AFI BLOG: Media and Technology

paidContent.org
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 [...]

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Disney.com announced today that for the first time ever the site will stream full-length movies online, featuring selections from the Wonderful World of Disney. The films will first air on ABC as part of the network’s weekly Wonderful World of Disney presentation on Saturday nights throughout summer 2008. The full-length films will then be available [...]

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paidContent.org
Disney (NYSE: DIS) is merging its digital media unit Walt Disney Internet Group with its video gaming unit Disney Interactive Studios (DIS), into a new unit called Disney Interactive Media Group, we have learned. This new unit will be led by Steve Wadsworth, who was the president of WDIG prior to this. According to an [...]

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The New York Times
In April, the Walt Disney Company summoned movie theater executives for a rare audience before its reigning king of animation, John Lasseter. A co-founder of Pixar and director of “Toy Story,” Mr. Lasseter was unveiling the roster of films that an aligned Pixar and Walt Disney Animation Studios planned to release over [...]

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Yahoo!
TiVo now offers movies from all major studios directly to the television set
TiVo Inc. (Nasdaq: TIVO - News), the creator of and a leader in television services for digital video recorders (DVRs), today announced that TiVo subscribers will soon be able to download movies from The Walt Disney Studios to their broadband connected TiVo® DVRs [...]

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Advertising Age
At Microsoft Advance ‘08: Strong Content Also Needs Interactivity, Community
According to Michael Eisner, story-driven online content is the next big app. “YouTube is to the internet what a nickelodeon is to the movies. It’s the preliminary installment of what is to come,” he said So what is to come? “Great, creative storytelling.”
He continued: “YouTube [...]

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The Hollywood Reporter
Apple expected to announce deal with major studios
Apple is expected to announce Thursday that it has struck a deal with a wide array of major and mini studios to offer many new releases for purchase at its iTunes Store.
The move would allow a broad slate of top-shelf films to be offered day-and-date with [...]

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Conde Nast Portfolio
Hannah Montana can carry a tune and, apparently, a billion-dollar corporation. Disney was floundering until it plugged in its tween dream machine, cranking out the bubblegum-pop stars that make young girls scream—and spend, spend, spend.
erhaps it was my daughters singing along with Hannah Montana—“Get up, get loud, we’re pumping up the party [...]

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Variety
Oscar-winning comedy available for download
At least two more majors have joined Disney in allowing their new releases to be sold via Apple’s iTunes Store.
Fox decided to go all the way on “Juno,” offering it for purchase on Tuesday, the same day that the DVD and Blu-ray versions hit shelves. Paramount has begun testing download sales [...]

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Variety
Schedule includes ‘Toy Story 3,’ ‘Cars 2′
After years of relative reticence, the Mouse House is strutting over its animation slate once again.
With Disney chief exec Robert Iger and the investment community looking on in Gotham Tuesday, John Lasseter presented an uncharacteristically detailed road map of the next four years of Pixar and Disney animation.
Two years [...]

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