This summer, kids TV programmers are a little boy crazy. That’s because boys watch more animated series than girls and represent a lucrative sales opportunity for videogames, toys and sports merchandise.
The cable network could command as much as $3 billion if big buyers come calling, making it the most expensive American media takeover in five years.
All My Children and One Life to Live will live on — on the Web.Disney’s ABC has sold the online rights to the two long-running soaps, which are scheduled to go off the air in September, as part of a deal with TV, film and music company Prospect Park, sources say.
Proxy advisory firm Glass Lewis & Co. had recommended voting against Apple CEO Steve Jobs’ re-election because he failed to attend 75% of the board meetings in fiscal 2010.
On the eve of the Walt Disney Co.’s annual meeting Wednesday in Salt Lake City, an influential shareholder advisory firm raised questions about the decision to recommend the return of Steve Jobs to the entertainment giant’s board despite his frequent absences.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Walt Disney Co. said Thursday that it has acquired children’s social network Togetherville for an undisclosed sum. The deal is part of Disney’s strategy of […]
Exclusives
Disney is set to begin testing a premium video-on-demand service that would make movies available to viewers at home shortly after they appear in theaters. Bob Chapek, Disney’s president of distribution, said the company would target the in-home offering to families with young children.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Billy Ray Cyrus says the Disney TV show “Hannah Montana” destroyed his family, causing his divorce and sending daughter Miley Cyrus spinning out of control. In […]
Disney Broadcasting Revenue Up 4%
Higher ad revenue at its ABC O&Os added to lower sports costs at ABC-TV and increased affiliate fees boost revenue to almost $1.6 billion.
Disney has re-upped and expanded its online distribution deal with Netflix, allowing for some current shows on the Disney Channel to be streamed about two weeks after broadcast. Episodes of some series will be available at a minimum of 15 days after a live broadcast.
With no fanfare, Walt Disney Co. launched Disney Movies Online, which lets consumers buy or rent digital versions of Disney and Pixar films and watch them on the Internet. The site was conceived as a bridge to step the family entertainment company’s mainstream consumers gently from the physical to the digital world.
The company is investigating unusually heavy trading about half an hour before a press release on its fourth-quarter earnings was scheduled to go out.
Disney Earnings Dip As ESPN, Parks Take Hit
The Walt Disney Co. reported its fourth quarter and full-fiscal year earnings on Thursday, with a dip in earnings per share. Operating income at its networks — which include ESPN and ABC — slid more than 18% during the quarter.
In TV’s battle for the hearts and minds of preschoolers, it’s Mandarin and math vs. stories and sparkle. At stake is much more than the more than $276 million marketers spent last year to advertise during children’s TV shows.
Disney Selling Its Flint And Toledo Stations
The Walt Disney Co. has made an agreement to sell the two smallest O&Os in its 10-station ABC Owned Television Stations Group — WJRT Flint, Mich., and WTVG Toledo, Ohio — to the stations’ former owner SJL Broadcasting.
Disney announced a major overhaul to its distribution unit, putting Janice Marinelli, Lori MacPherson and Jason Brenek in expanded roles. The move is intended to combine groups that distribute all of the studio’s film and TV products through backend channels, including home entertainment and broadcast syndication, into one unit.
