney and Netflix as a viable opportunity, with specific focus on Disney’s ESPN sports channel. Manatt Digital Media chairman Hale Boggs told The Wrap, “Would some kind of formalized larger relationship between Disney and someone like Netflix make sense? Absolutely. But to get to the place where it makes sense would be a bit of a challenge.”

The partnership between ESPN and Netflix would give subscribers access to a wealth of premium television, film and sports content. ESPN is the most expensive non-premium cable channel, but subscriber access to Netflix’s award-winning original content would replicate the entertainment quality that highly-priced, premium cable channels such as Showtime and HBO typically provide.

“You’re adding a sports component which is usually an extra premium when you’re buying cable,” said former Paramount Pictures executive Barry Haldeman to The Wrap, adding, “If all of a sudden you get that premium, that’s a whole segment of people who would be interested.”

There are a number of obstacles to such a marriage of content providers, however, as Hale Boggs identified the $1 billion Disney paid to obtain a 33 percent share of Major League Baseball’s streaming competitor to ESPN, as well as maintaining Disney’s exclusive arrangement with Netflix to stream the company’s latest films. Questions over Netflix’s ability to afford the high cost of ESPN’s premium content could represent an additional impediment.

Disney may then seek out other partnerships or alternative acquisitions in an attempt to recapture its sports audience. Analyst Richard Tullo identified Twitter as a possibility, as he told MarketWatch, “On the surface, a deal [for Twitter] makes no sense, but if you think streaming video is potentially disruptive to live sports then there is a strategic case to be made.”

Massive subscriber decline in ESPN has dragged down the value of Disney’s stock, as ESPN lost 1.5 million subscribers between February and May of 2016 alone, accounting for an overall 12-13 percent drop off in subscribers since the company’s 100.1 million subscription peak in 2011.

Disney’s quarter two report in May revealed that the company failed to make earnings and revenue forecasts for the first time in two years, and shares subsequently dropped 6 percent in after-hours trading with analysts attributing part of the loss to concerns over ESPN subscriber churn. Disney’s share decline of about 13% over the year made it the second word performing stock in the Dow as of late September, and the company is now looking for new ideas to help it recover.

ESPN is not the only sports network facing viewership issues. In the UK, Sky Sports is coping with a 19 percent drop in its Premier League audience as compared to last year. As more viewers turn to streaming and mobile methods for viewing live sports, broadcasters will have to adapt, or face the decline in subscribers and earnings that are exemplified by Disney’s present struggles.