AFI BLOG: Media and Technology

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So Comcast (NSDQ: CMCSA) couldn’t buy Disney (NYSE: DIS) a few years ago, but it has now succeeded in buying a part of it, sort of: Fandango, the online movie tickets service that Comcast bought a year ago, has bought out movies info site Movies.com from Disney, for an undisclosed sum.

Movies.com, under its previous name MrShowbiz.com, was one of first online movie news and info sites. Then, after it morphed into Movies.com, Disney partnered with Fox to turn it into an online movies-on-demand site, but it didn’t go past planning stages. Movies.com earns revenue through online advertising, while Fandango’s revenue comes about half from advertising and half from charging a fee of about $1 per ticket that it sells, reports THR. Fandango’s ad team will sell both sites.

Disney said a dozen of its Disney Internet Group employees will be reassigned because of the Movies.com sale and no layoffs are expected. The disposal by Disney is in keeping with its renewed focus on Disney, ABC and ESPN brands, the company said.

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