Disney Channel Goes Free in Spain; Kingdom Comics Created
Disney has decided to offer the Disney Channel over terrestrial digital broadcasts in Spain. According to the Wall Street Journal, Spain has a very low penetration for cable television subscribers. This limits the market that Disney can reach through cable in that market. However, the Spanish government plans to move all broadcast channels to digital by 2010.
The channel will be supported entirely by advertising. Disney Channel does not expect to roll this strategy out elsewhere in Europe, where cable subscription rates are greater.
Disney Creates Kingdom Comics
Not surprisingly, Disney intends to extend its entertainment reach to new media (to the company) by founding Kingdom Comics. The cross fertilization will go both ways as re-imagining and rejuvenating motion pictures from the Disney live-action Vault will be a task for the new comic company.
Oren Aviv, president, Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures Production said that some of the graphic novels, “will be inspired by films and characters in the vast and storied Disney library, while other original graphic novels are sure to spark great ideas for future Disney classics. Our vision for Kingdom Comics is to bring a fresh, contemporary approach to Disney properties that already have a strong connection with moviegoers and readers all over the world, and to add to that storytelling legacy.”
That screams “re-tread” for much of the first few products to come out of Kingdom Comics with the hope that any new graphic novels will catch on enough to produce a “300″ for Disney Studios. As the comic industry starts to slow, the movie industry’s reliance on comics grows (as demonstrated by this summer’s blockbusters). It will be interesting to see the development of this project.
If you enjoyed this post, please consider to leave a comment or subscribe to the feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader.
Comments
No comments yet.
Leave a comment