By Aditya Soni and Jaspreet Singh

Nov 15 (Reuters) -

Bob Iger returned to Walt Disney ( DIS ) as CEO in 2022 with

a bold promise of making streaming profitable.

The latest quarterly results have shown signs of a

turnaround at the storied media company, suggesting that Iger

may be getting the House of Mickey Mouse in order by focusing on

its streaming business.

Disney ( DIS ) on Thursday reported its second straight quarterly

profit for the streaming business, riding on cost-cutting

measures and a 4.4 million jump in subscribers after it started

cracking down on password-sharing by users.

Its $253 million operating profit for the streaming business

in the fourth quarter nearly offset the $307 million that its

traditional television business shed in operating income.

The hope is that Disney's ( DIS ) streaming business will start to

do more "heavy lifting" as it improves and linear television

declines, said Ben Barringer, technology analyst at Quilter

Cheviot.

"It has the tech and the product in Disney+, it now just

needs to utilize it in the right way to drive profit growth and

challenge the other streaming giants," he added.

The company began cracking down on password-sharing in June,

following in the footsteps of streaming giant Netflix ( NFLX ),

betting it would lead to a jump in subscriber numbers and higher

revenue.

"The right way to think about Disney ( DIS ) is to add together the

shrinking linear TV business and the rapidly growing

direct-to-consumer business, because Disney ( DIS ) is hedged," Needham

& Co senior research analyst Laura Martin said.

"Disney ( DIS ) has reached the cross over point," Martin added.

The results show that a turnaround started by Iger was

paying off. Since he returned, Disney ( DIS ) has cut back on original

content for its streaming service after a spending spree under

predecessor Bob Chapek that led to streaming quarterly losses of

$1.5 billion in November 2022.

Since last year, Disney ( DIS ) has been consistently raising prices

for Disney+ in an attempt to boost margins, with the most recent

one having come into effect in October.

The company continues to produce original programs such as

"Only Murders in the Building" for Hulu and "Agatha All Along"

for Disney+, but it also relies on new film releases to spur

viewership of related content.

For instance, the release of "Deadpool & Wolverine" and

Pixar Animation's "Inside Out 2" prompted users to watch older

movies in the franchise this year, company executives said.

"Theatrical film is the engine behind its powerful flywheel

and continued success at the box office will help translate to

continued streaming engagement," said Wade Payson-Denney, media

analyst at Parrot Analytics.