Disney’s Sweeney: Digital technology has unleashed the power of television
October 6, 2011
From Colin Mann @ MIPCOM
Rather than disrupt television, digital technology has transformed it, according to Anne Sweeney, Co-Chair, Disney Media Networks and President, Disney-ABC Television Group.
Delivering the MIPCOM Personality of the Year Keynote Address, Sweeney said that Disney would continue to be a content creator and technology innovator, and recognised that the broadcast industry was now doing things you couldn’t imagine “even a couple of years ago”.
Noting the company’s initial foray into digital content distribution with iTunes in 2005, Sweeney said the company had never looked back and had leveraged technology to create new ways to give viewers what they want, while protecting its content from piracy and generating additional revenue. “As a result, the line between content and technology is blurring. We’re working together to create seamless viewing experiences that can be increasingly personalised by consumers,” she said.
Suggesting that “digital didn’t weaken the power of television, it unleashed it,” Sweeney said that Disney was giving people more quality and options than ever before. “And they’re responding, tuning in, logging on, downloading, streaming, buying, renting, devouring our content any way they can get it.
“Digital technology has unleashed our power to provide a great personal experience for every single viewer in the world.. and every new opportunity we create for viewers creates new revenue streams, for our businesses and our partners throughout the world,” she stated.
“By working together to build a common ground where creative content and innovative technology meet, we’ve taken TV out of the box, and set it free to be so much more,” she said, adding that in the process, “we’ve created the opportunity to define our own destiny, and to build businesses that are bigger, more dynamic and more profitable than we ever imagined.
“The future of television is unknown, because its potential is now unlimited,” she concluded.