Michael Eisner
In discussing the state of your company, it is important to differentiate between the short-term challenges that we have already referenced and the long-term opportunities to build shareholder value. The fact is that we are remarkably well- positioned for strong and sustained growth once the current difficulties have passed.
In a moment, we're going to walk you through what is being achieved in each of our business units. But, first, we'd like to discuss the company as a whole. We believe Disney is at a very opportune time, primarily for two reasons.
First of all, we have two of the strongest and most beloved brands in the entertainment industry -- -- Disney and ESPN. Families embrace Disney, while sports fans love ESPN. It's as simple as that. These two brands account for roughly 65% of the company's revenues.
Secondly, at our company, the past number of years has been a time of major investment, primarily to build and strengthen the Disney and ESPN brands, and position the company for long-term growth.
For the Disney brand, we have:
Grown the domestic Disney Channel from 15 million subscribers to more than 80 million.
Internationally, we've more than tripled our Disney Channel subscribers from just over 6 million to 19 million households, with 12 channels reaching 69 countries.
In just five years, Toon Disney has grown to a subscriber base of 37 million homes.
Radio Disney, launched in 1996, is now heard on 51 stations in nearly 60% of the country, including KADZ-AM and KDDZ-AM here in Denver.
Disney Theatrical Productions has gone from one show -- -- "Beauty and the Beast" -- to three Broadway hits -- "Beauty," "Aida" and "The Lion King" -- which can now be seen in 14 productions in seven countries . . . and "Aida" is returning to Denver this August.
In addition to our feature animated films, such as "The Lion King," "Toy Story," "Tarzan," "Lilo & Stitch" and the upcoming "Finding Nemo," Disney Animation has put out 15 animated sequels theatrically or direct-to-video, including the recent success, "Jungle Book II" . . . and this weekend we're releasing a "Winnie the Pooh" sequel -- "Piglet's Big Movie."
Disney Internet Group has branched out into the world of telecommunications and is providing Disney-branded content to more than 20 major cellular telephone and pager services.
In Florida, we launched the highly successful Disney Cruise Line.
The Walt Disney Studios has broadened the audience for family- oriented Disney live action films with hits like "Remember the Titans," "The Princess Diaries," "The Rookie" and "The Santa Clause."
And, around the world, we have opened four new theme parks since 1996 and added 8,500 hotel rooms, with 115,000 square feet of convention space just in Orlando.
Robert A. Iger, president & COO
As we have expanded the Disney brand with all of these varied initiatives, we have worked equally hard to build ESPN's market position and brand power.
In 1996, ESPN had two domestic networks. Today, there are four domestic ESPN networks and 87 million people in the U.S. interact with an ESPN media brand every week.
ESPN International now reaches 120 million homes in 147 countries and territories.
ESPN.com is the leading stand-alone sports site, attracting as many as 15 million unique users a month..
ESPN The Magazine, launched in 1998, now has 1.7 million subscribers, representing one of the most successful magazine launches in history.
ESPN Radio, has grown to more than 700 stations, including 220 affiliates broadcasting ESPN full time.
We have developed the ESPN Zones, and they are now in eight cities around the country, including one just less than a mile from here.
ESPN has developed the X Games, with the Winter X games having just taken place in Aspen.
We are about to launch ESPN HD, for sports telecasts in high- definition TV and, at the end of the year, we will launch of ESPN Deportes, a 24-hour Spanish-language sports network.
As you can see, the ESPN of today has much greater breadth and depth than it did just a few years ago.