In exchange for letting Al Michaels out of his contract with ABC and ESPN, which are, of course, both owned by Disney, in order to sign a new contract with NBC, NBC Universal and Disney worked out several arrangements.
In exchange for allowing Michaels to sign with NBC, ESPN was granted cable rights for the Friday coverage of the next four Ryder Cups, along with ESPN being granted increased usage of Olympic highlights. However, in a fitting twist of events, The Walt Disney Co was allowed to re-purchase the rights to "Oswald the Lucky Rabbit", Walt's original character from the silent cartoons of the late 1920's.
Though it took quite a while, Walt once again owns the rights to Oswald...
In exchange for allowing Michaels to sign with NBC, ESPN was granted cable rights for the Friday coverage of the next four Ryder Cups, along with ESPN being granted increased usage of Olympic highlights. However, in a fitting twist of events, The Walt Disney Co was allowed to re-purchase the rights to "Oswald the Lucky Rabbit", Walt's original character from the silent cartoons of the late 1920's.
Though it took quite a while, Walt once again owns the rights to Oswald...
Guess I should have done a search first.