Walt Disney Co

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.

The owners of Hulu have taken the pioneering online video site off the market after hoping to fetch $2 billion. News Corp., the Walt Disney Co. and Providence Equity Partners issued a statement Thursday, saying they saw more value in retaining the popular 3-year-old service than in selling it off. "Our focus now rests solely on ensuring that our efforts as owners contribute in a meaningful way to the exciting future that lies ahead for...

Days of tributes and memorials to the 10th anniversary of Sept. 11 may have taken their toll, a surplus of sadness pooling like the waterfalls at the new New York memorial. At least most of the stories showed a merciful precision. Most in the media heaped praise on the right figures -- the Goldman Sachs official who died helping co-workers to safety, the firefighter who led a perilous rescue. That restraint didn't extend, unfortunately, to one media giant's communications. In a video memorializing its $5-million contribution to the National September 11 Memorial & Museum, the Walt Disney Co. put the focus squarely on that unknown 9/11 hero, CEO Robert Iger.

In an effort to strengthen its retail business, Walt Disney Co. has consolidated sales of toys, books, apparel, DVDs and video games under a single division to be headed by Robert Chapek, the newly named president of consumer products. The former distribution chief for Walt Disney Studios will oversee an expanded consumer products group that will handle retail and licensing across the entertainment giant's businesses, from its film units — Pixar Animation Studios, Marvel Entertainment and Disney — to the interactive media and television groups.

Paul Alter, 89, a veteran TV game-show director and producer who won a 1993 lawsuit against the Walt Disney Co. over similarities between a story outline he wrote and the film "Honey, I Blew Up the Kid," died of natural causes Saturday at his home in Los Angeles, his family announced. He was 89. From the early 1950s through 2000, Alter directed TV game shows, including "Family Feud," "I've Got a Secret," "The Price Is Right," "To Tell the Truth" and "What's My Line?" He won Daytime Emmy Awards for directing in 1982 for "Family Feud" and in 1996 for "The Price Is Right.

David Rone, a former agent at Creative Artists Agency and senior executive at Fox Sports and Walt Disney Co., is joining Time Warner Cable as president of sports. The move further signifies Time Warner Cable's desire to become a force in sports programming. This year, Time Warner Cable snagged the television rights to the Los Angeles Lakers away from Fox Sports and is using the team as the foundation to launch a regional sports network in Southern California. But Rone's background and stature in the media industry is too big for one channel.

Walt Disney Co. Chief Executive Robert A. Iger commanded a 35% jump in salary and bonuses in 2010, rewarding what the board of directors' compensation committee called his "exceptional performance" in the face of a slow-recovering U.S. economy. Iger's salary and bonus reached nearly $16.3 million, up from $12 million a year earlier. His total compensation, including equity awards, reached $28 million, according to the company's proxy filed Friday with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Walt Disney Co. signed an agreement with a company operated by the Shanghai government Friday to build a long-awaited theme park in the commercial capital of China, both parties said. The signing, 15 years after the two sides first opened discussions on the project, moves the $3.6-billion Shanghai Disneyland closer to becoming a reality. The deal was struck with Shanghai Shen Di Group Co., a municipal company registered in August and inaugurated Friday that will serve as Disney's joint partner in the joint venture.

Two prominent California High-Speed Rail Authority leaders who are already under scrutiny for holding potentially "incompatible" public offices have received tens of thousands of dollars in consulting fees from firms with financial interests in the $43-billion project. Rail board chairman and Anaheim Mayor Curt Pringle, a public affairs consultant, has been an advisor to a major construction supplier that owns property along proposed bullet train routes, records and interviews show.

ESPN's World Cup soccer coverage and the strong box-office performance of films including Disney/Pixar Animation Studios' "Toy Story 3" helped buoy Walt Disney Co.'s bottom line in the third quarter. The media giant reported a 40% jump in earnings to $1.3 billion, up from $954 million a year earlier. Revenue reached $10 billion for the three-month period ending July 3, an increase of 16% from a year ago. In a call with analysts, Walt Disney Co. Chief Executive Robert A. Iger highlighted the film studio's summer performance, noting that it released three of the top five films worldwide in "Toy Story 3," Disney's "Alice in Wonderland" and Marvel Entertainment's "Iron Man 2. " The three pictures not only were a financial success but also have fueled other businesses such as merchandise sales, he said.