Yahoo Connected TV Hooking Up With Disney

According to The Wallstreet Journal, Yahoo and Walt Disney Co. are joining forces to provide programming for internet TV. The Disney Co. is reportedly discussing making video from some of its television networks available on sets embedded with Yahoo Inc.’s Internet-TV software.

New offerings like that could amp up the competition between Yahoo and other cable-TV and satellite operators. Other companies (like Apple, Google and Cisco) have also joined in the race, with ways to combine internet video and regular TV, including creating separate devices that attach to cable boxes and building software into cable boxes and new TV sets

Yahoo Connected TV software is built into a wide array of TV sets and the products allows media companies to create widgets, which people can use as they watch TV. Until recently though, Yahoo’s widgets don’t offer much free video from TV networks.

Disney is looking to create widgets for its ESPN, ABC, and Disney networks for Yahoo. These widgets would supply video content over the internet to Yahoo Connected TV sets. For instance, an ESPN widget could include short clips with scores and statistical information. The Disney widget might include items such as movie trailers or clips from Disney Channel. While the ABC widget could offer limited content from TV shows, though it’s still clear if the network would offer full episodes. However, any video offering might be limited, in part because Disney is wary of piracy and of upsetting cable distributors. The new Disney widgets would be free to consumers, as part of a broader advertising agreement with Yahoo.

Talk of these widgets might be too early though, as they haven’t been made yet, nor has a final decision been made to use the widgets to transmit video.

With all this talk of downloading content, TV networks are still afraid of upsetting the traditional TV ecosystem. Currently traditional TV generates tens of billions of dollars a year in advertising and cable subscription fees. Disney’s ABC and News Corp.’s Fox Broadcasting have gone so far as to block users of Google TV from watching free episodes of shows available on networks’ websites.

Google had this to say:

“We’re in the early stages of Google TV and are excited to see new products bring the Web to the living room. As the market and the products continue to mature, we’re confident that all content owners will see the value of Web-enabled TVs for the consumer and the promise they hold.”

More than 100 free applications have been created for Yahoo Connected TV by companies such as Facebook, Twitter and Amazon.

Yahoo is also reportedly wooing advertisers to its TV software. The company said Ford, Mattel and Microsoft are working with them on creating interactive TV commercials. With these commercials up and running, viewers watching a Barbie commercial, for example, would be prompted to click on a widget for more information and online
videos.

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