Walt Disney to restructure India operations

By Gaurav Laghate, ET Bureau | Updated: Dec 23, 2016, 10.36 AM IST

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/media/entertainment/walt-disney-to-restructure-india-operations/
articleshow/56129407.cms
MUMBAI: World's largest media and entertainment conglomerate, The Walt Disney Company, is set
to restructure its India operations under new managing director Mahesh Samat, who rejoined the
company on October 25, 2016 after a gap of four years.  Under Samat, the company has been working
towards the new lean structure, more aligned to the international organisational set-up. Disney India
will now focus on its core strengths - Hollywood films and consumer products business. The Hindi
film production business has been suspended after suffering major losses. Disney India will retrench
its workforce and trim it down to 350 people in the next two months, from the current strength of 680
people. 
Disney has merged their consumer products business with interactive and is now headed by
one. "With global change, Disney was bound to merge the consumer products and interactive business
in India too. Disney — the world's largest media and entertainment company with over $22 billion in
annual revenues —has not been able to replicate the same success in India. Its other business, be it
media networks (Bindass, The Disney Channel, Hungama TV, Bindass Play, UTV Action),
interactive, licensing and merchandising or live events, have not given the company a scale that it
deserved, feel media observers. 
Fox deal set to make Disney India’s biggest broadcaster
Last Published: Fri, Dec 15 2017. 01 54 AM IST
(http://www.livemint.com/Companies/sdRdjtYGZyJXQadZwTl0LL/Fox-deal-set-to-make-Disney-Indias-biggest-
broadcaster.html)

New Delhi: In a deal that could reshape the entertainment business globally, Walt Disney Co. has
agreed to buy Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox Inc. for about $52.4 billion in stock on Thursday.
In India, the deal means that Murdoch-owned Star India’s businesses, including 49 entertainment
channels and 10 sports channels would be absorbed by Disney along with its digital streaming
platform Hotstar. Not just that, Disney would also acquire Star’s stake in direct-to-home platform
Tata Sky in India. This would catapult Disney, currently known for its children’s channels and
distribution of Hollywood films, into India’s biggest broadcaster.

“The combined entity can bring many synergies to the table and leverage advertising, distribution,
licensing and over-the-top (OTT) revenues besides saving costs on some fronts. The merger will make
Disney a formidable powerhouse in the region,” Ten days ago, 21st Century Fox named Uday
Shankar, chairman and chief executive of Star India Pvt. Ltd, as president, 21st Century Fox for the
Asia region. In September, Star India Pvt. Ltd won television, digital, Indian and global media rights
to the India Premier League (IPL) for the next five seasons for Rs16,347.50 crore. The company also
operates a movie production and distribution company since 2009.

Star India chairman Uday Shankar to head Disney-Star

merged entity in India
(https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/media/entertainment/media/star-india-chairman-
uday-shankar-to-head-disney-star-merged-entity-in-india/articleshow/67081427.cms) Dec 13, 2018,

MUMBAI: Uday Shankar, currently chairman and CEO of Star India and president of 21st Century
Fox, Asia, will lead the India and Asia Pacific business of The Walt Disney Company once it
completes the acquisition of 21st Century Fox’ assets. Disney, world’s largest entertainment
company, announced Thursday the new organisational structure of the direct-to-consumer and
international (DTCI) business, keeping executives of both companies in key leadership roles. 
“The planned restructuring of our business units outside of the US will result in a stronger, more agile
organisation, one that is better able to pivot and capitalise on the many opportunities present in
today’s fast-changing and increasingly complex global marketplace,” said Kevin Mayer, chairman,
DTCI, at The Walt Disney Company. 
In his new role, Shankar will report in to Mayer, while Luke Kang, EVP and MD, Greater China,
Japan and Korea; Kylie Watson-Wheeler, MD of Australia and New Zealand; and Chafic Najia, SVP
and MD of Middle East will report to Shankar. The other regions under DTCI – EMEA and Latin
America - will continue to be led by Rebecca Campbell and Diego Lerner, respectively. 

K Madhavan to head Star and Disney India’s TV business

Gaurav Laghate, Updated: Dec 13, 2019, 07.26 PM IST
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/media/entertainment/k-madhavan-to-head-star-
and-disney-indias-tv-business/articleshow/72533392.cms
MUMBAI: Star and Disney India has divided outgoing country manager Sanjay Gupta’s duties into
two separate verticals - TV and digital (Hotstar). Hotstar leadership will now directly report into Uday
Shankar, chairman, Star and Disney India and president of The Walt Disney Company, APAC,
whereas TV business will report to K Madhavan, head of company regional language media network.

In an internal memo, accessed by ET, Shankar wrote that December 27th will be Gupta’s last working
day in the company. “In order to create minimum disruption to the business, I have decided K
Madhavan, who has built out regional entertainment business, will now look after all our TV
businesses across markets and verticals,” Shankar wrote. All the senior executives who used to report
to Gupta, except those of Hotstar, will now report to Madhavan, who, in turn will report to Shankar.
Shankar also announced that Nitin Bawankule, who has recently taken charge of ad-sales for Hindi
speaking markets (HSM), sports and Hotstar, will have dual reporting – Madhavan for HSM and
sports and Shankar for Hotstar sales.

DISNEY RENAMING STAR CHANNELS IN THE NETHERLANDS

Dec 30, 2020 https://whatsondisneyplus.com/disney-renaming-star-channels-in-the-netherlands/

https://www.business-standard.com/article/companies/walt-disney-names-k-madhavan-as-prez-of-
india-unit-with-immediate-effect-121041400257_1.html (April, 14 2021)
When Disney purchased 20th Century Fox, it obtained Star India, a hugely successful broadcasting
company based in India, which has a network of 60 channels in eight languages, that reaches
approximately 790 million viewers a month across India and more than 100 countries.   With it’s
streaming service, Hotstar being rebranded as Disney+ Hotstar in India in March. Disney officially
revealed details of how it was planning the branding of “Star” internationally at December’s Investor
Day event, which will see Star added as a new sixth tier within Disney+ in February in many regions
including Europe, Australia, Canada and in Asia.  Many Fox channels in Latin America will also
be rebranded “Star”. According to Dutch television provider Ziggo, Disney will be rebranding its
Hindi channels, Star Plus and Star Gold channels in the Netherlands to Utsav Plus and Utsav Gold. 
This rebranding will be taking effect from February 1st. The rebranding is being done so Disney can
use the “Star” brand as part of Disney+ in the Netherlands, which is coming on February 23rd.

On April 14, 2014 Media major Walt Disney has named K Madhavan as president of its India unit
with immediate effect aftet. He will drive strategy and growth, with responsibility for all businesses.
This includes entertainment, sports, regional channels and direct-to-consumer business.
Disney got the better of Delta in the US and did well in India
15 Aug 2021: Ref: https://www.livemint.com/opinion/columns/disney-got-the-better-of-delta-in-
the-us-and-did-well-in-india-11629043021074.html
The streaming service added more than 12 million subscribers in its quarter ended 3 July,
bringing the total to 116 million. That’s double the amount it had a year ago. A majority of
those came from Disney+ Hotstar, a cheaper version of the service in India, accounting for an
astounding 40% of total Disney+ subscribers.  Excluding Hotstar, average revenue per user
would be $6.12 (from current $4.16) —and still trail behind AT&T’s HBO Max and Netflix,
which are higher-priced apps. Even though investors are entirely fixated on subscriber growth
for now, margins will eventually come into question.
Still, it’s clear what Disney needs to do next to keep shareholders and customers satisfied.
Across its three streaming platforms—Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+—it has about 174 million
subscribers, many of which are frustrated by having their favourite programmes spread across
different apps. They should all be one service, and it seems very likely that 1+1+1 will equal
more than 3 in this case. Putting Disney’s family-friendly fare together with its more adult
content and sports creates a product with a much wider appeal that can compete more directly
with Netflix and HBO Max. 

Bob Iger’s return to Disney may mean cost checks in India biz
25 Nov 2022 Ref: https://www.livemint.com/industry/media/bob-iger-s-return-to-disney-may-
mean-cost-checks-in-india-biz-11669315350158.html

Bob Iger, who was reappointed chief executive of the Walt Disney Company by replacing his
underperforming successor Bob Chape, is expected to bring back growth for the
entertainment giant’s India business under Disney Star, by controlling costs including a
relook at its huge investments in buying sports rights. In June, Disney Star spent ₹23,575
crore to buy television broadcast rights for the IPL for five years beginning 2023 but lost the
coveted digital media rights to Reliance-owned Viacom18. Consequently, Disney Star’s
streaming platform Disney+ Hotstar in India (and a few other Asian countries) has seen its
growth rate slow down. In the September quarter, Hotstar brought in a little less than 3
million subscribers, a dip from the 8 million it added in the June quarter. Media industry
experts said the big challenge and opportunity for Iger will be to ramp up local offerings on
Hotstar which, so far, hasn’t been as aggressive as rivals Netflix and Amazon Prime Video.
As far as India goes, Iger is likely take a closer view on costs, resulting in fewer or more-
tightly budgeted shows for streaming and less crazy bidding for sports rights. The next two
years are going to be quite tight given the economic environment in the US. This could also
mean reorganization from a leadership perspective though his first focus is going to be the
US and he would look at India only in the second year.
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