Disney Channel

Kelly Blatz is living his dream of becoming an action hero, and landing the lead role on a new Disney station — Disney XD — makes it that much sweeter. The 21-year-old Burbank native plays Charlie Landers in the new show “Aaron Stone.” Landers is a video game world champion whose expertise lands him a job as a secret agent. Now he must fight crime while learning to use all the nifty top-secret gadgets in between keeping up his school work and home life.

Time Warner, Disney announce deal Time Warner Cable has reportedly announced distribution agreements with Burbank-based Walt Disney Corp. networks as part of a contract renewal. The agreements cover various ESPN and Disney cable channels, including ESPNU and ESPN2 HD, which Time Warner systems will carry for the first time. They have also agreed to begin providing high-definition services of ABC Family, Disney Channel and ESPN News when they are launched by Disney in 2008.

Google is ready for some "Monday Night Football. " Walt Disney Co. has struck a distribution deal with Google Fiber to add its cable networks, including ESPN , ABC Family and Disney Channel, to the new broadband pay-TV service the search-engine giant is launching in the Midwest. For Google, getting the Disney properties will be key to competing against Time Warner Cable and satellite broadcasters DirecTV and Dish. Google Fiber is being unveiled in Kansas City, Mo., and Kansas City, Kan. In both cities, Time Warner Cable is the major multichannel video program distributor.

Tim Willert, Weekend GLENDALE -- Richard Stanley's show business career has taken a turn for the better. A television writer whose credits include "Walker, Texas Ranger" and "Murder, She Wrote," Stanley recently discovered success writing and directing movies. The longtime Glendale resident wrote and directed "The Legend of Pirate's Point," which airs April 1 at 7:30 p.m. on the Disney Channel. The story is about three kids who encounter the town recluse and believe he is their favorite pirate.

Maya Kukes MEDIA DISTRICT NORTH -- The Boys & Girls Club got a spring spruce-up with with the help of the cast and crew of the Disney Channel show "Lizzie McGuire." They cleaned and refurbished the facility on April 27 as part of the Disney Adventures All-Star Program. The program was created to encourage volunteerism among children within their communities and to recognize children who are working to improve the world. Cast and crew members also planted trees and flowers and painted a portion of the club, along with the help of TreePeople, a Los Angeles organization that educates local communities on improving the environment.

Walt Disney Co. has gotten on the Amazon gravy train. Looking to acquire content for its video streaming service Prime Instant, Amazon has struck a deal with Disney's ABC broadcast network as well as its cable channels including Disney Channel, ABC Family and some older shows made by ABC Studios including "Felicity. " The short-term agreement is much smaller than Disney's current arrangement with Netflix, but the structure is similar. Like Netflix, Amazon will not get access to current shows in season.

Laura Sturza After Tim Hicks walked away with minor bruises from the MetroLink train that derailed at the crossing of Buena Vista Street and San Fernando Boulevard on Jan. 6, his wife was not too anxious to have him use public transit again. "Now that the price of gas is so high, I've convinced my wife to let me take it again," said Hicks, an NBC editor who commutes from Valencia. He is among many Burbank workers who take advantage of the city's free Media District Shuttle, which connects MetroLink riders to their offices, the airport and other locales.

Laura Sturza A different spin on "Dr. Doolittle" could be coming to a small screen near you. The development of the sitcom concept, the brainchild of lifelong resident Anne Peralta, is one of 16 to win a yearlong ABC grant. In its second year, the network announced its New Talent Development Scholarship-Grant winners on July 30. To nurture and develop diverse writing, filmmaking and directing talent, ABC awarded the scholarships to students nationwide.

Google is ready for some "Monday Night Football. " Walt Disney Co. has struck a distribution deal with Google Fiber to add its cable networks, including ESPN , ABC Family and Disney Channel, to the new broadband pay-TV service the search-engine giant is launching in the Midwest. For Google, getting the Disney properties will be key to competing against Time Warner Cable and satellite broadcasters DirecTV and Dish. Google Fiber is being unveiled in Kansas City, Mo., and Kansas City, Kan. In both cities, Time Warner Cable is the major multichannel video program distributor.

Walt Disney Co. has gotten on the Amazon gravy train. Looking to acquire content for its video streaming service Prime Instant, Amazon has struck a deal with Disney's ABC broadcast network as well as its cable channels including Disney Channel, ABC Family and some older shows made by ABC Studios including "Felicity. " The short-term agreement is much smaller than Disney's current arrangement with Netflix, but the structure is similar. Like Netflix, Amazon will not get access to current shows in season.

A healthier media advertising market and greater theme-park traffic drove Burbank-based Walt Disney Co. to increased revenue and profits in the last three months of 2010 compared with a year earlier. The first quarter of Disney’s 2011 fiscal year brought a 10% increase in revenue to $10.7 billion, up from $9.7 billion during the same period last year, the company reported Tuesday. Profits soared by 40% to $2.2 billion, versus $1.57 billion a year earlier. Cable and broadcast networks are by far the biggest source of revenue for the company, which owns ESPN, the Disney Channel, ABC and ABC Lifetime.

Those who know Debby Ryan are familiar with her role as Bailey Pickett on Disney Channel’s original series “The Suite Life on Deck,” a spin-off of “The Suite Life of Zack and Cody.” But what most of her fans don’t know is she’s a photographer, collage artist, equestrian and has started a blog that features her interviews with bands, she said. “I’m super close to the equestrian center and go riding with my friends,” she said.

Kelly Blatz is living his dream of becoming an action hero, and landing the lead role on a new Disney station — Disney XD — makes it that much sweeter. The 21-year-old Burbank native plays Charlie Landers in the new show “Aaron Stone.” Landers is a video game world champion whose expertise lands him a job as a secret agent. Now he must fight crime while learning to use all the nifty top-secret gadgets in between keeping up his school work and home life.

The Falcon Theatre's Children's Show this summer, "The Ohmies," was good enough to be imported over the hill to Burbank via the Geffen Playhouse down in Westwood, the Skirball Cultural Center off the 405 Freeway, and across the country via the 45 Bleecker Theatre in New York's Off-Broadway district. Promoting itself as a world of music, movement and creative problem-solving, "The Ohmies" is part mainstream toddler fare (think: a colorful and well-planned "Barney" road tour), part educational assembly program (think: shows you've seen at school while sitting on a hard, wood folding chair in a big auditorium with a bunch of rowdy classmates)

Skybus takes off out of Bob Hope Airport Bob Hope Airport saw its first flight come in from the new Skybus airline Tuesday coming in from Columbus, Ohio. The flight was almost full. The airline offers some tickets for $10 and others at relatively low rates for flights to and from its home base in Columbus. Burbank is one of the few destinations the airline flies from and to. The company plans to fly to 25 cities from Columbus and currently has flights to nine different locations including Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., San Francisco and Boston, Mass.

LA CA—ADA FLINTRIDGE -- E. Cardon "Card" Walker, who rose from mailroom worker at the Walt Disney Co. to the entertainment giant's highest ranks, died Monday of congestive heart failure at his La Cañada Flintridge home. He was 89. In 1971, Walker was named president of the company, succeeding co-founder Roy O. Disney after his death that year. Five years later, he became chief executive officer, and was elected chairman of the board in 1980. "Card was one of the great leaders of certainly his generation or perhaps any generation," said Dick Cook, chairman of Walt Disney Studios.