In addition to the ABC (NYSE: DIS) Player hitting the iPad App Store, its parent Disney has a number of special items for the iPad’s release on Saturday. Aimed at affluent, first-adopters with kids, Disney Publishing Worldwide has built two original Toy Story read-along apps for the iPad. These iPad…

TV networks and advertisers have been rushing to get ready for the release of Apple’s iPad on Saturday and from the looks of it, they all wish they had a little more time. The WSJ has a pair of articles detailing the initial efforts of ABC (NYSE: DIS) and CBS…

Coincidental with the House of Representatives’ passage of the health care reform bill this weekend, ABCNews.com unveiled a new content and advertising partnership with Healthline Networks. The move comes as ABC (NYSE: DIS) News is in the process of cutting its workforce and exploring ways to charge consumers for its…

*ABC* News Digital execs are currently putting together a formal paywall strategy with expectations of having some concrete ideas for ways to charge consumers by the summer, said Paul Slavin, the unit’s SVP, in an interview with paidContent. This isn’t the first time *ABC* News has traveled the paid content…

One of the favorite sports of most media conferences these days involves trotting out Wired editor Chris Anderson’s “freemium” idea—which is predicated on balancing free online and paid premium content—and kicking it to the ground. The topic served as a introduction to discussing the problems associated with paywalls and display…

Disney (NYSE: DIS) says it has reached an “agreement in principle” with Cablevision (NYSE: CVC) “that recognizes the fair value of ABC7 with deal points that we expect to finalize with Cablevision.” Translation: Cablevision subs are watching the Oscars after all. The agreement—which Cablevision didn’t even mention in its terse…

Last-minute dramatics this afternoon as the next “deadline” approaches for Disney (NYSE: DIS) and Cablevision: tonight’s Academy Awards. Disney says it’s sent a new proposal and the ball is in the cable operator’s court. But Cablevision (NYSE: CVC) is playing a different game: calling on “CEO Bob Iger to immediately…

Midnight update: Get ready for some impromptu Oscar parties at New York-area households with Verizon FiOS or satellite: Disney (NYSE: DIS) and Cablevision (NYSE: CVC) couldn’t find a way over a two-year impasse by 12:01 a.m. this morning—WABC is blacked out for the operator’s 3.1 million households. Time Warner Cable…

If I’m already fatigued by the extended PR volley between Disney and Cablevision (NYSE: CVC) over retransmission fees, just imagine how Cablevision subs counting on WABC for the Academy Awards Sunday night or the latest twist in Lost feel. Since Disney went public with the dispute over retrans fees late…

During last month’s earnings call, *Disney* CEO Bob Iger couldn’t have been clearer about his willingness to shut off access to distributors unwilling to pay retrans fees. “We’re pretty resolute,” Iger told analysts—and by extension, cable and satellite operators. Just three weeks later, Disney (NYSE: DIS) is trying to show…

Unlike some of the major newsroom cuts of recent years, David Westin isn’t reenacting the layoff scene from Broadcast News at ABC (NYSE: DIS) News. The president of ABC News is trying to avoid that—and worse—by planning a different kind of future for the Disney news network and an environment…

ABC (NYSE: DIS) News is planning a major restructuring of its operations that will likely leave it with “substantially fewer people on staff,” according to an e-mail sent to employees this afternoon by ABC News President David Westin. Westin calls it a “fundamental transformation” that will “ensure that ABC News…

Telegraph.co.uk’s sources have been promising the paper Hulu’s imminent UK launch for so long now that, now it’s reporting “further delays” to the U.S. VOD site’s ambitions here, we’re barely inclined to mention it - but anyway… Despite claiming in August that Hulu was in “most advanced discussions” to land…

Fox and Time Warner (NYSE: TWX) narrowly averted retrans Armageddon on New Years Eve. Will Disney (NYSE: DIS) and ABC manage the same feat during the search for retransmission fees for the network and its affiliates? “We’re pretty resolute,” CEO Bob Iger told analysts during the Disney FYQ1 call, serving…

Online video represents only a small piece of the total advertising pie, but the growth in streaming ad revenue is becoming more of a threat to the broadcast medium that supplies most of the high CPM content. Hulu is a case in point, as Mediaweek and paidContent sources point out…

While *News Corp*. COO Chase Carey, *NBC Universal* CEO Jeff Zucker and others have been out touting the desire to charge for some content through their Hulu JV, Hulu has been working out the logistics for doing just that. StreamingMedia.com’s report that a subscription beta test is underway internally would…

Tired of waiting for the various audience measurement firms to provide seamless, cross-platform data covering consumers’ total media usage, a group of 14 companies representing all the major TV networks have joined with major advertising agencies and marketers to create the Coalition for Innovative Media Measurement (CIMM). Alan Wurtzel, NBC…

Women’s cable programmer Lifetime Networks knows its audience and that audience likes casual gaming, which explains the latest news from the new home of Project Runway: UK-based King.com will be the exclusive provider of co-branded skill games for MyLifetime.com. King.com claims to be the world’s largest provider of skill games,…

Updated: *Disney* CEO Bob Iger describes his take on authentication as a “healthy amount of skepticism but open minded.” That said, he also expressed more than a few concerns about the idea during the Disney (NYSE: DIS) Q2 earnings call.  For instance, he’s not thrilled by the idea linked to…