[2] Playbill concentrated on Broadway and Off-Broadway theaters, while Stagebill positioned itself as a publication focused on concerts, opera, and dance in venues such as Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall.
A bigger rift came in 1997, when Disney contracted Stagebill for its big musical production The Lion King at the newly reopened New Amsterdam Theatre.
Playbill is distributed free to theaters relying on advertising revenue that is completely under its authority, whereas, per company policy, Disney required a program without cigarette or liquor ads.
[10] With a more aggressive policy of acquiring publicity for more performing arts venues, Playbill broke from its typical format and began publishing completely customized programs in the vein of Stagebill.
[11] This, coupled with continuing fiscal troubles of Stagebill, led to the end of it as a publishing entity.