philip lelyveld The world of entertainment technology

Disney, Yahoo Look at Internet TV

Walt Disney Co. is discussing making video from some of its television networks available on sets embedded with Yahoo Inc.'s Internet-TV software, people familiar with the matter said.

Such new offerings would propel Yahoo into a broader battle to use the Internet to bring premium content to digital TVs, amping up the competition with traditional cable-TV and satellite operators.

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But TV networks also fear upsetting the traditional TV ecosystem, which generates tens of billions of dollars a year in advertising and cable subscription fees. Several major networks, including Disney's ABC and News Corp.'s Fox Broadcasting, have gone so far as to block users of Google's new Internet-TV service, Google TV, from free episodes that are available on the networks' websites.

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For Yahoo, Disney is looking to create widgets for its ESPN, ABC, and Disney networks that could pipe video content over the Internet to Yahoo Connected TV sets, the people familiar with the matter said. The widgets haven't been made yet, nor has a final decision been made to use the widgets to transmit video, as opposed to other content, the people said.

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Yahoo also is wooing advertisers to its TV software. The company said Wednesday that Ford Motor Co., Mattel Inc. and Microsoft Corp. are working with Yahoo on interactive TV commercials so, for example, viewers watching a Lincoln car or Barbie commercial would be prompted to click on a widget for more information and online videos.

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