DISNEY’S NO MICKEY MOUSE NETWORK

Disney is scoring major ratings and redrawing the competitive landscape of teen cable with its one-two punch of “High School Musical 2” and “Hannah Montana.”

Last week the tween network placed a whopping nine shows in the top 10 of the most popular shows on basic cable, as tracked by Nielsen.

The rare feat signals Disney’s arrival as a force to be reckoned with in cable. To be sure, Disney’s big week represents a departure from the days when the likes of Nickelodeon dominated tween cable with hits like “SpongeBob SquarePants.”

Bob Carroll, an analyst with Katz Television Group, says that in the process the Disney Channel is gaining important leverage with cable operators. He said the network has transformed from an obscure niche to a must-have channel in basic cable lineups.

However, despite all the success the network is enjoying, it is not translating into a direct bump with advertisers. That’s because the Disney Channel’s business model eschews traditional ad support.

That’s not to say as its leverage with cable operators grows it won’t be able to demand higher subscriber fees. In addition to higher fees, the added eyeballs gives it greater leverage to use the programming breaks normally filled by ad inventory to cross-promote other Disney properties.

The fruits of those efforts could be seen last week not only in the ratings for “HSM 2” and “Hannah Montana,” which reached an all-time high, but also in areas like music where the “HSM 2” soundtrack topped the Billboard charts with over 600,000 units sold.

Additionally benefiting from the Disney cross-promotion machine were the Jonas Brothers, whose debut on Disney-owned Hollywood Records, landed atop the iTunes singles chart.

Carroll noted that Disney more than makes up for lost TV ad revenue through a variety of cross-promotion opportunities. Indeed “HSM 2” has spawned a bonanza of licensing and merchandizing on everything from apparel to food products to toys as games.