Sky Selects Disney For Interactive Games Service

BSkyB has secured a deal with The Walt Disney Company to launch a Disney branded games service on its Gamestar interactive platform.

The venture will see the new service, dubbed Disney Channel Play, being made available to all of Sky Digital’s 7 million customers through the Disney Channel, or via Sky’s existing Gamestar service.

Content will be closely linked to that of the Disney Channel, featuring well-known brands and characters including Aladdin and Lilo & Stitch. All games can be sampled free of charge, but viewers must pay for the chance to play them for longer on a per-play or per-day basis.

Commenting on the collaboration, John Hardie, senior vice president and managing director of Disney Branded TV Europe, Middle East and Africa, said: “This represents another extension to our successful partnership with Sky, as well as our existing and already popular enhanced TV applications behind the Disney Channel. Sky’s leading position in iTV allows us to bring this exciting service to life.”

Attila Gazdag, vice president and managing director for the Walt Disney Internet Group Europe, said the new service was a natural extension to the company’s existing portfolio of interactive assets in the UK, such as its multi-player game ToonTown online, as well as several mobile games.

Sky’s Gamestar already provides viewers with more than twenty-five games, a figure set to be expended with its latest deal. Disney’s four channels in the UK, Disney Channel, Disney Channel +1, Playhouse Disney, and Toon Disney, will each offer the new service.

Sky: 08702 40 40 40 www.sky.com

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