MEDIA NETWORKSBROADCAST NETWORKS
ABC Television Network

With the 1999-2000 season underway, ABC has captured the attention of audiences and critics with its line-up of new shows and returning favorites.

The new drama, Once and Again, was the first break-out show of the season. ABC also delivered the season’s biggest hit show, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, which has become ABC’s most-watched new series in six years, drawing an average of 24.2 million viewers each episode.

ABC was watched by more people during the full broadcast day than any other network and was number two in the key 18 – 49 demographic in primetime. The network went on to win the November sweeps — the critical four-week period which determines advertising rates — for the first time since 1994.
In primetime, The Practice was honored with the Emmy for outstanding drama series for the second year in a row. NYPD Blue’s Dennis Franz won for best actor in a drama series. Returning favorites like Dharma & Greg, The Drew Carey Show and Monday Night Football continued to attract wide audiences.

ABC earned singular praise from the Television Critics’ Association (TCA). When asked which network they would watch if they could watch only one, critics chose ABC by a two-to-one margin.

In News, Good Morning America moved to a new state-of-the-art studio overlooking New York’s Times Square. Ratings for GMA are up 20 percent since Charles Gibson and Diane Sawyer took over as co-anchors last year.
World News Tonight with Peter Jennings remains the leader in nightly news, attracting more viewers than any other newscast for the 1998-99 season. Nightline, recognized as one of the most respected news programs on TV, celebrates its 20th anniversary this year.
ABC Daytime dominated the ratings among women 18-49 for the 23rd straight year. ABC Daytime swept the three top awards at last year’s Daytime Emmys, winning best show, General Hospital, best actor, Tony Geary, and a long-deserved Emmy for Susan Lucci in the best actress category.
Disney’s One Saturday Morning block of programming for children was number one among all broadcast networks for the 1998-99 season for the second year in a row.
ABC Sports built on its tradition of excellence last year, delivering memorable moments like the women’s World Cup soccer final, and the first-ever broadcast network primetime golf match, Showdown at Sherwood: Woods vs. Duval. Ratings powerhouse Monday Night Football celebrates its 30th anniversary this year, broadcasting in high definition (HDTV). And ABC caps off football coverage with Super Bowl XXXIV in January.

ABC ENTERTAINMENT TELEVISION GROUP
Comprised of Touchstone Television and ABC Entertainment, this division develops and produces shows for Network TV.
Last fall, Disney’s Touchstone television production unit was merged into ABC’s primetime entertainment division. The move will allow ABC to better direct and streamline the development and production process and to own and control more of its product. By restructuring these two groups and eliminating redundancies, the company will save an estimated $50 million annually.
Once and Again had the highest-rated drama premiere on ABC since 1995. The critically acclaimed show was given a full series order by ABC.
The PJs will return to Fox in midseason. New shows for midseason will be the high school half-hour series, Brutally Normal, on Fox and Wonderland, a one-hour drama set in a New York mental hospital, on ABC. Felicity moved to Sunday nights on the WB Network, and its season premiere last September delivered solid ratings among teens and women.

Buena Vista Television
Buena Vista Television remains a top provider of syndicated TV programming with hits that include LIVE with Regis & Kathie Lee, Disney’s Honey, I Shrunk the Kids and the Emmy-winning game show Win Ben Stein’s Money. Since the untimely passing of Gene Siskel, BVTV’s popular movie review show has been reformatted as Roger Ebert & the Movies.
New projects include Disney’s One Too, a two-hour animation block for UPN and syndication which features the brand new Sabrina, the Animated Series along with some of the Disney-produced Saturday morning franchises, and Your Big Break, a first-run musical talent show from dick clark productions, inc. BVTV’s production and development arm, Buena Vista Productions, produced the breakout hit Who Wants to Be a Millionaire for ABC. In January, BVTV launches its new syndicated talk show, The Ainsley Harriott Show.
In 1999, BVTV and Encore Media announced a significant long-term pay-TV licensing deal for up to 10 years for all theatrical releases from the Touchstone, Hollywood Pictures, Miramax and Dimension labels.

ABC-Owned Television Stations
The company owns ten television stations, reaching 24 percent of the nation’s TV households. The station group posted excellent ratings results last year, with six of the ten stations ranked number-one in household delivery during the total broadcast day in their markets. By the end of this year, the seven largest of these stations will be broadcasting selected network programs in high definition (HDTV).

Walt Disney Television International
The launch of a ninth Disney Channel, in Germany, strong performance in distribution activities and new local and international productions heralded an outstanding year of growth for WDTV-I.
Overall Disney Channel subscriptions were up by almost 30 percent, making the Channel one of the leading kids and families services in homes around the world. New Disney Channels are scheduled to launch in the next two years in Latin America, Scandinavia and several countries in Asia through the region’s Disney Channel Asia Network.
WDTV-I increased its position as the leading distributor of programming world-wide, licensing some 4,200 hours of programming in 1999. This includes major new agreements in France, Scandinavia and Italy.
New equity investments in HBO Hungary, HBO Czech Republic/Slovakia and an existing investment in HBO Poland have positioned WDTV-I to capitalize on growth opportunities in Central Europe. Existing investments throughout Europe also performed strongly.
Disney’s award-winning shows continued to be among the leading programs enjoyed by kids and families around the world, outperforming the competition in their timeslots in a majority of markets, and reaching approximately 300 million viewers every week.

ABC RADIO
The ABC Radio Division owns 42 stations, which reach a weekly audience of 13 million. The ABC Radio Networks reach an estimated 147 million people weekly through more than 4,400 radio outlets nationwide, featuring five full-service news networks, as well as ESPN Radio. The Networks feature a strong line-up, which includes ABC News, Paul Harvey News & Comment, Tom Joyner and American Country Countdown with Bob Kingsley.
Radio Disney, now heard in 16 of the top 20 markets in the U.S., continued its roll-out in 1999, adding stations in New York, Miami, Tampa, Houston and Philadelphia. Radio Disney is carried on 45 stations that cover nearly 50 percent of the U.S. market, reaching 1.5 million kids aged 6-11 each week. Radio Disney is targeted to reach 70 percent of the U.S. market in 2000.
Significant exposure on Radio Disney and The Disney Channel helped propel I’ll Be Your Everything by Youngstown, which records on the Hollywood Records label, into the top ten on the pop single charts.
CABLE NETWORKS
In addition to the wholly owned Disney Channel, Toon Disney and SoapNet,
ABC owns 80 percent of ESPN, 50 percent of Lifetime Television and holds significant minority positions in E! Entertainment Television, A&E Network and The History Channel.

ESPN
ESPN celebrated its 20th anniversary in 1999, and what began as the first-ever 24-hour sports network has become one of the most recognizable brands in the world. Today, ESPN provides the broadest and most effective multimedia platform in sports, comprising 43 national and international entities with broadcasting, syndication, radio, Internet, print, retail and location based dining and entertainment ventures.
ESPN now reaches 78 million homes; ESPN 2, 67 million; ESPNEWS, 18 million; and ESPN Classic — which has doubled its distribution since its purchase by ESPN in 1997 — reaches 20 million homes. Two digital networks debuted: ESPN Extra for pay-per-view events and ESPN Now, an information channel with TV sports listings, news and promotional spots.
ESPN’s NFL telecasts, Sunday Night Football, drew increased viewership and remain the most-watched series on cable. Other marquee programming includes the NHL’s Stanley Cup playoffs, Major League Baseball playoffs, and women’s World Cup Soccer. The coverage of the women’s World Cup soccer tournament drew strong ratings on ESPN and ESPN2, which promoted the final game to be shown on ABC. The coverage of the dramatic championship match went on to become the most-watched soccer event ever on American television. And, right after the game, the victorious team members announced, “We’re going to Disneyland!”
ESPN and ABC Sports broke new ground in the marketplace by recently merging their sales staffs to offer advertisers and marketers depth and flexibility in creating innovative packages across their many sports properties and media.
ESPN The Magazine has nearly tripled its circulation since its launch in 1998. This award-winning magazine has a circulation of 850,000 and is expected to reach the one million mark this January.
ESPN Radio is now the largest sports radio network on the air. ESPN Radio carries the World Series and is also the national radio home of the NBA. Last year, it added The Dan Patrick Show to its line-up.
ESPN International is one of the world’s largest distributors of sports programming, with ESPN-branded sportscasting reaching more than 150 countries in 21 languages.

Disney Channel
Disney Channel, which features programming for kids and families, added more than 16 million homes to its audience last year and now reaches a total of 58 million homes in the U.S. One of the fastest growing cable networks, Disney Channel consistently ranks among the top five of basic cable outlets in primetime ratings.
Disney Channel’s original programming saw substantial rating gains last year with both Out of the Box and Rolie Polie Olie up more than 50 percent and Disney’s PB&J Otter, Bear in the Big Blue House also posting double-digit gains. Disney Channel’s original series for older kids, The Famous Jett Jackson, Z Games and So Weird, also dramatically increased its delivery among kids 9 – 14.

Toon Disney
Toon Disney features cartoons from the Disney library along with a variety of acquired animated programming. This 24-hour all-animation network reaches 15 million homes and is one of the most demanded new cable channels.

A&E Network
A&E, which offers biographies, mysteries, documentaries and original movies, now serves 81 million subscribers in the U.S.
Last year, A&E received 20 Emmy nominations, the most of any basic cable network, winning a total of five, including Best Miniseries for Horatio Hornblower.

Lifetime Television
Lifetime reaffirmed its status last season as “television for women” by ranking number one among basic cable networks in all key female demographics throughout the day. In 1999, Lifetime earned the highest ratings in its 15-year history and achieved record levels of distribution, reaching 75 million homes.
The critically acclaimed series Any Day Now and Oh Baby launched second seasons and are joined by the new primetime hit Beyond Chance, the Intimate Portrait profile series and Lifetime Original Movies.
Last year, Lifetime began same week rebroadcasts of ABC’s new drama series, Once And Again, on Friday evenings, achieving 50 percent ratings gains over the previous season in its timeslot.

E! Entertainment Television
E! now reaches nearly 60 million U.S. cable subscribers and direct broadcast satellite subscribers. E!’s programming reaches 400 million homes in over 120 countries worldwide. The success of True Hollywood Stories, Mysteries & Scandals and Fashion Emergency have contributed to ratings growth. E!’s first spin-off network, “style.”, devoted to the worlds of design, fashion and decorating, currently reaches seven million homes.

The History Channel
The History Channel, “where the past comes alive,” now reaches more than 61 million homes. Last year, The History Channel received the prestigious Governor’s Award from the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences for the network’s “Save Our History” campaign dedicated to historic preservation.

SoapNet
SoapNet, the 24-hour soap opera channel, will launchJanuary 24, 2000. SoapNet will offer a wide variety of soap opera programming, featuring same-day telecasts of the top-rated ABC Daytime series All My Children, General Hospital, One Life to Live and Port Charles. The network will also include the popular Ryan’s Hope, as well as serial dramas such as Knots Landing, Falcon Crest, Hotel and The Colbys, in addition to an original soap news show, Soap Center.
SoapNet will allow the company to repurpose and optimize ABC’s owned daytime franchises in ways that other networks are unable to match.

PUBLISHING
Hyperion Books
Hyperion, Disney’s trade publishing division, includes ESPN Books, Talk/Miramax Books, ABC Daytime Press and Hyperion East imprints. Best-selling titles in 1999 included Mother of Pearl by Melinda Haynes, Life Strategies by Phillip McGraw, The Hungry Ocean by Linda Greenlaw and Bill Cosby’s Congratulations! Now What?
Hyperion plans a number of major releases in the year ahead, including Natural Blonde, a memoir from America’s premiere gossip columnist, Liz Smith; Good Morning America’s Cut The Calories Cookbook; and Betrayal of Trust: The Collapse of Global Public Health by Pulitzer Prize-winner Laurie Garrett.