There are more interesting tidbits in the NY Times story. Disney will distribute Disney-labeled MSN disks “in its theme parks, stores and its DVD packages”, and claims it will be profitable from the start. Although there are no details on the revenue share, I imagine they’re taking a sales commission.
Saul Hansell notes another conflict in the story: MSN is partly owned by NBC, a direct competitor to Disney’s ABC network. Eisner has already in bed with NBC: ESPN.com is now part of MSNBC!
Kevin Werbach notes that Microsoft is saying it’s not a media company, it’s a cable company.
This is a lot like the deal the Mercury News (and other media companies) did with AOL back in 1993. I think it shows that Disney is so desperate to appear like they’re moving forward that they’ll do any deal. All these accounts are Microsoft customers with a tenuous relationship to Disney that will fall away over time. Unless you do the actual work in a relationship like this, the brand adds scant value. Microsoft built the system and the software, and Disney even claims they’re piggybacking on Microsoft’s $300 million marketing blitz.