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Published On: Mar 16, 2007 11:12 AM
Total entries in this category:
Published On: Mar 16, 2007 11:12 AM
Disney: "No TV Access, No Shanghai Disneyland" China: ???
In the Hutong
Battling Sleep
Battling Sleep
In yet another example of the ham-handed
arrogance with which Disney has managed its relations with China over the past
two decades, Robert Iger, annointed Crown Prince of the Magic Kingdom told Keith
Bradsher at the New York
Times that unless the Chinese government
granted Disney access to Chinese audiences through television, there would be no
Shanghai Disneyland.
That probably makes the people in Hong Kong happy. Shanghai Disneyland could not help but compete with Hong Kong, and a third Disneyland would likely threaten the viability of all three parks in the near term. And it probably upsets the Shanghai government something awful.
But what is particularly striking is Iger's belief that he can use so crude a lever to get what he wants from the Chinese government. He's going to find his reception in Beijing to be a hell of a lot less cordial than he had hoped.
Who knows? Maybe the gambit will pay off. Maybe the government wants a Disneyland so bad it can taste it.
If not, though, and if the authorities are true to form, they will treat his comments as nothing less than crude public blackmail, and Disney will move to the back of the line for any consideration from SARFT. Because neither SARFT nor China can be seen responding to this kind of corporate thuggery. There would be no end to the practitioners if it did, and that would create a dangerous perception of weakness.
That probably makes the people in Hong Kong happy. Shanghai Disneyland could not help but compete with Hong Kong, and a third Disneyland would likely threaten the viability of all three parks in the near term. And it probably upsets the Shanghai government something awful.
But what is particularly striking is Iger's belief that he can use so crude a lever to get what he wants from the Chinese government. He's going to find his reception in Beijing to be a hell of a lot less cordial than he had hoped.
Who knows? Maybe the gambit will pay off. Maybe the government wants a Disneyland so bad it can taste it.
If not, though, and if the authorities are true to form, they will treat his comments as nothing less than crude public blackmail, and Disney will move to the back of the line for any consideration from SARFT. Because neither SARFT nor China can be seen responding to this kind of corporate thuggery. There would be no end to the practitioners if it did, and that would create a dangerous perception of weakness.
Posted: Tue - September 13, 2005 at 08:47 PM