Disney Channel

When 14-year-old Ashley Rosario went looking for her favorite Cartoon Network shows such as "Chowder" and "The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack" and instead found reality programs, she did what any normal teenager does these days. She made a video complaining about it and posted it on YouTube. "I'm scared for Cartoon Network," said Ashley, of Melbourne, Fla., adding that she was "outraged" by the channel's new direction and that she wasn't "the only one who feels this way." She's right.

Miley Cyrus' provocative performance during Monday night's "Teen Choice Awards," in which she wore short shorts and boots and at one point straddled a pole, has set off a firestorm on the Internet over whether the act was appropriate for a 16-year-old entertainer in front of a youthful audience. On YouTube and on Twitter, followers of the Disney Channel series "Hannah Montana" debated whether Miley was doing a pole dance on top of a moving ice cream pushcart or was simply hanging on to the pole for balance.

Rich Ross, the television executive who helped revive the moribund Disney Channel, now has to prove he can work movie magic at Walt Disney Studios. The 47-year-old former talent department head has been tapped by Walt Disney Co. Chief Executive Robert A. Iger to fill the post formerly held by Dick Cook, who was ousted as chairman of the studio Sept. 18 after clashing with his boss and failing to deliver enough hits over the last year. Iger will look to Ross to reinvigorate Disney's flagging box-office fortunes and develop film franchises that can be sold across the entertainment giant's lines of businesses -- including theme parks, consumer products and television -- as well as grapple with a host of technological issues that are quickly reshaping Hollywood.

As the Jonas Brothers took the stage at the Dallas Convention Center on Nov. 18, 2006, the group had little to sing about. The band's advocate at Columbia Records had left and the label was dropping them. Few gigs loomed on the horizon. But the crowd at the Radio Disney 10th anniversary concert was oblivious to the Jonases' travails. As the group sang "Year 3000," a hit on the station, the audience responded with shrieking enthusiasm.

How is there not an "Oh No You Di'nt!" awards show in real life? It exists on "Sonny With a Chance," the new Demi Lovato vehicle on the Disney Channel (Sundays at 8 p.m.), and like many things on this sitcom, which sends up Young Hollywood in ways only Old Hollywood might appreciate, it's modern and funny and knowing and, ultimately, true.

The Disney Channel is headed for Russian television. A unit of Burbank-based Walt Disney Co. has formed a joint venture with Media-One Holdings Ltd. to start a Russian version of the family channel on 30 stations throughout the country. Anchored by familiar Disney Channel shows for kids and families such as "Hannah Montana" and "Wizards of Waverly Place," dubbed in Russian, the venture also plans to create original Russian programming.

Walt Disney Co. Chief Executive Bob Iger must act quickly to replace studio head Dick Cook to avoid further destabilizing the Burbank-based movie operation. Cook's abrupt departure Friday is upsetting employees, many of whom are finding it difficult to focus on work because they are anxious about their future. In addition, stars and filmmakers do not like to face uncertainty and want assurances that their projects will remain on track. Iger is not tipping his hand about whom he will name to fill the job. One executive that's a subject of speculation is Disney Channel President Rich Ross.

Walt Disney Co. exceeded analysts' recession-clouded projections Tuesday, reporting a 9% increase in revenue fueled by the Disney Channel's popular "Hannah Montana" and "High School Musical" franchises, surging consumer products sales and gains at its theme parks. Disney Chief Financial Officer Thomas O. Staggs sought to allay investor concerns about the weakening economy's potential effect on the theme-park business, which took a hit during the 1991 and 2001 recessions.

By all rights, Deborah Gregory should be sitting pretty: As a first-time author, she wrote the Cheetah Girls novels, a bubbly, 16-book series that became hugely popular with American tweens and teens. And she appeared to hit an even bigger jackpot when she sold the dramatic rights to the Disney Channel. Her breezy, street-smart tales of five girls chasing pop music careers were turned into two hit television movies, and a third is now being filmed in India.

Few people would mistake Albuquerque as the happiest place on Earth. But the city -- the setting (if not the actual filming location) for the fictional East High from one of Walt Disney Co.'s hottest franchises, "High School Musical" -- seemed an appropriate place for President and Chief Executive Robert Iger to tout the year's accomplishments to shareholders. The reserved yet affable Iger has plenty to celebrate. The annual return to shareholders over the last five years was 15.