Dealmakers


CATHERINE POWELL Senior vice-president/general manager, media distribution, EMEA, The Walt Disney Company


O CAREER


2003 Joins Disney as creative director, portfolio development group. Other roles have included SVP sales, UK, Ireland, Nordic, Benelux and Israel; and executive director, sales, UK and Ireland 1996-2003 Senior TV sales roles, BBC Worldwide


ne has to listen carefully when talking to Catherine Powell, head of the Europe, Middle


East and Africa media distribution division of The Walt Disney Company. Charming and articulate she may


be, but it’s easy to get lost in the com- plexity of what Powell, and Disney, are trying to achieve in the fi eld of content distribution. “Going back to 2006, we’ve made a concerted effort to take our content


and brands out across a range of digital platforms,” says Powell. “There have been deals with iTunes, Love- Film and a variety of agreements with other groups in the digital on- demand fi eld.” Fundamentally, these deals are


about meeting consumer demand. “It is no longer possible to have a lengthy time-lag between the US launch of a show and the international launch because consumers don’t want to wait. At the same time, consumer needs have shifted in terms of where they want to receive their content, and in what form.”


Meeting the challenges The challenge for Disney, however, has been how to meet that demand without undermining its own busi- ness. There are three risks: fi rst, that collapsing windows might harm dis- tribution revenue streams; second, that making content available in more convenient packages might adversely affect existing businesses like home entertainment; and third, that the licensing of content to on-demand services might lead to Disney content growing aggregator brands at the expense of its own. One way that Disney has tackled the fi rst point is ‘Hot from the US’, a window that allows on-demand part- ners to offer ABC Studios series 24-48 hours after their US broadcast. It is now available on partner platforms in the UK, France, Spain, Germany, Benelux, Nordic and Central & Eastern Europe.


When delivered and marketed correctly, says Powell, “the


HFTUS window can be even bigger than catch-up. For example, on the iTunes store in Germany, the HFTUS window for Lost season six (pictured, left) saw a 13-fold increase in season pass sales and an eight-fold increase in


48 | Broadcast | 30 September 2011 Body Of Proof


episodic sales, compared with season fi ve catch-up.” While it’s a technical and logistical


challenge to deliver content so quickly, Powell says HFTUS has proved to be a valid incremental window and a legiti- mate alternative to piracy. In addition, she says: “We’ve made a real effort to deliver materials for linear broadcast as early as possible [within 48 hours of US TX for English-language and seven days for dubbed]. Perhaps the best example of that was when we rolled out Body Of Proof internation- ally ahead of the US release date.” While the above examples are about


generating revenues around exclusiv- ity and buzz factor, Disney has also been exploring ways to build broad- based subscription products. The best example is ABC TV On Demand, which was launched on BT Vision in the UK last year. Care needs to be taken with a


service like this because of its poten- tial impact on sales of box-sets. “But what is pleasing is the recognition that the ABC brand is getting,” says Powell. “Consumers are linking ABC with quality content.” Where Disney’s activities start to


get really interesting is in volume across platforms. In Belgium, Disney


‘We’re coming to MipCom with a really strong slate. One big


highlight is Missing’ Catherine Powell


is working with Telenet to pilot a multi-screen TV Everywhere approach for Disney Channel and pay features via PC, iPhone and iPad, on its Yelo service. Meanwhile, it has partnered with


French platform Free to launch branded digital TV video stores Dis- neytek and ABCtek – multiplatform entertainment services dedicated to both Disney and ABC programming. Of course, all of the above requires


another balancing act: keeping free- to-air broadcasters stoked up with Disney content. While digital distri- bution is growing in signifi cance, few rights management groups attribute more than about 10% of their revenues to non-standard or emerging models. “We’re coming to MipCom with a


really strong slate,” confi rms Powell. “A big highlight is Missing, the fi rst episode of which will be shown at a special screening.”


www.broadcastnow.co.uk


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