Audio Video News

Fear that its programming will be given short shrift by the combined might of America Online and Time Warner has led the <A HREF="http://www.disney.com/">Walt Disney Company</A> to lobby US lawmakers about the media giants' impending merger. Disney has made quiet but persistent efforts to influence legislators who must approve the merger, according to several reports appearing in late March.

The battle of the giants continued in late October as <A HREF="http://www.disney.com/">Walt Disney Company</A> filed another complaint with the <A HREF="http://www.fcc.gov/">Federal Communications Commission</A> over a proposed merger between Time Warner and America Online. This time, Disney is protesting that the companies will keep competitors from using AOL/TW-controlled interactive-TV services

In the film industry as elsewhere, digital technology marches on. Eventually, movies will be downloaded to theaters by satellite, as they are now to many private homes. Film reels delivered by truck will become as anachronistic as excursions through the countryside on steam locomotives. Now, one of Hollywood's oldest and most important film studios has seen the light and formed a division to steer it in this direction.

Download the Disney Second Screen app and you'll be able to sync a broadband-connected computer or iPad to the movie as it plays on your primary video display. Then you can "dive deeper into the film by engaging with fun interactive elements like animated flipbooks, galleries, photos, trivia, and more," says the press release.