AETN makes the expected official: the programmer is staying inside when it comes to a successor for Andrea Wong as head of Lifetime. Nancy Dubuc, president of the History brands, adds president and GM of Lifetime effective May 1. Dubuc was considered a strong candidate to replace Wong, whose departure…

FreeWheel has added $16.8 million in strategic funding from several top investors. The online video monetization startup says its fourth round of funding is coming from Walt Disney’s Steamboat Ventures, as well as existing backers Turner Broadcasting System, Battery Ventures and Foundation Capital (It’s the first time that FreeWheel has…

With the 2010 baseball season just underway, ESPN (NYSE: DIS) is expanding the number of individual teams covered on SweetSpot, the baseball blog network it started last October. SweetSpot launched with eight teams during the 2009 playoff season and the ESPN has now added another 11 sites, which are run…

First it ate in to Sky’s Premier League lockdown by winning a chunk of live linear rights. Now it’s taken from Sky the mobile highlights rights to all 380 of England’s top-tier soccer matches, beginning from the 2010/11 season’s start, this coming August. ESPN (NYSE: DIS), as a content maker,…

ESPN3.com debuts Sunday night with the Yankees-Red Sox season opener and lots of enhancements but whatever the name it’s still available in the U.S. primarily to the 50 million or so subscribers whose ISPs have a licensing deal with ESPN (NYSE: DIS). That’s because unlike 99.9 percent of broadband sites,…

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…

ESPN (NYSE: DIS) is following a number of industry efforts to improve audience measurement that began last year with its own collective research effort. The Disney sports franchise is starting ESPN XP to study consumer behavior around major sporting events beginning with the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa this…

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…

It’s not the end of online access to Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert but next week tracking them down may be a little less convenient for those used to watching on Hulu. Viacom (NYSE: VIA) is removing Comedy Central from the ad-supported video portal at 11:59 p.m. March 9 after…

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…

Beijing-based ad network Yoyi Media has raised first round led by Disney’s Steamboat Ventures and Gobi Partners. Online advertising is still expected to grow at a rapid pace throughout Asia. Three-year-old Yoyi expects to capitalize on that growth. The company plans to build up its ad platforms and refine its…