Just finished listening to Bob Iger’s keynote at the Sanford C. Bernstein Media Symposium, closed to the press but open virtually through the magic of Reg FD. (Scratchy audio, though, and no audio at all for questions from the audience; I’ll add a link when it’s available.) The q-and-a session gave the Disney (NYSE: DIS) CEO the chance to touch on many of the company’s new media initiatives — and to get a few laughs along the way. Some of the highlights:
Virtual worlds: Iger said the Cars virtual world due within the next year will cost millions, not hundreds of millions, to launch, in part, because it uses the infrastructure Disney already has in place: “My guess” is it should be profitable “fairly soon after launch because the investment isn’t tremendous.” He said recent acquisition Club Penguin is already profitable. “We’re growing subscribers nicely since the acquisition and we haven’t even begun to market it aggressively.” (CP launched in the UK today.)
Beyond ABC.com: Asked about ABC’s syndication deal with AOL, (NYSE: TWX) Iger said it boiled down to the need for “more reach than it will get at ABC.com.” They’re being very selective about partnerships, with “fair share of revenue” and “user interface” as criterion.
DVDs vs. downloadsThree aspects in particular still give the DVD an edge: hard-drive capacity, ease of TV hookup, kid-friendly. He mentioned the ability to store only a few movies or shows on iPods and the need to delete to make room for new ones: “If you had bought the DVD and liked the movie you wouldn
Comments have been disabled for this post