Businessweek

The Walt Disney Company, together with its subsidiaries, operates as an entertainment company worldwide. Segments The company operates in five business segments: Media Networks, Parks and Resorts, Studio Entertainment, Consumer Products, and Interactive. MEDIA NETWORKS The Media Networks segment includes international and domestic cable television networks, a domestic broadcast television network, television production operations, domestic and international television distribution, domestic television stations, domestic broadcast radio networks and stations, and publishing and digital operations. Cable Networks The company’s cable networks include ESPN, Disney Channels Worldwide, ABC Family, and SOAPnet. It also operates the UTV/Bindass networks in India. The cable networks group produces its own programs or acquires rights from third-parties to air programs on its networks. The company also has interests in joint ventures that operate cable and broadcast programming services. Cable networks serve cable, satellite, and telecommunications service providers (multi-channel video programming distributors (MVPDs) by offering the right to deliver its programming to their customers and, for certain networks (primarily ESPN and ABC Family), and selling to advertisers time in network programs for commercial announcements. The company also sells programming developed by its cable networks to third parties worldwide in pay and syndication markets, in DVD format and also online to third-party services. ESPN ESPN is a multimedia, multinational sports entertainment company that operates eight 24-hour domestic television sports networks: ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNEWS, ESPN Classic, ESPN Deportes (a Spanish language network), ESPNU (a network devoted to college sports), ESPN 3D, and the regionally focused Longhorn Network (a network dedicated to The University of Texas athletics). ESPN also operates five high-definition television simulcast services, ESPN HD, ESPN2 HD, ESPNEWS HD, ESPNU HD, and ESPN Deportes HD. ESPN programs the sports schedule on the ABC Television Network, which is branded ESPN on ABC. ESPN owns 27 international sports networks reaching households in 190 countries and territories in 11 languages. In addition, ESPN holds a 30% equity interest in CTV Specialty Television, Inc., which owns television networks in Canada, including The Sports Network, The Sports Network 2, Le Reseau des Sports, ESPN Classic Canada, the NHL Network, and Discovery Canada. ESPN holds rights for various professional and college sports programming including the National Football League (NFL), the National Basketball Association (NBA), Major League Baseball (MLB), college football and basketball conferences, National Association of Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR), the Wimbledon Championships, US Open Tennis, and the Masters golf tournament. ESPN also operates ESPN.com, which delivers sports news, information, and video each month through its national hub and six local sites – ESPNBoston.com, ESPNChicago.com, ESPNDallas.com, ESPNDeportesLosAngeles.com, ESPNLosAngeles.com, and ESPNNewYork.com; ESPN3, which is a broadband service available to approximately 70 million subscribers that delivers approximately 4,000 live events annually; ESPN Mobile Properties, which delivers content, including live game coverage, alerts, and highlights, to mobile devices; WatchESPN, which delivers ESPN, ESPN2, and ESPNU content online or through mobile devices. Content is available to consumers who have subscriptions to select MVPDs; ESPN Regional Television, which is a syndicator of collegiate sports programming; the ESPN Radio Network and four owned ESPN Radio stations, which distributes regularly scheduled programming, and the ESPN Radio branded network is carried on approximately 350 stations and ESPN owns stations in New York, Dallas, Chicago, and Los Angeles; ESPN The Magazine, which publishes a bi-weekly sports magazine; and ESPN Enterprises, which develops branded licensing opportunities; and espnW, which provides an online destination for female sports fans and athletes. Disney Channels Worldwide Disney Channels Worldwide is a portfo