Sunday April 10, 2005
By GARY GENTILE
AP Business Writer
LOS ANGELES (AP) The Walt Disney Co. is expanding its broadband offerings for kids, adding activities for preschoolers and planning a second multiplayer online game aimed at teens.
Disney's Internet Group will launch a paid preschool broadband service this summer, featuring guided activities and games hosted by the lead character from ``Bear in the Big Blue House.''
The service, called ``Playhouse Disney Preschool Time Online,'' is meant for children ages three to five and their parents. Activities will center on a weekly theme or ``episode,'' such as ``friendship'' or ``sharing.''
The service will include puzzles, games and learning activities designed to prepare kids for kindergarten, the company said. It will also include an area for parents that allows them to track their child's activity. The service will be offered at $49.95 per year.
The offering is part of a larger strategy to expand the company's high-speed Internet offerings for kids of all ages.
``The release of 'Playhouse Disney' allows us to accomplish something we've wanted to do for a long time move toward an age-banded, segmented product strategy,'' said Ken Goldstein, executive vice president and managing director of Disney Online.
Disney already has free games and activities on the Web fashioned after its popular ``Playhouse Disney'' block of programming on the cable television Disney Channel. That part of Disney's Web site attracts about 1 million unique visitors each week, Goldstein said.
Disney launched ``Toontown,'' its first multiplayer online game, in 2003. The game is written for children 8-year-olds and older and pits cartoon characters against a race of evil robots, called ``Cogs,'' who are out to take the fun out of Toontown.
The game costs $79.95 for one year or $9.95 per month.
With the addition of its preschool offering, Disney will reposition its existing subscription ``Disney Blast'' Internet service for kids in early elementary school, the group between ``Playhouse Disney'' and ``Toontown.''
Disney is also planning a second multiplayer online game for preteens and teens later this year, giving it four paid broadband offerings.
(Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
By GARY GENTILE
AP Business Writer
LOS ANGELES (AP) The Walt Disney Co. is expanding its broadband offerings for kids, adding activities for preschoolers and planning a second multiplayer online game aimed at teens.
Disney's Internet Group will launch a paid preschool broadband service this summer, featuring guided activities and games hosted by the lead character from ``Bear in the Big Blue House.''
The service, called ``Playhouse Disney Preschool Time Online,'' is meant for children ages three to five and their parents. Activities will center on a weekly theme or ``episode,'' such as ``friendship'' or ``sharing.''
The service will include puzzles, games and learning activities designed to prepare kids for kindergarten, the company said. It will also include an area for parents that allows them to track their child's activity. The service will be offered at $49.95 per year.
The offering is part of a larger strategy to expand the company's high-speed Internet offerings for kids of all ages.
``The release of 'Playhouse Disney' allows us to accomplish something we've wanted to do for a long time move toward an age-banded, segmented product strategy,'' said Ken Goldstein, executive vice president and managing director of Disney Online.
Disney already has free games and activities on the Web fashioned after its popular ``Playhouse Disney'' block of programming on the cable television Disney Channel. That part of Disney's Web site attracts about 1 million unique visitors each week, Goldstein said.
Disney launched ``Toontown,'' its first multiplayer online game, in 2003. The game is written for children 8-year-olds and older and pits cartoon characters against a race of evil robots, called ``Cogs,'' who are out to take the fun out of Toontown.
The game costs $79.95 for one year or $9.95 per month.
With the addition of its preschool offering, Disney will reposition its existing subscription ``Disney Blast'' Internet service for kids in early elementary school, the group between ``Playhouse Disney'' and ``Toontown.''
Disney is also planning a second multiplayer online game for preteens and teens later this year, giving it four paid broadband offerings.
(Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
