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August 21, 2006
BitTorrent influenced Disney's iTunes move, exec says
ASPEN, Colo. -- Seeing a high-quality copy of "Desperate Housewives" obtained 15 just minutes after the episode's airing was a seminal moment in Disney's corporate decision to offer parts of its content online (via Apple's iTunes store), said Disney exec Anne Sweeney in her keynote address Monday morning here at the Progress & Freedom Foundation's Aspen Summit.
Sweeney, whose numerous titles at Disney include that of president of the company's Disney-ABC television group, told a story about how a celebration of ratings success for "Housewives" was dimmed when a Disney employee showed Sweeney and others a copy of an episode obtained via BitTorrent just 15 minutes after it was broadcast.
Coming "face to face" with the high-quality, commercial-free pirated version, Sweeney said, told Disney that it was not just competing with other broadcasters, but with digital pirates -- and as such was an experience that "prompted us to [eventually] do the iTunes deal with Apple."
Calling the iTunes experiment as well as other online forays a business success -- "we are not cannibalizing our audience; it's additive," Sweeney said, citing company research -- Sweeney said to be on the lookout for a new player and more, more more online content from Disney properties sometime this Fall.
If time permits I will add to this later with more stats from Sweeney's talk, including download numbers; but the most important takeaway was that Disney, she said, doesn't see itself as just a broadcaster or a cable channel, but as a provider of content -- and will do all it can to make that content available to its viewers in whatever form they prefer.
Sound like the start of a revolution to you?
Posted by paul at August 21, 2006 10:03 AM