Pulse2 Technology and Social Media News » The Walt Disney Company

Disney Channel Starts Adding Free TV Episodes To YouTube

Amit Chowdhry — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 19:09:53 +0000

The Disney Channel and YouTube’s content deal has started. This means that there are now 70 episodes from various Disney Channel shows available for free on YouTube. Some of the shows currently available include The Emperor’s New School, The Proud Family, That’s So Raven and the Suite Life of Zach and Cody. It is great that YouTube is now starting to offer premium content, but they have a serious user interface problem. Hulu and Netflix have a much cleaner interface when it comes to individual episodes. YouTube essentially arranged all the TV show episodes into “Playlists.” [AllThingsD]

Hulu Planning To Raise Additional Funding For Expansion Into Original Programming

Amit Chowdhry — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 23:36:18 +0000

Online TV service Hulu.com, the company that is owned by ABC, NBC, and Fox is intensifying their competition against Nextflix and they are planning to raise money to expand into more original programming. Hulu is releasing their first scripted show “Battleground” on February 14th and is weighing an option to raise cash this year according to chief content officer Andy Forssell.

“We have a very healthy business,” stated Forssell. “When you have a healthy business, capital is not a problem. There are plenty of people who want to help.” Last year Hulu cancelled a sale and postponed an IPO. Hulu also ordered 10 new episodes of Morgan Spurlock’s “A Day in the Life,” a documentary series that is returning in March.

Hulu Plus customers pay $7.99 per month and they can watch shows in high-definition and they can access programs on mobile devices. Last year Fox started restricting when new TV show episodes will become available to nonpaying viewers. Hulu hit $420 million in total 2011 revenues.

[Bloomberg]

Hulu Makes $420 Million In 2011 Revenues

Amit Chowdhry — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 03:23:56 +0000

Hulu.com, the joint venture video streaming company of NBCUniversal, Fox Entertainment Group, and Disney, has reported their 2011 numbers and they are BIG! Hulu has grown 60% from 2010 to $420 million in revenues despite the slow economy, which directly affects the advertising market. Hulu’s ad business grew aggressively and Hulu Plus helped their revenues shoot up from between $200-$300 million in 2010.

Hulu Plus has about 1.5 million paying subscribers and their numbers are growing at a rapid pace. Hulu Plus is attracting more than 2 times the number of subscribers each day when compared to the same time last year. In 2012, Hulu is planning on spending about about $500 million in content on behalf of their users.

“At scale, our model allows us to profitably pay content owners approximately 50% more in content licensing fees per subscriber when compared to other similarly priced online subscription services. We believe our approach will enable us to secure more valuable content for our users and to secure content in more attractive windows than would otherwise be possible. To that end, we are excited to invest approximately half a billion in content in 2012 on behalf of our users,” stated Hulu CEO Jason Kilar on the company blog.

Disney CEO Bob Iger Buys $1 Million Worth Of Apple Stock

Amit Chowdhry — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 21:22:56 +0000

The Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) CEO Bob Iger has bought around $1 million worth of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) shares earlier this week. This is a symbolic gesture in Iger’s confidence about Apple’s prospects. Iger joined Apple’s board on November 15th. He bought 2,670 Apple shares on the open market on Tuesday at an average price of $375 each. Iger’s wife owns 75 Apple shares. [Reuters]

Disney Movies Are Now Available For Rent On YouTube

Amit Chowdhry — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 19:41:31 +0000

Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) subsidiary YouTube.com has announced that Disney movies are now available for rent on the video streaming website. These Disney movies are spread across The Walt Disney Studios, Disney Pixar, and DreamWorks Studios.

The Disney collection of movies that are available for rent includes Alice in Wonderland, Winnie The Pooh, Cars, Cars 2, and all 4 Pirates of the Caribbean movies. You can find all of these movies at YouTube.com/movies.

[YouTube Blog]

Apple Welcomes Bob Iger and Names Art Levinson Chairman of The Board

Amit Chowdhry — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 23:15:46 +0000

[Left: Art Levinson, Right: Bob Iger]
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) has announced today that they have named Art Levinson as the non-executive chairman of the board. He succeeds Steve Jobs, who had passed away last month after battling cancer for several years. Art joined the Apple board in 2000 and has been the longest serving co-lead director. Apple also added Disney CEO Bob Iger to the board of directors at the company. Iger is best known for overseeing the merger of Pixar and Disney.

Levinson was a close friend of Steve Jobs and has been an insider at the company for a long time. Having Iger on the board of directors at Apple will strengthen the bond that the company has with Disney as well. Disney has been an instrumental partner with Apple as they were the first partner to sign up for the Apple iTunes video downloading service. Other board members at Apple include Andrea Jung, Al Gore, Tim Cook, Bill Campbell, Millard Drexler, and Ron Sugar.

[AllThingsD]

YouTube and Disney Spending $10-$15 Million To Create An Original Video Series

Amit Chowdhry — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 18:53:08 +0000

Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) subsidiary YouTube and The Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) is spending $10-$15 million to create an original video series according to The New York Times. The video shorts will be produced by Disney and it will be distributed on a co-branded channel on Disney.com and YouTube. Disney will benefit from getting web traffic from YouTube. The original video content will benefit YouTube because they are competing against websites that specialize in premium video content. YouTube depends heavily on user-generated content for its popularity.

“It’s imperative to go where our audience is,” stated Disney Interactive co-president James A. Pitaro. Pitaro added that the partnership is to “bring Disney’s legacy of storytelling to a new generation of families and Disney enthusiasts on the platforms they prefer.”

Disney Interactive has lost $300 million over the last four quarters so that division is pressured to create web videos that can make money quickly. Disney.com traffic has been dropping at a significant rate as well. In September, Disney reported 12.7 million visitors which is down from 17.9 million in June (comScore).

“It’s an acknowledgment that we want to work with the best brands and, yes, we expect this partnership to attract new advertisers,” stated YouTube global head for content partnerships Robert Kyncl.

The first in the web series will be based on the popular puzzle application called “Where’s My Water?” that features an alligator named Swampy. The goal is to have about 8 original series videos in production at any given time. Disney will be selling advertising inventory and will split the revenue with YouTube. Disney TV shows will also be featured on the channel.

Pitaro joined Disney last October after working at Yahoo! He has been spearheading the deal with YouTube and was responsible for the redesign of Disney.com. The redesign is expected to be complete by the autumn of 2012.

Steve Jobs To Remain On Walt Disney Board

Amit Chowdhry — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 19:24:08 +0000

Although Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Chairman Steve Jobs recently stepped down from the CEO position, he will remain on the board of directors at The Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS). According to a source with Bloomberg, Jobs’ position at Disney would be unaffected by changes at Apple.

Steve Jobs is currently the largest shareholder in Disney. He has a 7.4% stake at Disney. He joined the Disney board of directors after the media company acquired Pixar Animation Studios for $7.4 billion in May 2006. Jobs acquired Pixar from George Lucas in 1986 for $10 million. Jobs is not paid to be on the board of directors on Disney.

[Bloomberg]

Hulu Offers Buyers 5 Years of Content Access

Riley Kennysmith — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 16:51:40 +0000

Hulu is still looking for a buyer, and the potential buyers are still looking for some promises of future content access before they make any moves. Hulu has stepped forward with a promise of 5 years of content, two years of which will be exclusive, from Disney, News Corp. and NBC. [Bloomberg]

Yahoo Possibly Looking to Acquire Hulu

Riley Kennysmith — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 16:43:15 +0000

Hulu may soon be in the hands of Yahoo Inc. Yahoo is reported to have approached Hulu about a possible acquisition, according to the LA Times. Hulu is currently owned by News Corp., Walt Disney Co. and Comcast Corp., though spokespeople for the companies have declined to comment and Hulu’s board has reportedly not yet met to consider Yahoo’s offer.