Fort Worth Star-Telegram from Fort Worth, Texas • C6

6C BUSINESS FROM 1C brace unique culture, which for two decadeshas fostered some of the most innovative and successful films in Disney Chief Executive Robert Iger said in a statement. Disney has co-financed and distributed animated films for the past 12 years, splitting the profits. That deal expires in June after Pixar delivers Cars and it had once appeared that the companies would not renew it amid friction between Jobs and former Disney CEO Michael Eisner. But the talks revived under Iger, who became Disney CEO in October. Disney, the movie-studio and theme-park owner that also owns the ABC and ESPN TV networks, and Pixar had discussed a new relationship for months.

Under the deal, Burbank- based Disney said it will issue 2.3 shares for each share of Pixar stock. At closing price of $25.99 for Disney, Pixar shareholders would get stock worth 4 percentpremium over closing price of $57.57. The deal was announced after the markets closed for the day. Pixar (ticker: PIXR gained 2.6 percentto after- hours trading, while Disney DIS fell 9 cents. Pixar Executive Vice President John Lasseter will become chief creative officer of the animation studios and principal creative adviser at Walt Disney Imagineering, which designs and builds the theme parks.

Lasseter began his career as a Disney animator and is the creative force behind films. Pixar President Ed Catmull will serve as president of the combined Pixar and Disney animation studios, reporting to Iger and Dick Cook, chairman of the Walt Disney Studios. The two companies will remain separate, with Pixar keeping its brand name and headquarters in Emeryville, near San Francisco. Maintaining unique creative character was a priority in the talks, executives said. of the time that Bob and I have spent talking about this been about economics, been about preserving the Pixar culture because we all know that the thing that is going to determine the success here in the long Jobs said in a conference call with analysts.

something Disney had to said Harold Vogel, a media analyst with Vogel Capital Management in New York. good for both The deal received the blessing of Roy E. Disney, nephew of company founder Walt Disney and a former board member who once also oversaw animation at the company. has always been the heart and soul of the Walt Disney it is wonderful to see Bob Iger and the company embrace that heritage by bringing the outstanding animation talent of the Pixar team back into the Roy Disney said in a statement. Pixar has served as de facto animation unit for a decade.

Two Pixar Finding Nemo and The Incredibles won Academy Awards for best animated feature film. By contrast, own animation unit has struggled, producing some modest successes, such as Lilo Stitch and many flops, including Treasure Planet and Home on the Range Its first fully computer- animated effort, Chicken Little brought in $133 million in ticket sales in the United Statesand Canada and $115 million overseas, according to Bloomberg News. By contrast, DreamWorks Animation Shrek 2 had $920 million in worldwide Finding Nemo had $864 million, making them the top two, as tracked by tracker Box Office Mojo, Bloomberg reported. ASSOCIATED PRESSARCHIVES Steve Jobs, left, greetsDisney CEO Robert Iger during an unveiling of aniPod with video capability in October. Pixar CEO Jobs will become top shareholderand a company director.

Disney: Companies to stay separate CONTINUED FROM1C PIXAR ANIMATION STUDIOS VIA THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Finding Nemo earned $864 million worldwide. ness developmentalong Interstate 35Win northern Tarrant County, has used the intermo- dal facility tolure companies with shipping needs looking to locate new operations. intermodal terminal and its capacity have been responsible for about 70 percent of the business attracted to said Mike Berry, president of Alliance developer Hillwood Properties. The effect of the expansion of the terminal, which has grown to 289 acres, on employment is unknown. A contractor currently employs 250 workers at the terminal, Lundsburg said.

BNSF and the Alliance terminal in particular have benefited from the expansion of shipments from Asia, primarily from China, into ports in SouthernCalifornia. Much of that traffic moves inland on BNSF routes from L.A.to Alliance. exports to the United Stateshave climbed from $45.5 billion in 1995 to $222.9 billion in the first 11 months of 2005. Most of that traffic comes in modular containers that can be hauled on railcarsthen transferred to truck trailers for highway travel. Big new Chinese ships can typically handle 2,400 or more containers of Asian imports, enough to fill 12 100-car trains.

traffic has been huge for said BNSF Chairman Matt Rose in detailing 2005 performance. Rose noted that in addition to the expansion at Alliance, BNSF is expanding its other so-called in San Bernardino, St. Paul, Minn. Darius Gaskins, who was president of the old Burlington Northern Railroad in the 1980s and before that chairman of the Interstate Commerce Commission, said Northern and Santa Fe two carriers that merged in 1995 to create pioneers in intermodal paying off for them big time The logistics park concept has blunted the long enmity between railroads and truckers, who fought one another for intercity shipping business for decades. Now railroads and truckers frequently are partners, with the railroad taking shipments for the long haul and truckers completing a short haul to the final destination.

Rose said Tuesday that BNSF expects a significant increase in its intermodal business with the signing of a new contract with Swift Transportation. That adds to a stable of agreements with long-haul trucking companies. The Alliance announcement came as BNSF announced a record fourth-quarter profitof $430 million, or $1.13 per share, up from the year-ago $347 million, or 91 cents per share. For earned $1.53 billion, or $4.01 per share, up from $791 million, or $2.10 per share. Annual revenue rose19 percent to $12.99 billion from $10.95 billion.

The railroad was aided by price increases of up to 9 percent that it was able to impose on shippers to cover extra fuel costs. BNSF stock (ticker: BNI rose on the earnings report, hitting a new 52-week high of $76 per share before settling back at share. That was still above the previous high of $72 per share. Rose said he anticipates that traffic will grow by as much as 15 percent in the first quarter, particularly in coal and grain shipments. Dan Piller, (817) 390-7719 BNSF: Railroad to expand Alliance intermodal terminalby 20 acres CONTINUED FROM1C China trade Chinese imports lift rail traffic.

November Census Bureau STAR-TELEGRAM $250 200 150 100 50 0 Imports into the United States in billions. $45.5 Want cheap airfares to Los Angeles? Try flying AirTran Airways to Chicago. Executives with AirTran, a low-fare carrier that operates at Worth Airport, said Tuesday that they might resume service to Los Angeles and add flights to additional cities, if their new flight to Chicago Midway Airport does well. to Midway is the key to future said Kevin Healy, vice president of planning for the Orlando, which flies to Atlanta, Las Vegas and Orlando, It will begin service to Midway on March 8. AirTran joins ATA Airlines in offering discount service to Chicago from ATA executives recently said they were adding a fourth daily flight between the two airports.

Healy said the route should benefit from the two strengths. stronger the Midway route does, the better we will do in eventually look at Los Angeles he said. AirTran began two daily nonstop flights to Los Angeles International Airport in July 2004but gotan intense response from Fort Worth- based American Airlines. American matched fares not only to LAXbut also on nonstop flights to four other airports in the Los Angeles basin. Ultimately two daily flights were competing with 39 by American to the region.

AirTran canceled the Los Angeles service last year, citing the cost of fuel as well as the competition.Like most carriers, AirTran suffered under the high price of jet fuel last year. But it still turned a tiny profit for the year. On Tuesday, the airline reported a $2.7 million profit for 2005, including a $400,000 loss for the fourth quarter. The annual profit was down nearly 78 percentfrom $12 million in 2004, and the fourth-quarter loss was a steep dropfrom a $1.1 million profit a year earlier. Still, it was the seventh consecutive annual profitat a time when most airlines are losing money.

Despite its sluggish financial performance, AirTran will continue to expand this year. But Stan Gadek, the chief financial officer, said most of that growth will be east of the Mississippi. really where most of the growth opportunities are right now for Gadek said. stock (ticker: AAI soared in trading Tuesday, climbing nearly 11 close at $15.45 per share. Trebor Banstetter, (817) 390-7064 AIR TRAVEL AirTran trying out Chicago, may fly to Los Angeles again The success of a new flight to Chicago could be the key to whether AirTran Airways will expand at Worth Airport.

By TREBOR BANSTETTER STAR-TELEGRAM STAFF WRITER The new service stems from a measure passed by Congress late last year that exempted Missouri from the Wright Amendment, a federal law that bars commercial flights from Love except to Texas, adjacent Alabama and Kansas. Shortly after the law passed, Dallas-based Southwest began nonstop flights to St. Louis and Kansas City from Love, and American announced that it will start flying at Loveagain. The airline last flew there in 2000 and 2001 to compete with upstart Legend Airlines. Southwest has been advertising the new flights with TV ads that show the St.

Louis Gateway Arch and the Kansas City skyline. The commer- cials end with the phrase, down, 41 to referring to the to lift the Wright restrictions for other states. promotion awards customers 30,000 extra frequent-flier miles for flying three round-trip flights between either or Love and St. Louis, Kansas City, Austin or San Antonio. An additional 30,000 miles is awarded for three more trips.

A ticket to most domestic cities can be redeemed for 25,000 miles, tickets to Europe can be obtained for as few as and Asian flights can be snared with 50,000 miles. Southwest, meanwhile, has been awarding triple flight credits to customers who fly to St. Louis or Kansas City from Love Field. Instead of distributing miles, Southwest gives one credit for each one-way flight and awards a free ticket for 16 credits. Trebor Banstetter, (817) 390-7064 Airlines: Awards greatly increased really serious about being competitive on these flights.

We want to make it extremely attractive to fly on American Dennis, American Airlines spokesman WHAT DO YOU THINK? Post a comment on this report at www.star-telegram.com CONTINUED FROM1C The CW will draw on programming from UPN, whose shows include Everybody Hates Chris and Veronica Mars, as well as from the slate of the WB, which includes Su- and Everwood. Tribune a media com- panybased in Chicago, will relinquish its 22.5 percent stake in the WB in exchange for a 10- year affiliation deal to carry the new network on 16 of its stations, including Channel 33 in Dallas. The rest of the WB was owned by Time Warner, parent of Warner Bros. The CW will also be carried on 11 stations owned by UPN, a unit of CBS putting the network in about 47 percent of the country and 20 of the top 25 TV markets. Network executives said they hoped to have agreements in place to cover most of the rest of the country by the fall.

Local representatives for 33 and 21 said they were happy about the deal. is absolutely said Joe president and general manager of Channel 33. will increase our reach among all viewers, so it will become an even more diversified Young said that KDAFwill keep its 9 p.m. newscast after the merger. enhance our news he said.

the prime-time ratings are going to go up, which in turn are going to make us even stronger 9 p.m.].” Steve president and general manager of Channel 21 and its sister station, 11, says that the merger have a big effect on the CBS-owned stations. will only affect about 6 percent of our Mauldin says. what 7 to 9 p.m., five nights a week, Mauldin said that Channel 21 would likely fill that time block with local news and sports. The station sometimes bumpsUPN programming to show Dallas Mavericks games; after the merger, no network programming would be affected. UPN and the WB had both struggled to compete against larger broadcast TV rivals, including Walt Disney ABC, General Electric NBC, CBS and News Fox.

Both place consistently behind their larger rivals in the Nielsen ratings and have been financial burdens on their parent companies. Barry Meyer, the head of Warner said at a news conference his company had anticipated a challenged environment ahead for smaller networksand said the new venture hasa good chance of being profitable as soon as it launches. He said the companies would operate more efficiently as one, but he declined to say how much savings is expected or how many jobs might be cut. not yet clear that the combination of two struggling networks will result in a strong one, or even one that makes money, said Hal Vogel, a longtime media analyst and author of a book on entertainment industry economics. are, in five years they may not exist at all, or it may be something else, but right better than going Vogel said.

makes sense not a slam- dunk proposition, but it makes sense. Six networks was too The CW will air 30 hours of programming, seven days a week, following the model of the WB. Six nights of prime- time shows will air Monday through Friday 7-9 p.m. Central timeand Sundays 6-9 p.m. There will also be shows on weekday and Sunday afternoons, and five hours of programs on Saturday morning.

CBS shares (ticker: CBS rose 4.2percent,to trading Tuesday on the New York Stock Exchange, and Time shares TWX rose 18 1.1 $17.27. Staff writer Robert Philpot contributed to this report. Network: UPN, WB were struggling CONTINUED FROM1C.