Pursuits
Disney Plays by China Rules With Shanghai Park, Media Strategy
- Content ambitions hemmed in by piracy, government push-back
- China laws don’t allow Disney to have a national channel
A child holds onto a gate at the Walt Disney Co.'s Disneyland Resort in Shanghai, China, on Saturday, May 7, 2016. Disney employees and partners will get a sneak peek of the $5.5 billion Shanghai Disneyland from this weekend, as the world's largest entertainment company gets set for next month's official opening of its first theme park in mainland China.
Photographer: Qilai Shen/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
On the eve of the opening of Hong Kong Disneyland back in 2005, Walt Disney Co. Chief Executive Officer Robert Iger, then president and chief operating officer, said that Disney would not open a theme park in mainland China unless it could have a television channel there.
Turns out, Chinese authorities had a different plan in mind for the world’s biggest entertainment company.