Disney Investor Relations - Annual Report 2003

The company’s cable networks group develops and manages Disney’s worldwide cable television programming. A broad and deep set of businesses that are efficient and profitable vehicles for growth, Disney’s cable holdings encompass ESPN, Disney Channel, ABC Family, Toon Disney and SOAPnet; the company’s equity interests in Lifetime, A&E, The History Channel and E! Entertainment; and Disney’s children’s television programming on multiple television outlets, including ABC Kids on the ABC Television Network.

The business unit has become an important new engine of franchise growth and a valuable synergy partner for the company. Recent hit programming such as ESPN Original Entertainment’s movies and series and Disney Channel’s Lizzie McGuire, Disney’s Kim Possible, Rolie Polie Olie and Stanley have turned into profitable franchises for other divisions of the company through feature films, theme park attractions, records, books, merchandise and other products.

Toon Disney and SOAPnet are leveraging existing Disney content into new business opportunities and are among the fastest-growing and most popular cable networks in the United States.

Disney’s international cable holdings include 22 Disney Channels, three Playhouse Disney channels, three Toon Disney channels, and more than a dozen Fox Kids channels, as well as 25 ESPN cable networks and syndicated programming in 140 countries and territories. In 2003, Disney Channels were launched in Denmark, Norway, Sweden, New Zealand and Japan.

Walt Disney Television Animation was integrated into the cable networks group in 2003, bringing programming and production expertise together under the same leadership. The television animation studio is more active than at any other time in its 20-year history, with three television series in production, including Disney’s Kim Possible, Lilo & Stitch: The Series, and Dave the Barbarian, which premiered in January 2004, and more than a dozen other projects in development.

executive photo
Left to right: Deborah Blackwell, senior vice president and general manager, SOAPnet – Jonathan Barzilay, senior vice president and general manager, Toon Disney and ABC Kids – Barry Blumberg, president, Walt Disney Television Animation – Anne Sweeney, president, ABC Cable Networks Group and Disney Channel Worldwide – David Hulbert, president, Walt Disney Television International – Rich Ross, president, entertainment, Disney Channel.

executive photo
Left to right: John Skipper, executive vice president, ESPN.com and ESPN The Magazine – Ed Erhardt, president, ESPN ABC Sports customer marketing and sales – Sean Bratches, executive vice president, affiliate sales and marketing – Lee Ann Daly, senior vice president, marketing – George Bodenheimer, president, ESPN and ABC Sports – Russell Wolff, senior vice president and managing director, ESPN International – Christine Driessen, executive vice president and chief financial officer – Mark Shapiro, executive vice president, programming and production – Ed Durso, executive vice president, administration.