: Updated: The Walt Disney Company has traded its claim on sportscaster Al Michaels to NBC Universal for a package including programming, promotional rights — and rights to the historical 1927 cartoon series featuring Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. Walt Disney created the character and produced 29 26 Oswald cartoons for Universal, which owned all the rights; the loss of Oswald led to his creation of Mickey Mouse.
More seriously, ESPN scores an immediate boost with the right to expanded video highlights for ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNEWS for the Olympics starting with the 2006 Winter Olympics and running through 2012 Summer Olympics.
— ESPN also picks up some live Ryder Cup coverage and ancillary programming rights; expanded highlights for other high-profile NBC Sports events; and promotions of Monday Night Football on ESPN during NBC’s Sunday primetime game.
– The ESPN portion doesn’t include mobile or online rights.
Also, for those following Disney CEO Bob Iger’s moves, this from the Disney press release: “‘When Bob was named CEO, he told me he wanted to bring Oswald back to Disney, and I appreciate that he is a man of his word,’ said Walt Disney’s daughter Diane Disney Miller.”
Subscriber content
?
Subscriber content comes from Gigaom Research, bridging the gap between breaking news and long-tail research. Visit any of our reports to learn more and subscribe.
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Comments have been disabled for this post