Disney General Entertainment Content,
doing business as Walt Disney Television, is an American
entertainment company that oversees
television
Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...
content and assets owned and operated by
The Walt Disney Company
The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on Octobe ...
. Forming the company's General Entertainment division,
it was formerly called Disney–ABC Television Group, ABC Group before that, and Capital Cities/ABC initially, until Disney's
acquisition of
21st Century Fox
Twenty-First Century Fox, Inc., doing business as 21st Century Fox (21CF), was an American multinational mass media corporation that was based in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It was one of the two companies formed on June 28, 2013, fo ...
on March 20, 2019. Assets in the group include television networks:
ABC,
ABC News
ABC News is the news division of the American broadcast network ABC. Its flagship program is the daily evening newscast '' ABC World News Tonight with David Muir''; other programs include morning news-talk show '' Good Morning America'', '' ...
,
Disney Channels,
FX Networks, and
Freeform;
Disney Television Studios:
ABC Signature,
20th Television and
20th Television Animation
20th Television Animation (formerly Fox Television Animation) is an American animation studio that creates, develops and produces adult animated television series and specials. It is a unit of Disney Television Studios, a subsidiary of Walt Disne ...
; and
Hulu
Hulu () is an American subscription streaming service majority-owned by The Walt Disney Company, with Comcast's NBCUniversal holding a minority stake. It was launched on October 29, 2007 and it offers a library of films and television series ...
Originals.
History
ABC Group
In 1995, Disney acquired
Capital Cities/ABC, and initially re-branded the holding media conglomerate as ABC Group. The assets acquired at the time included ABC Television Network Group, CC/ABC Broadcasting Group (
ABC Radio Network, eight TV and 21 radio stations), ABC Cable and International Broadcast Group, CC/ABC Publishing Group and CC/ABC Multimedia Group to the fold. The Cable and International Broadcast Group contained ownership shares of
ESPN Inc.
ESPN Inc. is an American multinational sports media conglomerate majority-owned by The Walt Disney Company, with Hearst Communications as an equity stakeholder. For management and financial reporting purposes, the company is the main entity w ...
(80%),
A&E Television Networks (37.5%),
DIC Productions, L.P.
DIC Entertainment Corporation (; also known as DIC Audiovisuel, DIC Enterprises, DIC Animation City, DIC Entertainment, L.P., and DIC Productions), branded as The Incredible World of DIC, was an international film and television production com ...
(Limited Partnership stake),
Lifetime Television (50%) and its international investments. These investments included
Telephone-München (50%, Germany; included 20% of
RTL II), Hamster Productions. (33%, France) and
Scandinavian Broadcasting System (23%, Luxembourg). ESPN also had international holdings:
Eurosport
Eurosport is a group of pay television networks in Europe and parts of Asia. Owned by Warner Bros. Discovery through its international sports unit, it operates two main channels— Eurosport 1 and Eurosport 2—across most of its territorie ...
(33.3%, England), TV Sport (10%, France;
Eurosport
Eurosport is a group of pay television networks in Europe and parts of Asia. Owned by Warner Bros. Discovery through its international sports unit, it operates two main channels— Eurosport 1 and Eurosport 2—across most of its territorie ...
affiliate) and The Japan Sports Channel (20%). The Publishing Group including
Fairchild Publications,
Chilton Publications, multiple newspapers from a dozen dailies (including the
Ft. Worth Star-Telegram
The ''Fort Worth Star-Telegram'' is an American daily newspaper serving Fort Worth and Tarrant County, the western half of the North Texas area known as the Metroplex. It is owned by The McClatchy Company.
History
In May 1905, Amon G. Carter ac ...
, The
Kansas City Star
''The Kansas City Star'' is a newspaper based in Kansas City, Missouri. Published since 1880, the paper is the recipient of eight Pulitzer Prizes. ''The Star'' is most notable for its influence on the career of President Harry S. Truman and ...
) and more weeklies, and dozens more publications in the fields of farm, business and law trade journals plus LA Magazine to
Institutional Investor
An institutional investor is an entity which pools money to purchase securities, real property, and other investment assets or originate loans. Institutional investors include commercial banks, central banks, credit unions, government-linked ...
. The Multimedia Group pursued businesses in new and emerging media technologies, including the
interactive television,
pay-per-view
Pay-per-view (PPV) is a type of pay television or webcast service that enables a viewer to pay to watch individual events via private telecast.
Events can be purchased through a multichannel television platform using their electronic program g ...
,
VOD,
HDTV
High-definition television (HD or HDTV) describes a television system which provides a substantially higher image resolution than the previous generation of technologies. The term has been used since 1936; in more recent times, it refers to the g ...
,
video cassette,
Optical disc
In computing and optical disc recording technologies, an optical disc (OD) is a flat, usually circular disc that encodes binary data ( bits) in the form of pits and lands on a special material, often aluminum, on one of its flat surface ...
, on-line services and location-based entertainment.
In April 1996, due to ongoing post Disney-CC/ABC merger realignment and retirement of its president,
WDTT group's division were reassigned to other groups with Walt Disney Television International (including
Disney Channels International and
Buena Vista Television domestic syndication and Pay TV division and
GMTV
GMTV (an acronym for Good Morning Television), now legally known as ITV Breakfast Broadcasting Limited, was the name of the national Channel 3 breakfast television contractor/licensee, broadcasting in the United Kingdom from 1 January 1993 ...
and
Super RTL holdings) were transferred to Capital Cities/ABC.
In May due to the merger, ABC ended its
ABC Productions
Walt Disney Television, formerly American Broadcasting Companies, Capital Cities/ABC and Disney-ABC Television Group has formed a number of production companies over the years. ABC Film Syndication, or ABC Films, was ABC's syndication distribut ...
division operations while keeping its boutique production companies:
Victor Television,
DIC Productions, L.P.
DIC Entertainment Corporation (; also known as DIC Audiovisuel, DIC Enterprises, DIC Animation City, DIC Entertainment, L.P., and DIC Productions), branded as The Incredible World of DIC, was an international film and television production com ...
,
ABC/Kane Productions and
Greengrass Productions
Walt Disney Television, formerly American Broadcasting Companies, Capital Cities/ABC and Disney-ABC Television Group has formed a number of production companies over the years. ABC Film Syndication, or ABC Films, was ABC's syndication distributio ...
. The international operations of Disney TV International and ABC Cable and International Broadcast Group were merged in June as
Disney/ABC International Television.
Under Disney, ABC Group sold various publishing companies in 1997. Chilton was sold to Reed Elsevier for $447 million and received $142 million from Euromoney Publications for Institutional Investor. In April,
Knight Ridder
Knight Ridder was an American media company, specializing in newspaper and Internet publishing. Until it was bought by McClatchy on June 27, 2006, it was the second largest newspaper publisher in the United States, with 32 daily newspaper bra ...
purchased four newspapers including ''The Kansas City Star'' and ''The Fort Worth Star-Telegram'' for $1.65 billion. In August 1999, Fairchild Publications was sold to
Conde Nast Publications for $650 million. In March 1998, ABC placed it shares of
Scandinavian Broadcasting System up for sale.
In late 1999, Walt Disney Television, along with other television units, were transferred again from
The Walt Disney Studios to Disney–ABC Television Group and merged with
ABC's primetime division,
ABC Entertainment
The American Broadcasting Company (ABC) is an American commercial broadcast television network. It is the flagship property of the ABC Entertainment Group division of The Walt Disney Company. The network is headquartered in Burbank, Calif ...
, forming ABC Entertainment Group.
Robert A. Iger
Robert Allen Iger (; born February 10, 1951) is an American businessman who is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of The Walt Disney Company. He previously served as the President of ABC Television between 1994 and 1995 and the President and C ...
was promoted from president and chief operating officer in February 1999 to chairman of ABC Group and president of Walt Disney International.
In March 2000, ABC formed the Disney Kids Network (DKN) advertising group via consolidation to sell ads for ABC's "
TGIF" primetime programming,
Disney's One Saturday Morning, the
Disney's One Too
Disney's One Too (later known as Disney's Animation Weekdays) was an American two-hour Sunday-to-Friday children's programming block that aired on UPN (and sometimes in syndication) from September 6, 1999 to August 31, 2003. A spin-off of the ...
syndicated programming block, ''
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire'', ''
The Wonderful World of Disney'' and
Winnie the Pooh primetime specials. DKN was placed under senior vice president of sales at ABC, Dan Barnathan, and would also work on some ads with
Radio Disney
Radio Disney was an American radio network operated by the Disney Radio Networks unit of Disney Branded Television within the Disney General Entertainment Content, headquartered in Burbank, California.
The network broadcast music programmi ...
,
Disney.com and the
Disney Adventures magazine. DKN added
Toon Disney when the channel started accepting ads in September 2000.
Iger was named president and chief operating officer of
The Walt Disney Company
The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on Octobe ...
in January 2000. In 2000, with an investment by
Bain Capital and
Chase Capital Partners
CCMP Capital is an American private equity investment firm that focuses on leveraged buyout and growth capital transactions. Formerly known as JP Morgan Partners, the investment professionals of JP Morgan Partners separated from JPMorgan Chase o ...
, Heyward re-purchased DIC Entertainment, L.P. from Disney, making the company re-independent
In September 2002, Disney Chairman/CEO
Michael Eisner
Michael Dammann Eisner (born March 7, 1942) is an American businessman and former chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of The Walt Disney Company from September 1984 to September 2005. Prior to Disney, Eisner was president of rival film s ...
outlined a proposed realignment of the ABC broadcast network's daytime parts with the similar unit in its cable channels: ABC Saturday mornings with
Disney Channel
Disney Channel, sometimes known as simply Disney, is an American pay television channel that serves as the flagship property of Disney Branded Television, a unit of the Disney General Entertainment Content division of The Walt Disney Comp ...
units (
Toon
Toon may refer to:
Places
* Tōon, Ehime, a Japanese city in Ehime Prefecture
* Toon, the former name of Ferdows, a city in South Khorasan Province, Iran
* Toon, Somaliland, a town in the Garoodi region
People
* Toon (name), a list of peop ...
&
Playhouse), ABC daytime with
Soapnet and ABC prime time with ABC Family. In October 2003,
ABC Family Worldwide
ABC Family Worldwide is a subsidiary of Walt Disney Television that is responsible for the operations of the U.S. cable network Freeform.
The company was originally formed as International Family Entertainment, a spin-off of the Christian Bro ...
was changed from a unit directly reporting to the Disney COO to a unit running within the ABC Cable Networks Group under
Anne Sweeney
Anne Marie Sweeney (born November 4, 1957) is an American businesswoman. She was formerly the co-chair of Disney Media, President of the Disney–ABC Television Group, and the President of Disney Channel from 1996 to 2014.
In March 2014, she a ...
.
Disney–ABC Television Group
On , Disney announced a restructuring of its Disney Media Networks division with Sweeney being named president of ABC parent Disney–ABC Television Group, and ESPN president
George Bodenheimer
George Bodenheimer (born May 6, 1958) is the former president of ESPN Inc. and of ABC's sports division, known since 2006 as ESPN on ABC. He was president of ESPN since November 19, 1998 and of the former ABC Sports since March 3, 2003.
The ''S ...
becoming co-CEO of the division with Sweeney, as well as president of ABC Sports. This move added ABC TV Network within Disney-ABC.
ABC1 channel initially launched in the United Kingdom on as the first use of the ABC brand outside the US. While
ABC News Now was launched that year in the US on digital subchannel of 70
ABC owned & operated and affiliates.
On June 12, 2007, Disney spun off its
ABC Radio Networks and merged it into Citadel Communications with
Citadel Broadcasting
Citadel Broadcasting Corporation was a Las Vegas, Nevada-based broadcast holding company. Citadel owned 243 radio stations across the United States and was the third-largest radio station owner in the country. Only iHeartMedia and Cumulus Media ...
while retaining its
ESPN Radio
ESPN Radio, which is alternately platform-agnostically branded as ESPN Audio, is an American sports radio network and extension of the ESPN television network. It was launched on January 1, 1992, under the original banner of "SportsRadio ESPN ...
and
Radio Disney
Radio Disney was an American radio network operated by the Disney Radio Networks unit of Disney Branded Television within the Disney General Entertainment Content, headquartered in Burbank, California.
The network broadcast music programmi ...
networks and stations and a 10-year news provider licensing agreement with Citadel for
ABC News Radio
ABC News Radio is the news radio service of ABC Audio, a division of ABC News in the United States. Formerly known as ABC Radio News, ABC News Radio feeds, through Skyview Networks, five minute newscasts on the hour and news briefs at half-pas ...
and the networks.
In February 2007, the previous iteration of Touchstone Television was renamed
ABC Television Studio
ABC Signature is an American television production studio that is a subsidiary of Disney Television Studios, a division of Walt Disney Television, which is part of the Disney General Entertainment Content division of The Walt Disney Compan ...
as part of Disney's push to drop secondary brands like Buena Vista for Disney, ABC, ESPN, and most recently,
A&E Networks
A&E Networks (stylized as A+E NETWORKS) is an American multinational broadcasting company that is a 50–50 joint venture between Hearst Communications and The Walt Disney Company through its General Entertainment Content division. The company ...
.
ABC1 in the UK was shut down on .
On January 22, 2009, Disney–ABC said it would merge
ABC Entertainment
The American Broadcasting Company (ABC) is an American commercial broadcast television network. It is the flagship property of the ABC Entertainment Group division of The Walt Disney Company. The network is headquartered in Burbank, Calif ...
and
ABC Studios
ABC Signature is an American television production studio that is a subsidiary of Disney Television Studios, a division of Walt Disney Television, which is part of the Disney General Entertainment Content division of The Walt Disney Company. ...
into a new unit called ABC Entertainment Group. That April, ABC Enterprises took an ownership stake in
Hulu
Hulu () is an American subscription streaming service majority-owned by The Walt Disney Company, with Comcast's NBCUniversal holding a minority stake. It was launched on October 29, 2007 and it offers a library of films and television series ...
in exchange for online distribution license and $25 million in the ABC network ad credits. The
Live Well Network
Localish (formerly Live Well Network, stylized as LOCALISH) is a lifestyle TV network owned by ABC Owned Television Stations, part of Walt Disney Television, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company.
Localish's 24/7 channel streams on Hulu Li ...
(LWN) was launched on April 27, 2009, by
ABC Owned Television Stations
ABC Owned Television Stations is a division of Disney Media and Entertainment Distribution operated by Disney Networks Group that oversees the owned-and-operated stations of the American Broadcasting Company (ABC), a division of The Walt Disney ...
on the stations' subchannels. Later that year,
A+E Networks
A&E Networks (stylized as A+E NETWORKS) is an American multinational broadcasting company that is a 50–50 joint venture between Hearst Communications and The Walt Disney Company through its General Entertainment Content division. The company ...
acquired Lifetime Entertainment Services with DATG ownership increasing to 42%. In November, Disney-ABC sells
GMTV
GMTV (an acronym for Good Morning Television), now legally known as ITV Breakfast Broadcasting Limited, was the name of the national Channel 3 breakfast television contractor/licensee, broadcasting in the United Kingdom from 1 January 1993 ...
to ITV for $37 million.
On March 24, 2012, following the dissolution of the ABC Daytime division,
ABC Family Worldwide
ABC Family Worldwide is a subsidiary of Walt Disney Television that is responsible for the operations of the U.S. cable network Freeform.
The company was originally formed as International Family Entertainment, a spin-off of the Christian Bro ...
began taking operational control of
Soapnet until that network was slowly discontinued for
Disney Junior
Disney Junior is an American pay television network owned by the Walt Disney Television (part of Disney General Entertainment Content) unit of The Walt Disney Company through Disney Branded Television. Aimed mainly at children two to seven ...
.
In July 2012,
NBCUniversal
NBCUniversal Media, LLC is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate corporation owned by Comcast and headquartered at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, United States.
NBCUniversal is primar ...
confirmed plans to sell its 15.8% stake in A+E Networks to Disney for $3 billion (along with its previous owner
Hearst Entertainment & Syndication, who became 50-50 partners in the joint venture).
On August 21, 2013, Disney–ABC announced it will lay off 175 employees. The layoffs are expected to hit positions among technical operations as well as the unit's eight local stations. On October 28, ABC News and
Univision Communications
TelevisaUnivision (formerly known as Univision Communications) is a Mexican-American media company headquartered in New York and Mexico City, which owns the American Spanish language broadcast network Univision. 45% of the company is held by th ...
launched
Fusion
Fusion, or synthesis, is the process of combining two or more distinct entities into a new whole.
Fusion may also refer to:
Science and technology Physics
*Nuclear fusion, multiple atomic nuclei combining to form one or more different atomic nucl ...
, a cable Hispanic news and satire channel.
In August 2014, A+E took a 10% stake in
Vice Media
Vice Media Group LLC is an American-Canadian digital media and broadcasting company. , the Vice Media Group included five main business areas: VICE.com (digital content); VICE STUDIOS (film and TV production) VICE TV (also known as VICELAND); ...
for $250 million, then announced in April 2015 that
H2 would be rebranded into the Vice channel with an indicated early 2016 launch. Disney also directly made two $200 investments in Vice Media in November 2015, then a week later in December, they directly invested in it again for 10% to assist in funding its programming. ABC Family became
Freeform on January 12, 2016.
On April 21, 2016, Disney–ABC sold its share in
Fusion
Fusion, or synthesis, is the process of combining two or more distinct entities into a new whole.
Fusion may also refer to:
Science and technology Physics
*Nuclear fusion, multiple atomic nuclei combining to form one or more different atomic nucl ...
to Univision. In September 2016, the group's president
Ben Sherwood
Benjamin Berkley "Ben" Sherwood (born February 12, 1964) is an American writer, journalist, and producer who was formerly the President of Disney-ABC Television Group and ABC News.
Early life and education
Sherwood was born to a wealthy Jewis ...
named Bruce Rosenblum, Television Academy chairman and former head of Warner Bros. TV Group, as president of business operations in s the newly created position, to reduce the number of direct reports from 17 to about 8. Roseblum would oversee ad sales in conjunction with channel heads, affiliate sales and marketing, engineering, digital media, global distribution, IT, research and strategy and business development. This allows Sherwood to focus on content and direct operating units that continue to directly report to him, ABC network units, cable channel units (Disney Channels Worldwide, and Freeform), ABC Studios and ABC TV Stations.
With the March 14, 2018, Disney Company reorganization,
in anticipation of integrating Fox assets from a proposed acquisition, all international channels including Disney Channels have been transferred to
Walt Disney Direct-to-Consumer and International
Disney Media and Entertainment Distribution (DMED), formerly Walt Disney Direct-to-Consumer & International (DTCI), is one of The Walt Disney Company's five major business segments consisting of Disney's streaming services and overseas media busi ...
, a new segment, with US channels remaining with Disney–ABC Television Group. All global sales units and distribution units have been transfer to the Disney Direct-to-Consumer segment.
Walt Disney Television
On October 8, 2018, Disney announced the division would be renamed Walt Disney Television following the completion of its
acquisition of
21st Century Fox
Twenty-First Century Fox, Inc., doing business as 21st Century Fox (21CF), was an American multinational mass media corporation that was based in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It was one of the two companies formed on June 28, 2013, fo ...
. The acquisition added
20th Century Fox Television
20th Television (formerly 20th Century Fox Television, 20th Century-Fox Television, and TCF Television Productions, Inc.) is an American television production company that is a division of Disney Television Studios, part of The Walt Disney Co ...
,
FX Networks and FX Productions,
Fox 21 Television Studios, and
National Geographic Networks to the division. Fox television executives
Peter Rice
Peter Rice (16 June 1935 – 25 October 1992) was an Irish structural engineer.
Born in Dublin, he grew up in 52 Castle Road, Dundalk in County Louth, and spent his childhood between the town of Dundalk, and the villages of Gyles' Quay and In ...
, Dana Walden,
John Landgraf
John Phillip Landgraf (born May 20, 1962) is the Chairman of FX Networks. He is also a member of
the Peabody Awards board of directors, which is presented by the University of Georgia's Henry W. Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication. ...
, and
Gary Knell joined The Walt Disney Company on March 20, 2019.
On March 5, 2019, Craig Hunegs was named to lead the combined Disney Television Studios — ABC Studios, ABC Signature, 20th Century Fox Television and Fox 21 Television Studios. He would report to Walden.
Following the completed acquisition of the 21st Century Fox assets in March 2019, Disney reorganized its television division to align various operations. On June 10, 2019, Disney announced that both Disney Television Studios and
FX Entertainment would share the same casting division. After assuming full control over
Hulu
Hulu () is an American subscription streaming service majority-owned by The Walt Disney Company, with Comcast's NBCUniversal holding a minority stake. It was launched on October 29, 2007 and it offers a library of films and television series ...
in May 2019, Disney reorganized Hulu's reporting structure in July 2019, placing Hulu's Scripted Originals team under Walt Disney Television. Under the new structure, Hulu's SVP of Original Scripted Content would report directly to the chairman of Disney Television Studios and ABC Entertainment.
On August 10, 2020, Disney Television Studios rebranded all of its three studios, effective immediately, as part of merger terms which required dropping "Fox" from assets acquired from 21st Century Fox. 20th Century Fox Television became 20th Television; Fox 21 Television Studios became the current iteration of Touchstone Television to avoid brand confusion with
Fox Corporation
Fox Corporation (stylized in all-caps as FOX Corporation) is a publicly traded American mass media company operated and controlled by media mogul Rupert Murdoch and headquartered at 1211 Avenue of the Americas in New York City. Incorporated ...
; and ABC Studios merged with the original incarnation of ABC Signature Studios to form the current ABC Signature. In addition, the former 20th Television – the syndication arm of 20th Century Fox TV – was folded into
Disney-ABC Domestic Television. In December 2020,
Touchstone Television
The second incarnation of Touchstone Television (formerly known as Fox 21 Television Studios) was an American television production company that is a subsidiary of Disney Media Networks' Walt Disney Television owned by The Walt Disney Company. It ...
merged into
20th Television.
In February 2021, Disney Television Studios established a new unit known as Walt Disney Television Alternative, which will oversee the development of non-scripted programming. The division is led by Rob Mills, the former ABC SVP of alternative series, specials and late-night.
Leadership
*
Dana Walden, Chairman, Disney General Entertainment Content
** Steve Chung, Chief Legal Officer
** Sonia Coleman, Senior Vice President, Human Resources
** Ayo Davis, President,
Disney Branded Television
*** Alyssa Sapire, Senior Vice President, Development, Series and Strategy,
Disney Junior
Disney Junior is an American pay television network owned by the Walt Disney Television (part of Disney General Entertainment Content) unit of The Walt Disney Company through Disney Branded Television. Aimed mainly at children two to seven ...
**** Kim Berglund, Vice President, Development
**** Diane Ikemiyashiro, Vice President, Current Series
**** Lori Mozilo, Vice President, Current Series
** Tara Duncan, President,
Freeform and
Onyx Collective
** Craig Erwich, President,
ABC Entertainment
The American Broadcasting Company (ABC) is an American commercial broadcast television network. It is the flagship property of the ABC Entertainment Group division of The Walt Disney Company. The network is headquartered in Burbank, Calif ...
,
Hulu
Hulu () is an American subscription streaming service majority-owned by The Walt Disney Company, with Comcast's NBCUniversal holding a minority stake. It was launched on October 29, 2007 and it offers a library of films and television series ...
and
Disney Branded Television Streaming Originals
*** Sharon Klein, Executive Vice President, Casting
*** Rob Mills, Executive Vice President, Unscripted and Alternative Entertainment
** Charissa Gilmore, Senior Vice President, Corporate Communications
**
Kimberly Godwin
Kimberly Godwin is an American television executive. In April 2021, Godwin was named president of ABC News making her the first Black woman to lead a major American broadcast news network.
Education
Godwin graduated from Florida A&M with a degre ...
, President,
ABC News
ABC News is the news division of the American broadcast network ABC. Its flagship program is the daily evening newscast '' ABC World News Tonight with David Muir''; other programs include morning news-talk show '' Good Morning America'', '' ...
**
John Landgraf
John Phillip Landgraf (born May 20, 1962) is the Chairman of FX Networks. He is also a member of
the Peabody Awards board of directors, which is presented by the University of Georgia's Henry W. Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication. ...
, Chairman,
FX
*** Gina Balian, Co-President, FX Entertainment
*** Nick Grad, Co-President, FX Entertainment
*** Stephanie Gibbons, President, Creative, Strategy and Digital, Multi-Platform Marketing
** Courteney Monroe, President,
National Geographic Content
** Shannon Ryan, President, Marketing
*** Pamela Levine, Head of Marketing,
Disney Branded Television and
National Geographic Content
** Eric Schrier, President,
Disney Television Studios and Business Operations, Disney General Entertainment
*** Karey Burke, President,
20th Television
*** Jonnie Davis, President,
ABC Signature
*** Trisha Husson, Head of Strategy, Business Operations and Finance, Disney General Entertainment Content
*** Marci Proietto, Executive Vice President,
20th Television Animation
20th Television Animation (formerly Fox Television Animation) is an American animation studio that creates, develops and produces adult animated television series and specials. It is a unit of Disney Television Studios, a subsidiary of Walt Disne ...
Units
Current structure
, the following is the current Disney General Entertainment units based on reporting structure:
Former units
Transferred to
Disney Media and Entertainment Distribution
Disney Media and Entertainment Distribution (DMED), formerly Walt Disney Direct-to-Consumer & International (DTCI), is one of The Walt Disney Company's five major business segments consisting of Disney's streaming services and overseas media bus ...
(DMED)
*
Disney XD
Disney XD is an American pay television channel owned by the Disney Branded Television and Disney Media and Entertainment Distribution units of The Walt Disney Company. The channel is aimed primarily at older children ages six to eleven yea ...
*
ABC Owned Television Stations
ABC Owned Television Stations is a division of Disney Media and Entertainment Distribution operated by Disney Networks Group that oversees the owned-and-operated stations of the American Broadcasting Company (ABC), a division of The Walt Disney ...
Re-organizational transfers 2018
These assets were transferred to
Walt Disney Direct-to-Consumer & International in 2018, which include:
[
* ]Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment
Buena Vista Home Entertainment, Inc., doing business as Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment, is the home entertainment distribution arm of The Walt Disney Company. The division handles the distribution of Disney's films, television series, a ...
– also known as Disney–ABC Home Entertainment and Television Distribution
** Disney–ABC Domestic Television
Disney–ABC Domestic Television (doing business as Disney–ABC Home Entertainment and Television Distribution, and formerly named Buena Vista Television) is the in-home sales and content distribution firm of Disney Platform Distribution, a s ...
– formerly Buena Vista Television
* Disney Media Distribution – formerly Disney–ABC International Television and before that, ABC Cable and International Broadcast Group
* Disney Channels Worldwide
Disney Branded Television is a unit of Disney General Entertainment Content which oversees development and production of content geared towards children, teenagers and families for Disney+, Disney Channel, Disney Junior and Disney XD. The unit a ...
- international channels only
** Broadcast Satellite Disney Co., Ltd. (April 2009 – 2018) – operator of Dlife
''DLife'' (stylized as ''dLife'') is a half-hour-long American weekly lifestyle television series broadcasting Sundays at 7 PM ET on CNBC. The show, which started airing in 2005, is the first television program dedicated entirely to people liv ...
channel (Japan)
** Hungama TV
Hungama TV is an Indian television channel aimed at children, mainly showcasing Japanese and Indian animated series. It was launched on 26 September 2004. The Hindi word "hungama" means 'ruckus' in English. It is owned by Disney Star. The chann ...
(2006–2018)
* Buena Vista International Television Investments
** RTL Disney Television Limited Partnership, 50% (–2018)
** Tele Munich Television Media Participation Limited Partnership, 50%
*** RTL 2 Television Limited Partnership, 31.5% (–2018)
**** RTL II (Germany)
* Super RTL (1995-2021) Germany
** Kividoo subscription video-on-demand (2015)
** Toggo Plus (2016)
Others
* ABC Radio Networks (1945–2007) sold to Cumulus Media
Cumulus Media, Inc. is an American broadcasting company and is the third largest owner and operator of AM and FM radio stations in the United States behind Audacy and iHeartMedia. As of June 2019, Cumulus lists ownership of 428 stations in 8 ...
** American Contemporary Network (January 1, 1968)
** American Information Network (January 1, 1968)
** American Entertainment Network (January 1, 1968)
** American FM Network (January 1, 1968)
** ABC Rock Radio Network (January 4, 1982)
** ABC Direction Radio Network (January 4, 1982)
** ABC Talk Radio (1980s)
** Urban Advantage Network (UAN)
* Radio Disney Group
Radio Disney Group, LLC was a limited liability company that owned most of the Radio Disney radio stations operating in each U.S. state. Radio Disney Group was owned by the Disney–ABC Television Group and the headquarters were located in New Yor ...
(2003–2014) sold individual stations except one.
* Walt Disney Television
Disney General Entertainment Content, doing business as Walt Disney Television, is an American entertainment company that oversees television content and assets owned and operated by The Walt Disney Company. Forming the company's General Enter ...
(1999-2003)
* Disney MovieToons/Disney Video Premieres (1996-2003) came as a part of Disney TV Animation transfer out to Walt Disney Feature Animation
Walt Disney Animation Studios (WDAS), sometimes shortened to Disney Animation, is an American animation studio that creates animated features and short films for The Walt Disney Company. The studio's current production logo features a scene fr ...
.
* DIC Entertainment, L.P.
DIC Entertainment Corporation (; also known as DIC Audiovisuel, DIC Enterprises, DIC Animation City, DIC Entertainment, L.P., and DIC Productions), branded as The Incredible World of DIC, was an international film and television production com ...
(1996-2000) sold back to Andy Heyward.
* Jetix
Jetix (stylized as JETIX) was a children's entertainment brand owned by The Walt Disney Company. The brand was for a slate of action/adventure-related programming blocks and television channels. Jetix programming mainly originated from the ...
- merged into Disney Channels Worldwide.
* ABC News Now (2004-2009) digital subchannel network.
* Touchstone Television
The second incarnation of Touchstone Television (formerly known as Fox 21 Television Studios) was an American television production company that is a subsidiary of Disney Media Networks' Walt Disney Television owned by The Walt Disney Company. It ...
(2020) folded into 20th Television
Walt Disney Television and Telecommunications
Walt Disney Television and Telecommunications (WDTT) was a division of The Walt Disney Company
The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on Octobe ...
. At the time Disney and Capital Cities/ABC merged, WDTT's divisions were The Disney Channel
Disney Channel, sometimes known as simply Disney, is an American pay television channel that serves as the flagship property of Disney Branded Television, a unit of the Disney General Entertainment Content division of The Walt Disney Com ...
, KCAL-TV
KCAL-TV (channel 9) is an independent television station in Los Angeles, California, United States. It is owned by the CBS News and Stations group alongside CBS West Coast flagship KCBS-TV (channel 2). Both stations share studios at the CBS ...
Los Angeles, Walt Disney Television, Touchstone Television
The second incarnation of Touchstone Television (formerly known as Fox 21 Television Studios) was an American television production company that is a subsidiary of Disney Media Networks' Walt Disney Television owned by The Walt Disney Company. It ...
, Buena Vista Home Entertainment
Buena ( ) is a borough in Atlantic County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough's population was 4,603,[Disney Interactive
Disney Interactive is an American video game and internet company that oversaw various websites and interactive media owned by The Walt Disney Company.
History
1995–1996: Formation and beginnings
In December 1994, Disney announced that it wa ...]
.[
]
WDTT history
On August 24, 1994, with Jeffrey Katzenberg
Jeffrey Katzenberg (; born December 21, 1950) is an American filmmaker, animator, and media proprietor. He became well known for his tenure as chairman of Walt Disney Studios from 1984 to 1994. After departing Disney, he was a co-founder and C ...
's resignation, a reorganization of Disney took place in which Richard H. Frank
Richard H. Frank is an American entertainment executive who served chairman of Walt Disney Television and Telecommunications (1994 to 1995) and as president of the Disney Studios (1985 to 1994).
Career
Richard Frank was president of the Paramou ...
became head of newly formed Walt Disney Television and Telecommunications, which was split from its filmed entertainment business, Walt Disney Studios. On December 5, 1994, Walt Disney Computer Software was transferred within WDTT as Disney Interactive
Disney Interactive is an American video game and internet company that oversaw various websites and interactive media owned by The Walt Disney Company.
History
1995–1996: Formation and beginnings
In December 1994, Disney announced that it wa ...
. At the end of his contract on April 30, 1995, Frank left Disney. Dennis Hightower
Dennis Fowler Hightower (born October 28, 1941 in Washington, D.C.), is a former United States Army officer, retired business executive, college educator, and public servant who was the United States Deputy Secretary of Commerce from August 11, 20 ...
, a marketing executive, was appointed by April 9 to succeed Frank.
In April 1996, due to ongoing post-Disney-CC/ABC merger realignment and the retirement of Hightower as president, WDTT's divisions were reassigned to other groups, with most of them transferred to either The Walt Disney Studios or CC/ABC.[ KCAL was sold to ]Young Broadcasting
Young Broadcasting, LLC was an American media company that owned or operated 12 television stations in 10 markets with a total U.S. television household coverage of 5.9%. The company was formerly known as Young Broadcasting Inc. and was the outgr ...
in May 1996 due to CC/ABC ownership of KABC-TV
KABC-TV (channel 7) is a television station in Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, United States, serving as the West Coast of the United States, West Coast Flagship (broadcasting), flagship of the American Broadcasting Company, ABC network. ...
.
See also
*Fox Networks Group
Fox Networks Group (FNG) is a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company that oversees international television assets that were acquired from 21st Century Fox. It produces and distributes more than 300 entertainment, film, sports and factual channe ...
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Walt Disney Television
1985 establishments in California
Broadcasting companies of the United States
Disney Media Networks
Mass media companies established in 1985
American Broadcasting Company
Television
Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...
American companies established in 1985
1996 mergers and acquisitions
Owned-and-operated television stations in the United States
Companies based in Burbank, California
Cable network groups in the United States
Television production companies of the United States