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The Disney Interactive Media Group (DIMG, pronounced DIMM-GEE), formerly known as the Walt Disney Internet Group and Disney Interactive Studios, oversees various websites and interactive media owned by The Walt Disney Company and its subsidiaries.^[1]

The division's Disney Online unit operates disney.com, which promotes the Disney theme parks and offers entertainment content intended for children. It also maintains an online presence for Disney's retail operations and it offers wireless phone and data services tailored to families. In addition, DIMG provides technical services for the ABC network, ABC.com and ABCNEWS.com, as well as sports site ESPN.com, and DIMG distributes content to mobile-device users.

The Disney Interactive Media Group generates revenue mainly through advertising sales, sponsorships, subscriptions, and video game sales.

History[link]

The company Starwave merged with Infoseek and was later sold to The Walt Disney company in 1998. The new entity, Walt Disney Internet Group (WDIG) developed the Go.com portal. In 2004, Disney re-activated the Starwave identity as Starwave Mobile, which publishes casual games for mobile phones. On June 5, 2008, Disney Interactive Studios and the Walt Disney Internet Group, merged into a single business unit now known as the Disney Interactive Media Group.^[2][3]

Websites[link]

Disney.com[link]

The latest iteration of Disney.com was launched in February 2007 by DIMG. ^{[4][not in citation given]}

Divisions[link]

DIMG is separated into five divisions.

Disney Interactive Studios offers games based on Disney franchises and new properties, across multiple video game platforms. Previous titles include Pure, SplitSecond and Epic Mickey. Disney Interactive Studios produces console and handheld video games for the Nintendo Wii™, Nintendo DS™, PlayStation®Portable, Xbox 360® video game and entertainment systems, PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system, and the personal computer.

Disney Online Studios produces immersive, online virtual worlds such as Disney Club Penguin, and the World of Cars Online, based on the Disney*Pixar franchise.

Disney Mobile. Through the Tapulous and Disney brands, Disney Mobile offers mobile entertainment content, including music-based games, casual games, franchise apps, digicomics, and informational apps. Disney Mobile titles include Where's My Water? and the Tap Tap franchise.

Disney Online is the Disney online and mobile web gateway. Disney Online offers access to Disney movies, television, games, music, travel, shopping and live events.

Playdom produces a portfolio of casual games for social networks such as Facebook and MySpace.

References[link]

1. ^ "Disney Interactive Media Group Profile" (overview), 2006. Yahoo! Finance
2. ^ Joystiq.com, "Disney's games and internet divisions merging", 2008. Joystiq
3. ^ TechCrunch.com
4. ^ "Disney Online Fact Sheet", 2007. Disney.go.com

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Coordinates: 34°09′52″N 118°22′30″W / 34.16444°N 118.375°W / 34.16444; -118.375

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A media conglomerate, media group or media institution is a company that owns large numbers of companies in various mass media such as television, radio, publishing, movies, and the Internet. Media conglomerates strive for policies that facilitate their control of the markets across the globe.^[1]

According to the 2011 Fortune 500 list, The Walt Disney Company is America's largest media conglomerate in terms of revenue, with News Corporation, Time Warner, CBS Corporation and Viacom completing the top 5.^[2] Other major players are NBCUniversal, and Sony Corporation of America.

Terminology[link]

A conglomerate is, by definition, a large company that consists of divisions of seemingly unrelated businesses.

It is questionable whether media companies are unrelated, as of 2007^[update]. The trend has been strongly for the sharing of various kinds of content (news, film and video, music for example). The media sector is tending to consolidate, and formerly diversified companies may appear less so as a result. Therefore, the term media group may also be applied, however it has not so far replaced the more traditional term.^{[citation needed]}

Criticism[link]

Critics have accused the larger conglomerates of dominating media, especially news, and refusing to publicize or deem "newsworthy" information that would be harmful to their other interests, and of contributing to the merging of entertainment and news (sensationalism) at the expense of tough coverage of serious issues. They are also accused of being a leading force for the standardization of culture (see globalization, Americanization), and they are a frequent target of criticism by various groups which often perceive the news organizations as being biased toward special interests.

There is also the issue of concentration of media ownership, reducing diversity in both ownership and programming (TV shows and radio shows). There is also a strong trend in the U.S. for conglomerates to eliminate localism in broadcasting, instead using broadcast automation and voice tracking, sometimes from another city in another state. Some radio stations use prepackaged and generic satellite-fed programming with no local content, except the insertion of radio ads.

Examples[link]

Some of the most well-known media conglomerates include:

• ABS-CBN Corporation
• Advance Publications
• American Media
• AOL
• Associated Broadcasting Company (TV5) (owned by MediaQuest Holdings, Inc.)
• BBC
• Bell Media (owned by Bell Canada Enterprises)
• Belo
• Bennet Coleman and Co. Ltd (a.k.a. The Times Group, distinct from Times Newspapers of News Corporation)
• Bertelsmann
• Bonnier
• Cablevision
• Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC)
• Clear Channel Communications
• CBS Corporation (owned by National Amusements alongside Viacom)
• Comcast (both through its own media assets & NBCUniversal, co-owned with GE)
• Discovery Communications
• Dogan Group Companies
• E. W. Scripps Company
• Fininvest
• Gannett Company
• GMA Network, Inc.
• Grupo Abril
• Grupo Clarín
• Grupo PRISA
• Grupo Televisa
• Hearst Corporation
• Hubbard Broadcasting
• ION Media Networks
• The Jim Pattison Media Group (division of Jim Pattison Group)
• Lagardère Active (owned by Lagardère Group)
• Liberty Media
• NBCUniversal (co-owned by General Electric & Comcast)
• The New York Times Company
• News Corporation
• Next Media
• Organizações Globo
• Pinadd Global Media Corporation
• Postmedia Network
• Quebecor Media
• Rogers Communications
• Schibsted
• Shaw Communications
• Sinclair Broadcast Group
• Sony Corporation of America (owned by Sony)
• Sun-Times Media Group
• Time Warner
• Time Warner Cable
• Tribune Company
• Vice
• Viacom (owned by National Amusements alongside CBS Corporation)
• Village Voice Media
• Vivendi
• The Walt Disney Company
• The Washington Post Company
• World Wrestling Entertainment (d.b.a. WWE, Inc.)

See also[link]

• Conglomerate (company)
• Concentration of media ownership
• Media imperialism
• Media proprietor
• Multinational corporation
• Lists of corporate assets

Notes[link]

Disney Interactive Studios, Inc. (initially Walt Disney Computer Software, later Disney Interactive and Buena Vista Games, Inc.), is a Worldwide American video game company. It self-publishes and distributes multi-platform video games and interactive entertainment worldwide.

History[link]

Disney Interactive (1995-2003)[link]

In its early period,^[when?] Disney Interactive often worked as a developer rather than a publisher (though it also marketed games on its own for select platforms), establishing development/publishing alliances with interactive-gaming industry leaders such as Sony Computer Entertainment, Nintendo, Activision, Capcom (the most allianced), Konami, Square-Enix and Ubisoft. Disney Interactive dealt with mass-market, global development, publishing and distribution of interactive entertainment software based on its intellectual property (including Disney characters and other franchises).

Buena Vista Games (2003-2007)[link]

To diversify its portfolio, the company re-established itself as Buena Vista Games and divided productions across two publishing labels -- Buena Vista Interactive developed titles across multiple platforms for creative content from the businesses within The Walt Disney Company, and Disney Interactive marketed and distributed children's entertainment and learning software. Buena Vista Games is probably best known for the Kingdom Hearts series along with Japanese developer Square Enix.

Disney Interactive Studios (2007-present)[link]

In 2007, The Walt Disney Company re-merged its productions under the name Disney Interactive Studios. The studio publishes both Disney and non-Disney branded video games for all platforms worldwide, with titles that feature its consumer brands including Disney, ABC, ESPN, Touchstone (which is used as a label for Disney Interactive), and Disney/Pixar. The studio has selectively licensed Disney intellectual property to other video game publishers such as Activision and THQ.

In June 2008, Disney Interactive Studios was spun off of Disney Consumer Products and taken up under the new division Disney Interactive Media Group.^[1]

List of games[link]

The company also publishes games from Q Entertainment worldwide except Asia: Lumines II, the sequel to the puzzle game for the PSP system; Lumines Plus, a new version of Lumines for the PlayStation 2; Every Extend Extra, a puzzle shooter; and a Disney Interactive Studios's Meteos: Disney Edition, the popular Meteos game for the Nintendo DS with Disney characters.

Disney Interactive Studios has also announced the formation of a new development studio Fall Line Studio dedicated to creating games exclusively for Nintendo consoles Wii and Nintendo DS. Fall Line Studio will operate as a sister studio to Avalanche Software, both companies being based out of Salt Lake City. The studio will focus on small-team projects using Disney's brand. Former general manager of Rainbow Studios Scott Novis has been chosen to serve as vice president and general manager of Fall Line Studio.

Disney Interactive Studios has been a strong supporter of Nintendo platforms and is the number three publisher of Game Boy Advance titles in North America. And Fall Line marks the company's plan to cut back on outsourced game development and focus on internally developed software.

The company revealed a line up of games at E3 2006, which include DIE's Turok, a re-imagining of the video game series of the same name and Desperate Housewives: The Game, based on the hit television show.

Disney Interactive Studios is credited in all entries to the Kingdom Hearts franchise, with the original release boxart of each entry to the series having different logos and name of the company seeing as coincedently, the company is re-branded in between the releases. Notably however the company is not credited to actually developing the game.^[2]

Studios[link]

• Avalanche Software, based in Salt Lake City, Utah. Acquired April 2005
• Gamestar, based in China. Acquired 8 April 2008^[3]
• Junction Point Studios, based in Austin, Texas. Acquired 13 July 2007
• Wideload Games, based in Chicago, Illinois. Acquired 8 September 2009
• Tapulous, based in Palo Alto, California. Acquired 1 July 2010
• Playdom, based in Mountain View, California. Acquired 27 July 2010

Former/Defunct[link]

• Propaganda Games, founded in 2005, closed in 2011.
• Black Rock Studio, founded in 1982 as Climax Brighton, acquired September 28, 2006, closed in 2011.

Acquisitions[link]

On the July 13, 2007 it was announced that Disney Interactive Studios had acquired Warren Spector's Junction Point Studios.^[4]

On April 8, 2008 Disney Interactive announced it was acquiring Gamestar, a Chinese game development company.^{[citation needed]}

Fall Line Studios was created as an offshoot from Avalanche Software, but was later folded back into Avalanche.

On September 8, 2009, Disney Interactive announced that it has acquired Wideload Games, the company behind the hit Stubbs the Zombie. Disney is also releasing Split Second, a game for PS3 and Xbox 360.

On July 1, 2010, Disney Interactive announced it had acquired Tapulous, the studio behind the Tap Tap Revenge franchise for iOS.^[5]

Propaganda Games was shut down by Disney on January 19, 2011.^[6]

Black Rock Studios was shut down by Disney in July 2011.^[7]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• Buena Vista Games renamed Disney Interactive Studios

Development studios[link]

• Avalanche Software
• Fall Line Studio
• Propaganda Games
• Black Rock Studio
• Junction Point
• Gamestar
• Wideload Games