The Mouse and other Digital Channels..............................
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Disney Doing Digital, ESPN Going Regional
By Mike Reynolds
A new animated network from the Walt Disney Co., a regionalized sports network from ESPN, a BBC/Discovery Communications network and a Dow Jones/CNBC partnership dominated last week's Western Show programming news.
Toon Disney, a 24-hour digital basic cable network scheduled to launch April 18 -- the 15th anniversary of The Disney Channel -- is expected to draw from more than 2,200 titles -- including The Little Mermaid, New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, Darkwing Duck and Gummi Bears -- in the company's vast library.
The new network, being pitched by The Disney Channel's affiliate sales staff, is being offered to operators who already carry that service on basic. The Disney Channel has 30 million subscribers; 25 million are on basic.
Anne Sweeney, The Disney Channel's president and executive VP-Disney/ABC Cable Networks, said the timing is right for her company's digital dip: "Disney is the most trusted name in cartoons for parents and kids. Services like Toon Disney will increase the value for operators in the digital world as they roll out their strategies."
Sweeney declined to go into Toon Disney's rate card.
Noting the success currently being enjoyed by Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network, one MSO programming executive said, "Certainly, Toon Disney is going to have some appeal to our customers. [But] it's just coming about 10 years too late. It could have been a force in the analog world."'
BBC America, backed by the British Broadcasting Corp. and Discovery Networks Inc., will be an ad-backed network that will focus on news, drama, comedy and mystery when it launches early next year, according to the partners.
The BBC will produce most of the programming for the new network, which is seeking both digital and analog carriage. As part of larger joint venture the companies have forged, Discovery will market the new service to cable operators and sell the ad time.
A BBC America spokesman said U.S viewers will be able to preview the service via Tele-Communications Inc.'s Headend In The Sky digital platform.
NBC and Dow Jones & Co.'s deal will impact their domestic and international operations.
In the U.S., the agreement calls for CNBC, which reaches 65 million households, to share its name with Dow Jones on programming, as well as feature news from The Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones Newswire. To that end, CNBC will add anchor desks at the Journal's Manhattan, N.Y., headquarters and Dow Jones Newswire's offices in Jersey City, N.J.
The alliance also will merge the companies' syndicated business programs -- CNBC's This Morning's Business and Dow's The Wall Street Journal Report -- to create a new, six-day-a-week show.
Internationally, the accord will consolidate the money-losing operations of CNBC with Dow's Asia Business News and European Business News divisions. The companies will be 50-50 partners in ventures bearing the CNBC moniker.
In Asia, the new, Singapore-based service will launch early next year and reach some 9 million homes, network executives said. In Europe, the new, London-based service will be rolled out in early 1998 and be available in 15 million homes on a full-time basis and 50 million on a part-time basis.
CNBC will pay an undisclosed license fee for Dow's editorial materials and resources, executives said.
ESPN said its first regional sports service, ESPN West, will launch in October and seek standalone status as an expanded basic service with the potential to reach some 4.4 million homes in southern California, Nevada and Hawaii.
The move is being viewed in many cable corners as ESPN's response to Fox/Liberty's aggressive regional sports network efforts.
George Bodenheimer, an ESPN executive VP, said ESPN West will televise up to 40 NHL Anaheim Mighty Ducks contests during the 1998-99 season and 37 Anaheim Angels contests in 1999. Like ESPN, the Ducks and Major League Baseball's Angels are owned by Disney.
ESPN wouldn't say what it will charge cable operators to carry the new service, other than to note that it will be "reasonably" priced.
Bodenheimer said ESPN is continuing to look at other programming opportunities, including "additional regionals."
ESPN West will feature ESPNEWS, Mexican League Baseball, Latin American soccer and lifestyle programming. The new service also is considering a Spanish-language audio feed to accommodate the sizable Hispanic population in its coverage area.
ESPN West also will look at college and high school sports, as well as pursue more pro and college sports programming as it becomes available, Bodenheimer said.
Fox Sports West now has long-term agreements with the NBA's Los Angeles Lakers and Clippers, MLB's Los Angeles Dodgers, the NHL's Los Angeles Kings, USC and UCLA.
In last week's other programming developments:
* Speedvision announced a year-long programming initiative steered toward NASCAR's 50th anniversary. Speedvision, which dropped the flag on the action Dec. 14 with a two-hour special called How It all Began, will devote one program per month to trace the sport's history.
* International Channel introduced its International Premium Networks package -- five digital, single-language networks that will be offered to subscribers in the U.S.' top 20 DMAs.
* DirecTV signed a production agreement with Warner Bros. Domestic Pay-TV, Cable & Network Features for an exclusive, weekly, half-hour music series, as well as two special-event concerts. The first will air next summer.
* Court TV will launch a new, prime-time series, Greatest Trials of All Time, in March that will include six, one-hour documentaries.
* A venture headed by Mark Graff, the former Graff Pay-Per-View chief, wants to offer access to cable listings and programming through a World Wide Web site. |
