Disney Channel

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.

Overcoming its disastrous film flop "John Carter," Walt Disney Co. reported strong quarterly earnings, helped by robust television and theme park income, and forecast a rosy future with plans for a sequel to its current hit, "The Avengers. " Disney posted quarterly net income of $1.14 billion, or 63 cents a share, a 21% increase from a profit of $942 million, or 49 cents a share, a year earlier. Revenue rose 6% to $9.6 billion for the second quarter ended March 31 compared with the same quarter last year.

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.

"Gravity Falls" doesn't sound like classic Disney animation. The new cartoon comedy series follows twins Dipper and Mabel, whose school vacation plans are dashed when their parents ship them off to spend the summer with cranky old Uncle Stan in Gravity Falls, Ore., where pterodactyls swoop overhead and gnomes plot to abduct Mabel and make her their queen. "Disney wasn't the first place I would have thought of going to," said the show's creator, Alex Hirsch, who grew up watching Fox's irreverent animated comedy "The Simpsons.

"Gravity Falls" doesn't sound like classic Disney animation. The new cartoon comedy series follows twins Dipper and Mabel, whose school vacation plans are dashed when their parents ship them off to spend the summer with cranky old Uncle Stan in Gravity Falls, Ore., where pterodactyls swoop overhead and gnomes plot to abduct Mabel and make her their queen. "Disney wasn't the first place I would have thought of going to," said the show's creator, Alex Hirsch, who grew up watching Fox's irreverent animated comedy "The Simpsons.

The alley behind the theater erupted into shrieks Wed- nesday night after band members stepped out of the stage door and walked to their cars. A crush of girls pressed up against the razor-wire fence; some lobbed roses and stuffed animals over the barrier. Then the screaming mob dashed into the street for one last glimpse as the police-escorted motorcade drove off. A scene from "A Hard Day's Night"? Nope. This is Jonas mania, not Beatlemania.

"Disney Drive-In," the Disney Channel's new Saturday afternoon showcase, is supposed to be for the kids. But don't tell that to baby boomers. For anyone who grew up in the '50s and '60s, "Disney Drive-In" is a trip down memory lane and a chance to visit such old friends as Spin, Marty, Moochie, Annette and the Hardy Boys. Beginning this week, the Disney Channel will offer old-fashioned movie matinee entertainment.

Walt Disney Co., in a move that many in the industry didn't foresee, tapped an executive with extensive international experience to run the Disney Channel, underscoring the role of global markets in the network's future. Carolina Lightcap, credited with building Disney Channel into one of Latin America's top cable networks, Tuesday was named president of Disney Channels Worldwide. She succeeds Rich Ross, who left in October to take over as chairman of Walt Disney Studios. Many speculated that the top Disney Channel job would go to its entertainment chief, Gary Marsh, a well-regarded executive responsible for developing several successful Disney properties, including "Hannah Montana" and "High School Musical."

If dying is easy and comedy is hard, then writing comedy for Disney Channel must be harder still. Take the biology joke originally considered for the network's new sitcom "Good Luck Charlie," which is slated to premiere in the spring. A teenage girl and her "hot" classmate are snuggled on the couch during a study date. When he reaches to turn off the light, she was to say: "Now I'm in the mood for some biology." The line received a hearty laugh at a table reading but also raised the eyebrows of Adam Bonnett, Disney Channel's senior vice president of original series, who jokingly asked the show's creative team if they could convey the same information without being "so . . . biological."

Walt Disney Co. says it plans to launch a broadcast version of Disney Channel in Russia next year, enabling the entertainment giant to deliver its family programming to about 40 million households in the increasingly important market. Disney will acquire a 49% stake in Seven TV network, a national TV network in Russia, enabling it to air Disney Channel programming on broadcast stations in 54 urban markets, including Moscow and St. Petersburg, as well as in rural areas. The company did not disclose financial terms.

Entertainment giant Walt Disney Co. has struck a deal enabling Comcast Corp. cable customers access to all its popular channels — including ESPN, ABC, ABC Family and the Disney Channel — from portable devices and video-on-demand services. The comprehensive 10-year agreement announced Wednesday underscores how entrenched media giants are lining up to protect the decades-old pay-TV business model. Several years ago, entertainment companies were divided on whether to offer some of their most valuable programming free on the Internet, through services such as Hulu, in hopes of attracting younger viewers and advertising dollars.

Walt Disney Co. reported strong fourth-quarter earnings, buoyed by gains at Disney Channel and ESPN and at the Burbank company's theme parks. The entertainment giant reported net income of $1.08 billion for the quarter ending Oct. 1, a jump of 30% compared with a year earlier. Revenue also rose 7% to $10.4 billion. Disney achieved record revenue, net income and earnings per share for fiscal 2011. Net income for the year reached $5.26 billion on revenue of nearly $41 billion.

Walt Disney Co. says it plans to launch a broadcast version of Disney Channel in Russia next year, enabling the entertainment giant to deliver its family programming to about 40 million households in the increasingly important market. Disney will acquire a 49% stake in Seven TV network, a national TV network in Russia, enabling it to air Disney Channel programming on broadcast stations in 54 urban markets, including Moscow and St. Petersburg, as well as in rural areas. The company did not disclose financial terms.

There was always an excuse — a friend to see, a meeting to take, sleep to catch up on. Only a year ago, Demi Lovato was one of Disney's most bankable teen stars, her every move scrutinized by a team of attentive handlers. Yet when an eating disorder and self-mutilation threatened to derail her career, not even her team could see past her sanguine veneer. "I had learned how to control and manipulate everyone around me into believing that I was OK," recalled Lovato, who rose to fame as the star of the popular Disney Channel series "Sonny With a Chance.

Los Angeles Times In the second top-management shake-up this month at Walt Disney Co., the executive in charge of the entertainment giant's powerful Disney Channel is leaving the company after less than two years on the job. The departure of Carolina Lightcap, president of Disney Channels Worldwide, comes on the heels of the abrupt resignation last week of Disney Consumer Products Chairman Andy Mooney. Taking over for Lightcap is Disney Channel veteran Gary Marsh, who was president of entertainment and chief creative officer for Disney Channels Worldwide.

Raven-Symoné, the adorable moppet of "The Cosby Show" who years later became a squeaky-clean fixture on the Disney Channel, is so not that Raven anymore. In one scene on her new ABC Family show, "State of Georgia," Raven-Symoné's character, aspiring actress Georgia Chamberlain, tries to seduce an obnoxious casting director into letting her audition for the devil/vamp role of Lola in "Damn Yankees. " At one point, she presents him with a fried chicken dinner, even making suggestive jokes about breasts.

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.

Children in Middletown who tuned in to "Handy Manny" on the Disney Channel instead got hard-core pornography. Comcast was investigating how the porn was broadcast Tuesday morning during the popular cartoon, which is about a bilingual handyman, Manny Garcia, and his talking tools.

Walt Disney Studios is hoping to score a date with an audience it long has found elusive — teenage girls — with "Prom," a coming-of-age story that opens Friday. The $8 million film, among the first to be put into production by studio Chairman Rich Ross, is a more mature take on teen life than the "High School Musical" franchise he oversaw during his tenure at Disney Channel. But in adhering to the family-friendly Disney brand, "Prom" omits the naughtier aspects of the big night, specifically drinking and sex. Some question whether this chaste portrayal will ring true with the teen audience the studio is courting.

Once upon a time, according to Disney's upcoming show "Jake and the Never Land Pirates," there was a lonely little boy who wanted to be invited to play with the other children. But he never was. And years later, when the boy became a man, he was better known as Captain Hook. This simple tale of social ethics is what the preschool set will begin seeing more of from the Disney Channel in the coming months and years. As the company officially retires its longtime, preschool-oriented "Playhouse Disney" and replaces it with "Disney Junior" on Monday, the fresh name will usher in a new emphasis within its preschool programming, one that cares less about teaching rudimentary academics and more about imparting social values.