Gotta love Hollywood. Buried deep in a New York Times piece about how Disney is re-imagining Mickey Mouse is the wonderful tidbit that Disney and NBC Universal settled an 80-year old dispute by trading a well known sportscaster for a cartoon character:
Mr. Iger solved a right problems [sic] with the game by making a deal with NBC Universal in 2006. In the negotiations, Mr. Iger persuaded NBC Universal to trade the Oswald rights for rights to Al Michaels, the sportscaster. NBC wanted Mr. Michaels for its new football franchise and Mr. Michaels wanted to go, but Disney held him in a longtime contract through its ESPN unit.
For background, Oswald was a cartoon rabbit that Walt Disney abandoned in the late 1920's in a dispute with Universal but Disney wanted to resurrect for a new video game, Epic Mickey. Al Michaels is a sportscaster with a little more humility about his value on the trade market.
I was wondering how Disney managed to get Oswald back. The world works in mysterious ways. LOL.
Posted by: Aims | November 06, 2009 at 09:08 PM