PALOS VERDES, Calif.--"I don't speak for Hollywood," Disney boss Robert Iger said when questioned by Kara Swisher here today at the D9 conference
But from Disney's perspective, Iger sees new platforms (the cloud, the Net, social platforms) as great opportunities for the company. "We're in the content business," he said. "There's no question it provides challenges to old business models, but we were in businesses that were relatively low-growth, and had not changed in a long time."
When he saw the emergence of new tech platforms--Iger used the term "the video iPhone"--he said his realizing was, "Wait a minute, this is VHS," referring to the last non-Internet sea change to hit the television industry.
"There's going to be displacement of consumption...the opportunities to be entertained in the home are so much greater today." But, he said, they're all incremental opportunities for content companies.
So how will Disney keep its content profitable on these new media platforms?
"We view Netflix positively," he began, "It's a good provider for our content to be accessible on," even though some content goes through Disney's deal with Starz on the way to Netflix. Disney also has a direct relationship with Netflix. Also, "We like Hulu for a number of reasons, and not just because we're an equity partner." Iger said that the more content distribution… Read more