Disney CEO Bob Iger’s keynote is underway, kicking off literally with an intro for “Monday Night Keynote.” Only a few minutes in and we’ve seen a snippet of an upcoming Disney pic – Ratatouille – and now the audience is laughing at the “finale” for Lost – featuring Jack Sparrow as the love interest. In between, Iger wasted no time in reminding the audience of one of his crusades: windowing. Iger: “The best way to combat piracy is to bring content to market on a well-timed, well-priced basis.”
-- Iger interviewed two of the stars from “Lost.” Their contention: the audience has more control over the show than they do. I’ll have more as soon as I can get back to WiFi world, including a look at Disney.com.
Update: Disney pulled out all the stops: custom-made videos from ESPN and Lost; ghe animation preview, appearances by Lost stars Mathew Fox and Evangeline Lilly; ESPN’s Mike Tirico, who gave a tour of ESPN many platforms and could have a second career demo-ing at CES; and—drumroll—pirate chief Jerry Bruckheimer.  ESPN Chairman George Bodenheimer was in the audience and plenty of other Disney execs. Iger is the first of the two media keynotes this week: expect CBS to have quite a different tone aimed more toward the tech community. (Hint: the CSI casts will not be on hand to solve any mysteries.)
The biggest surprise was the fictional one in “Lost.” The presentations skimmed over Disney’s many brands and little news was included. (Unless you were really worried about whether Keith Richards is in Pirates 3; he is.) It was a series of snapshots of a company that has a lot going on in the tech world and already has touted much of it.
Disney.com: The site isn’t open for business yet despite the hype around today’s first look, provided to the press before the keynote by WDIG president Steve Wadsworth and Disney.com GM Paul Yanover. The latter conducted the keynote demo as well. The actual relaunch will come sometime this quarter. This is a slicker and deeper Disney.com that could make a legitimate claim to Iger’s description of “a destination and a portal into a vibrant and rich experience.” It has all the right elements but some of them are variations on the usual themes. Social networking, yes, but levels of access and parental control. Mashups welcome and encouraged but not uploads of outside user-gen content. Wadsworth warned against expecting it to be like every other site. “We’re not trying to mirror what others do.”
-- Wadsworth expects it to expand the current revenue streams of advertising, subscription, single pay, the sale of virtual goods and travel-related sales. The latter was worth about a half billion to Disney last year. Disney XD is the broadband cornerstone, a “broadband entertainment experience.” Instead of a traditional web page, it’s based on movable widgets and allows multitasking of chat, games and video.
-- Iger referred early in the keynote to Disney as a company that both creates and satisfies demand. We’ll be watching to see how Disney.com lives up to that.
New Pirates game: This spring, Disney will launch an intricate “massive multiplayer game” based on Pirates of the Caribbean. Significantly, it will be free to play. Iger promises more virtual worlds—an epic adventure in Narnia, racing through Radiator Springs, etc. (Personally, I’m holding out for the original happy feet penguins and their chalk picture world in Mary Poppins.)
Disney’s version of the internet owes a lot to the theme parks: create a mix of “worlds” with something for everyone and a secure, controlled environment in which to enjoy them. But most people don’t live at Disneyland. Will they want to make Disney.com a virtual home or will it just be someplace to visit? Will kids chafe at the restrictions or enjoy themselves enough not to care? One major difference: the cost of entry is a lot lower online.