Disney aims to sell trips via TV remote

Couch potatoes rejoice: Now there are even fewer reasons to put down the remote control.

Walt Disney Co. said Tuesday that it was launching travel-focused, video-on-demand programming that would let some cable television subscribers push a button on their remote and within 15 minutes get a call from a Disney reservation agent to book a vacation.

Disney’s Travel on Demand, which will be available to 9 million Time Warner Cable Inc. and Cablevision Systems Corp. digital customers this month, follows several other recent interactive TV trials.

In Hawaii, Time Warner is testing a partnership with Pizza Hut that allows viewers to order pizza with a click of the remote. It has also paired up with Bravo, allowing people to vote for contestants on the reality show “Top Chef.”

Cablevision has a U.S. Navy station that offers Navy videos on demand. Those interested in joining can request a brochure at the touch of a button.

But the entry of the powerful Disney brand into the interactive TV scene is proof that the technology is going mainstream.

“Clearly, Disney is on the forefront of where television is going,” said Barry Frey, a senior vice president at Cablevision.

Disney would not say how much it was spending on the initiative, and the cable firms would not disclose terms of the deal.

If the venture is successful, it will probably open the floodgates for similar consumer-oriented companies, said Will Richmond, president of market research firm Broadband Directions.

“People are going to follow it carefully to see what the results are,” Richmond said. “It feels like a very mainstream-oriented initiative that they’re pursuing, which may be different from some of the others in the past. What they’re doing is really going straight into the heart of Middle America.”

It may also introduce a wave of marketing in the video-on-demand arena, Richmond said, calling it “yet another way to reach the consumer.”

Joan Gillman, president of media sales for Time Warner Cable, called it an “untapped potential” for marketers.

Home improvement retailers Home Depot or Lowe’s, for example, could create how-to videos for a wide variety of projects. At the end, they could list information about products sold in stores. Hospitals and pharmaceutical companies could also use videos to help explain complex procedures and equipment and peddle their services and products.

“It should go well beyond an infomercial,” Gillman said.

In some ways, the Travel on Demand channel is a 21st century version of the 1950s “Disneyland” show on ABC that was hosted by Walt Disney and introduced viewers to the new Anaheim theme park.

The programming will take people behind the scenes via four shows, with new episodes every three weeks. “Making the Magic” is an “American Idol”-like reality series that follows an entertainer in his quest to become an elite performer at Walt Disney World Resort. “Disney Fact or Fiction” will examine urban legends about Disney parks. On “Dream Makers,” unsuspecting guests can win various Disney experiences; and “Disney Travel Insiders,” hosted by Elisabeth Hasselbeck of “The View,” will offer travel tips.

If viewers like what they see, a reservation is close at hand, although travel agents won’t be available in the middle of the night.

“One of the things that we always think about ... is how innovative Walt was when he launched Disneyland and used what was then the high-tech and parent-savvy new media -- which was television,” said Jay Rasulo, chairman of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts. “In many ways, this really continues on that tradition.”

Disney Travel on Demand will air on its own Cablevision station, Channel 650. On Time Warner Cable, it will be part of Journey TV, which will also include programming from the National Park Service and Busch Entertainment, which owns Busch Gardens and Sea World parks. But they will not have push-button reservation features.

If Britain is any example, the on-demand, push-button technology will be quick to catch on once people know it’s there.

When Domino’s Pizza launched its interactive television ordering service in 1999 on that nation’s BSkyB satellite system, remote-control orders quickly outpaced those placed via the Internet.

“These kinds of applications where you can use remote control without having to turn on your computer is really just starting,” said Ben Mendelson, president of the Interactive Television Alliance. “This is just the beginning.”

kimi.yoshino@latimes.com