MUMBAI: US media conglomerate Disney has announced that Disney Online and Disney Channel are teaming for a new broadband subscription product called Playhouse Disney Preschool Time Online.
This is available for an annual subscription fee of $49.95. Parents can log on to www.preschooltime.com to subscribe to the product or to access a free trial.
Hosted by the character Bear from the show Bear in the Big Blue House, Preschool Time Online was developed in conjunction with educational experts to provide learning and fun while helping preschoolers develop important kindergarten readiness skills. It offers a range of interactive activities such as puzzles and games.
Key features include:
Popular characters from Playhouse Disney series including JoJo’s Circus, Higglytown Heroes, Stanley, plus Winnie the Pooh and Mickey Mouse and Pals, among others.
A sequence of well-rounded interactive activities including puzzles and games that level difficulty based on a child’s performance.
A focus on development of kindergarten readiness skills including letter and number recognition and color and shape identification. For example, a child can learn about numbers with JoJo by popping balloons that are labeled with the number three.
Themes such as “bravery” or “sharing” that are incorporated throughout each sequenced set of activities.
New updates every two weeks that provide a constant source of new, fun learning activities.
Parents’ Corner area where adults can manage multiple children’s profiles and track their child’s activity.
“Playhouse Disney Preschool Time Online allows children to learn through a fun setting where they get to interact with their favorite characters, in a dynamic environment that regularly offers new activities,” said Disney Online EVP & MD Ken Goldstein. “The increase in broadband use in the home has allowed us to offer an experience that combines rich graphics, video content and character voices to capture kids’ imaginations and deliver personalized learning that grows with each individual child.”
Tag: Playhouse
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Playhouse Disney launches broadband service in the US
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Disney to premiere ‘Little Einsteins’ on Playhouse Disney block in October in US
MUMBAI: Disney’s Little Einsteins, an engaging and inspiring new series for preschoolers, will premiere in a special primetime presentation from 9 October on the Disney Channel.
Beginning 10 October, Little Einsteins will air in its regular timeslot, every morning during Disney Channel’s Playhouse Disney programming block.
Developed by The Baby Einstein Company, Playhouse Disney and an acclaimed team of children’s television experts including Eric Weiner, the former executive producer of Dora the Explorer, the highly interactive Little Einsteins series takes young viewers on captivating global adventures that introduce them to nature, world cultures, and enjoyment of the arts.
In an innovative “first” for a preschool show, Little Einsteins blends spectacular live-action images of nature, art and landmarks with 2D character animation.
“Little Einsteins’ accomplishes the remarkable feat of introducing nature and culture to preschoolers through exciting adventures that engage them and will leave lasting impressions. It’s our hope and belief that, among other benefits, Little Einsteins will inspire families to spend meaningful time together enjoying the arts and nature in their own communities,” said Disney Channel senior vice president original programming Nancy Kanter.
Each 24-minute Little Einsteins episode begins with a call to action – or “mission” – which takes its animated protagonists and children at home on a fascinating journey of discovery where they experience different global environments, from the Saharan desert and jungles of Africa to the Arctic and the Great Wall of China.
In addition, a celebrated piece of classical music and a renowned painting or work of world art are intrinsic to every storyline, so that children are familiarised with the sounds, images, words and emotions connected with listening to a symphony or a concerto, or gazing at a landscape painting or a Native American blanket.
The series’ main characters all share a love of music, and use their knowledge and passion to work together and solve the challenges that arise during each Little Einsteins adventure.
The cast of animated characters in Little Einsteins includes four spirited children – Leo, Annie, Quincy and June – who each adore a particular aspect of music. No journey that they go on would be possible without Rocket, the kids’ amazingly versatile and protective “Swiss Army Ship,” who speaks to them in a marimba voice and transports them on their round-the-world adventures.
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Disney revs for India, China may take time: Iger
MUMBAI: Even as Walt Disney is working overtime to have everything in place for what now looks increasingly like a year-end coming out party for its three channels in India, the going is not quite so smooth in neighbouring China.
The timeline of the launch of Disney in India appears to have been advanced to the year-end (December-January) instead of the March-April timeline that was earlier being talked about.
Additionally, the three channels that will be launching are also now clear. The Disney Channel will be the flagship. Alongside it are Toon Disney (to directly take on Cartoon Network) and Playhouse Disney (for pre-schoolers).
And what of the localised version of ABC, which German business daily Handelsblatt had quoted David Hulbert, president Walt Disney Television International, as saying would definitely happen within a year?
The thinking appears to be that with three well entrenched players in Star, Sony and Zee having pretty much carved out most of the ad pickings in the Hindi general entertainment space, that is an idea that can wait.
Meanwhile, regulatory hurdles to starting a television channel in Guangdong may mean a Disney channel in China isn’t imminent, Disney president Robert Iger has been quoted in media reports as saying.
Guangdong is the most open media market in China and has a population of 86 million.
Rivals Viacom and Newscorp are ahead of Disney as far as China ventures are concerned. Viacom expects to launch ventures in Beijing and Shanghai in the near future while Phoenix Satellite Television, 38 per cent owned by News Corp, broadcasts into China from the SAR.
Iger has been quoted as saying in London on 29 September that Disney plans to expand its television presence in China, India and Europe as part of an effort to extend the Disney brand and drive growth in its movie, DVD, theme park and other businesses. The company will start a TV channel in India next year, Iger said.
DISTRIBUTION STILL THE BIG QUESTION
That Disney India has been on an aggressive recruitment drive to shore up its team ahead of the launch of its three channels is well known. But the ad that appeared in a leading pink paper on Tuesday certainly raises some queries.
While the ad Disney placed seeks suitable candidates for the full gamut of channel activities – distribution, ad sales, programming, S&P, legal and finance – the focus was clearly on distribution.
Disney is looking for an India distribution head as well as regional heads (east, west, south, north) who will report to the national head.
It may be just a coincidence, but the attention of indiantelevision.com had been drawn to this very fact earlier by the distribution head of a channel. According to him, this could well point to the possibility of Disney not hitching on to any platform but going it alone the way the just launched Times Group channel Zoom has chosen to do.
What did lend some substance to this thesis were of course the recent recommendations issued by broadcast regulator Trai suggesting that all new pay channels should not be packaged as part of an existing bouquet but should be priced separately.
If implemented, what this would do is remove any advantage that a strong platform will provide a new channel.
Of course, it could also be simply that Disney head Rajat Jain believes that whether on a platform or otherwise, a dedicated distribution team is essential to have a clear handle on the exact status of the channel/s on the distribution front. Having come from Sony, he would obviously be aware of the how NDTV’s channels only picked up after a dedicated distribution team was set up by Dr Prannoy Roy’s network to push the two channels.
For the record, though there is still no official word on the matter, the industry expectation still is that it will be the Star Network wagon that Disney hitches its distribution fortunes to.