Disney online service targets preschoolers

April 11, 2005, 7:57AM

Disney to offer online service to preschoolers
Associated Press

LOS ANGELES — The Walt Disney Co. is expanding its broadband offerings for kids, adding activities for preschoolers and planning a second multiplayer online game aimed at teens.

Disney's Internet Group will launch a paid preschool broadband service this summer, featuring guided activities and games hosted by the lead character from "Bear in the Big Blue House."

The service, called "Playhouse Disney Preschool Time Online," is meant for children ages three to five and their parents. Activities will center on a weekly theme or "episode," such as "friendship" or "sharing."

The service will include puzzles, games and learning activities designed to prepare kids for kindergarten, the company said. It will also include an area for parents that allows them to track their child's activity. The service will be offered at $49.95 per year.

The offering is part of a larger strategy to expand the company's high-speed Internet offerings for kids of all ages.

Disney already has free games and activities on the Web fashioned after its popular "Playhouse Disney" block of programming on the cable television Disney Channel. That part of Disney's Web site attracts about 1 million unique visitors each week, said Ken Goldstein, executive vice president and managing director of Disney Online.

Disney launched "Toontown," its first multiplayer online game, in 2003. The game is written for children 8-year-olds and older and pits cartoon characters against a race of evil robots, called "Cogs," who are out to take the fun out of Toontown.

The game costs $79.95 for one year or $9.95 per month.
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