Disney India
This article may require copy editing for style and cohesion. (September 2023) |
Company type | Subsidiary |
---|---|
Industry | Media conglomerate |
Founded | August 1993The Walt Disney Company and Modi Enterprises) | (as a joint venture between
Founder | The Walt Disney Company |
Headquarters | |
Area served | India |
Key people |
|
Owner | The Walt Disney Company |
Parent | Disney Entertainment |
Divisions |
|
Subsidiaries | Tata Play (30%) |
Website | disney.in |
Walt Disney Company India (Disney India) is the Indian subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra.
Disney India became India's biggest television broadcaster[1] in March 2019 after the acquisition of 21st Century Fox by Disney. The acquisition included the Star India (now Disney Star).
History
Establishment
The Walt Disney Company India was established as a joint venture partnership between The Walt Disney Company and Modi Enterprises in August 1993 as a licensing agreement. Disney had received an approval in October 2001 from the Indian Foreign Investment Promotion Board to establish a fully owned subsidiary to launch the Disney Channel in India. Despite the approval for the subsidiary, its joint venture partner Modi Enterprises protested because of similarities to their joint venture. At the end of the 10-year licensing agreement in 2003, Modi Enterprises and Disney were unable to reach a new agreement, dissolving the joint venture in August 2003.[2]
In September 2003, Walt Disney Television International Asia Pacific assumed control for the distribution of content through channels like Star Movies, AXN and HBO including 29 hours of children's programming weekly through channels such as DD Metro, Eenadu, SET, Star Plus and Star World.[3]
Fully owned subsidiary
The Walt Disney Company (India) Private Limited began operations in July 2004 and is based in Mumbai.[4] On 17 December 2004, Walt Disney Television International India launched the Disney Channel and Toon Disney channel with five language feeds (English, Malayalam, Kannada, Telugu and Tamil). The channels were to be distributed by the Star Group.[5][6][7] Disney India planned to initially focus on its channel operations before expanding into other areas. In the long term, a Disney theme park in India is planned as land has been shortlisted on the outskirts of Delhi.[8] In December, with UTV Indiagames as a partner, Disney Interactive released Disney games, wallpapers and ringtones which are available on Bharti Airtel. In 2005, Disney Consumer Products (DCP) began working with various Indian retail outlets to establish Disney Corners within the outlets to sell licensed merchandise.[9] In August, Funskool India and Disney entered into a contract for Funskool to sell Disney Princess products in India.[10]
In January 2007, Disney India and Yash Raj Films agreed to co-produce and co-finance a yearly animated film for the Indian market. Both companies would also work together on merchandising and games for the films.[11]
In July 2006, Disney India acquired a controlling stake in Hungama TV from UTV Software Communications Limited while also taking a 14.9% share in UTV.[12] In 2008, the company took an additional 17.5% stake in UTV.[13]
On 26 September 2006, the Disney Jeans brand was launched under license to Indus Clothing, which planned to open 30 Disney Jeans stores by the end of 2007.[14] In October, Disney Consumer Products (DCP) franchised the rights to set up 150 Disney Artist brand stores under the Disney Artist brand to Ravi Jaipuria Corporation for a period of 5 years. The stores were to sell greeting cards, stationery, arts, crafts and party products in India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Maldives featuring Disney characters.[15]
Disney Publishing Worldwide, a division of Walt Disney India, announced a licensing agreement in April 2009 with local publisher Junior Diamond to publish Disney comics in English and Hindi.[16] Jetix/Toon Disney was changed to Disney XD on 14 November 2009.[7]
In May 2011, Disney and UTV agreed to co-produce Disney branded family films creative functions handled jointly. UTV would produce, market, and distribute the films.[4] In July 2011, Walt Disney Company (South East Asia) Pvt Ltd. offered to purchase public shareholders' stakes with the objective of increasing their ownership. In February 2012, Disney announced the completion of the acquisition of UTV. UTV Chief Executive Officer Ronnie Screwvala replaced Mahesh Samat as managing director of The Walt Disney Company (TWDC) India.[17]
In October 2012, Disney launched Disney Junior, an ad-free channel for preschool kids. Programming for this age group until then was a one-and-a-half-hour programming block on Disney Channel India.[18] Disney India launched its Live Entertainment operations in 2015 with the production of Beauty and the Beast, a musical to be shown from October to December in Mumbai and Delhi.[19]
Disney India indicated, in August 2016, that it was shutting down UTV Motion Pictures, its Hindi film production unit, and focusing only on the distribution of its Hollywood films. Disney India managing director Siddharth Roy Kapur also indicated he would let his contract lapse on 1 January 2017.[20] On 28 November 2016, Mahesh Samat was to return as managing director, four years after he left the company.[21]
On 12 September 2017, Walt Disney International announced a restructuring of its business in Asia, and that Mahesh Samat is to lead the new Disney South Asia division, combining India, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines and Vietnam.[22]
On 5 October 2017, The Walt Disney Company India officially announced the launch of Disney International HD on 29 October 2017. The channel was to be the exclusive home to live-action Disney Channel original content.[23] The channel will not have any animation content and will be replacing Bindass Play.[24]
Disney launched its second HD channel UTV HD on 21 October 2018, showing Bollywood and Hollywood films in Hindi. It premiered a new movie every Friday.[25]
On 7 November 2017, Disney announced the promotion of Abhishek Maheshwari as country head for India. He was to report to Mahesh Samat, Walt Disney International South Asia managing director.[26]
On 14 December 2017, Disney announced its intent to acquire 21st Century Fox–parent company of rival Star India and streaming service Hotstar–for US$52.4 billion.[27][28]
Consumers Products licensed DLF Brands for Disney & Me stores that opened in April 2018.[29] The Live Entertainment division's second musical, Aladdin, premiered on 20 April 2018.[30]
On 13 December 2018, Disney announced Uday Shankar, who serves as president of Fox Asia and chairman of Star India, would lead Disney's Asia Pacific region and chairman of Disney India after the acquisition of 21st Century Fox closes.[31] On 1 April 2019, Uday Shankar, president of Disney Asia Pacific, announced the restructuring of the complete entity of Star India and Disney, while Sanjay Gupta will lead the Indian businesses and head the Disney Studios India and Fox Star Studios in India, directly reporting to Uday Shankar who is also Chairman of Star and Disney India.[32] Gupta resigned as country head in November 2019, while UTV channels were merged into the Star India bouquet.[33]
Disney XD was replaced with Marvel HQ channel on 20 January 2019 at noon.[34] Star India networks took over the distribution of Disney channels in July 2019. Disney Channel, Hungama TV, Marvel HQ and Disney Junior became part of the Disney Kids Pack while Bindass and Disney International HD became part of the Star Value Pack.[35] Later, in February 2020, Star Gold underwent a branding overhaul, while its sister channel Movies OK was replaced by Star Gold 2.
On 30 December 2020, Disney announced that the Star branding will be replaced with Utsav from 1 February in the Netherlands.[36]
On 26 January 2022, Tata Sky was rebranded into Tata Play.[37]
Marvel HQ was replaced with the Super Hungama channel on 1 March 2022.[38]
On 14 April 2022, The Walt Disney Company India rebranded Star India to Disney Star.[39]
On 27 May 2022, Fox Star Studios was renamed Star Studios, as part of the removal of the "Fox" name from the studios that had been acquired from 21st Century Fox by Disney.[40]
Following a long-awaited restructuring paradigm, Disney announced plans to shut down the UTV brand, with UTV Movies, UTV HD and UTV Action being replaced respectively by Star Gold Romance, the HD feed of Star Gold 2 and Star Gold Thrills.[41]
In April 2023, Head of Network Entertainment Kevin Vaz left the company to join Viacom18 as CEO of TV Business.[42][43]
In July 2023, The Walt Disney Company began exploring strategic options for their businesses in India, such as forming a joint venture or selling it completely; the company had major domestic cricket rights to competitors, which had weakened the Disney+ Hotstar service.[44]
Between September and October 2023, Disney held preliminary talks with Reliance Industries, Adani Group, Sun Group, Blackstone, and Sony Pictures Networks India.[45][46][47] In October 2023, it was reported that Disney was nearing a cash and stock deal with Reliance Industries for the sale of its operations in India, including a controlling stake in Disney Star. The assets Reliance will acquire are reportedly valued at around US$7–8 billion (valuing the entire division at US$10 billion), and a transaction could be announced as early as November.[48] Although the CEO of Disney, Robert Iger, refuted such claims at first, it was announced in December 2023 that Disney and Reliance had signed a non-binding term sheet for a merger. According to its terms, Reliance would hold a 51% in the merged company in cash and stock, while Disney would own the remaining 49%. For purposes of the merger, a subsidiary of Viacom18 will be created to absorb Disney Star through a stock swap. The deal is expected to be completed by February 2024, pending ratification and regulatory approval, although Reliance aims to complete it by the end of January.[49][50][51]
Units
Current Units
Store | Licencee | Start Date | Closed Date |
---|---|---|---|
Disney Corners Departments | April 2005[9] | ||
Disney Jeans | Indus Clothing | 26 September 2006[14] | |
Disney Artist | Ravi Jaipuria Corporation | 10 October 2006[15] | |
Disney & Me | DLF Brands | April 2018[29] | |
shopDisney | 23 November 2020[52] |
- Disney Star
- Star Media Networks
- Star Sports
- Mashal Sports (74%)
- Football Sports Development Limited (35%)[53]
- Star Sports
- Star Studios
- Star Media Networks
- Disney+ Hotstar
- Disney Consumer Products and Interactive Media
- Disney Consumer Products
- Disney Publishing Worldwide
- Disney Interactive
- Tata Play (30%)
Former Units
- Walt Disney Pictures India
- UTV Software Communications
- Disney India Media Networks
- Asianet Star Communications
- Novi Digital Entertainment
Walt Disney Pictures India
Home Entertainment
The following Indian films were released under the Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment banner.
Home Entertainment Release date | Film | International Title | Original Theatrical Release date | Production Company | Notes | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
12 January 2010 | Taare Zameen Par | Like Stars on Earth | 21 December 2007 | Aamir Khan Productions and PVR Pictures | [70] | |
26 July 2011 | Anaganaga O Dheerudu | Once Upon a Warrior | 14 January 2011 | Disney India, A Bellyful of Dreams Entertainment, and Arka Media Works | Part of Disney World Cinema series | [71] |
Do Dooni Chaar | Two Twos Are Four | 8 October 2010 | Disney India and Planman Motion Pictures | |||
Zokkomon | Zokkomon | 22 April 2011 | Disney India |
Disney Live Entertainment
- Musicals
- Beauty and the Beast (2015)[19] The staff on the show include Vikranth Pawar (director), Lesle Lewis (music director), and Terence Lewis (choreography).[72]
- Aladdin (2018) The musical is co-produced with Indian company BookMyShow.[30]
See also
Notes
References
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External links
- Film production companies based in Mumbai
- Disney India
- The Walt Disney Company subsidiaries
- Indian animation studios
- Indian subsidiaries of foreign companies
- Indian companies established in 1993
- 1993 establishments in Maharashtra
- Television broadcasting companies of India
- Mass media companies of India
- Television networks in India
- Television companies of India