The Walt Disney Company India Private Limited, known simply as Disney India, is the Indian

subsidiary A subsidiary, subsidiary company or daughter company is a company owned or controlled by another company, which is called the parent company or holding company. Two or more subsidiaries that either belong to the same parent company or having a ...

of the

Indo Pacific The Indo-Pacific is a vast biogeographic region of Earth. In a narrow sense, sometimes known as the Indo-West Pacific or Indo-Pacific Asia, it comprises the tropical waters of the Indian Ocean, the western and central Pacific Ocean, and t ...

region of the American media and entertainment conglomerate

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 ...

and headquartered in

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the secon ...

Maharashtra Maharashtra (; , abbr. MH or Maha) is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. Maharashtra is the second-most populous state in India and the second-most populous country subdi ...

. In March 2019, after the

acquisition of 21st Century Fox by Disney The acquisition of 21st Century Fox by Disney was announced on December 14, 2017, and was completed on March 20, 2019. Among other key assets, the acquisition of 21st Century Fox by the Walt Disney Company included the 20th Century Fox film and ...

, which included Indian TV giant

Star India Disney Star Private Limited is an Indian media conglomerate and a wholly owned subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company India. It is headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra. Disney Star network runs more than 70 TV channels in eight languages, rea ...

, Disney India became India's biggest television broadcaster.

History

Joint venture

Walt Disney India was formed in August 1993 with a licensing agreement as a joint venture partnership between

and Modi Enterprises. Disney filed in October 2001 with the

Foreign Investment Promotion Board The Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) was a national agency of Government of India, with the remit to consider and recommend foreign direct investment (FDI) which does not come under the automatic route. India attract net inward foreign d ...

to create a wholly owned subsidiary company to launch the Disney Channel in India. The Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion granted Disney an initial approval for the subsidiary but with Modi protesting because of similarities to their joint venture. When the 10 year licensing agreement ended, Modi and Disney could not come to a new agreement, thus ending the joint venture agreement in August 2003. Walt Disney Television International (Asia Pacific) took over distribution of content in September 2003 via

Star Movies Star Movies is an Asian pay television network originally owned by The Walt Disney Company (Southeast Asia) Pte. Ltd., Fox Networks Group Middle East and Disney Star. In March 2019, The Walt Disney Company acquired Star TV for $71 billion with ...

AXN AXN is a pay television channel owned by Sony Pictures Television, which was first launched in September 1997 in Asia. Local versions have since been launched in several parts of the world, including Europe, Asia, and Latin America. Funded th ...

and HBO plus 29 hours of children's programmes per week via

DD Metro DD Metro also known as DD 2 was an Indian free-to-air television channel. It was launched in 1984 as DD2 in Delhi as an alternative to DD National. Later, it increased its coverage area by expanding to Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai. In 1993, the ...

Eenadu ''Eenadu'' () is the largest circulated Telugu-language daily newspaper of India sold mostly in the states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.SET Set, The Set, SET or SETS may refer to: Science, technology, and mathematics Mathematics *Set (mathematics), a collection of elements *Category of sets, the category whose objects and morphisms are sets and total functions, respectively Electro ...

Star Plus StarPlus is an Indian Hindi language general entertainment pay television channel owned by Disney Star (formerly ''Star India''), a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company India. The network's programming consists of family dramas, comedi ...

and

Star World Star World (formerly known as Star Plus) is an English language entertainment television channel originally launched on 15 December 1991 as Star Entertainment () by STAR TV in Hong Kong as the old iteration of Star Plus. On 30 March 1996, th ...

Wholly owned subsidiary

The Walt Disney Company (India) Private Limited started operations in July 2004 based in Mumbai. On 17 December 2004, Walt Disney Television International India launched 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 Comp ...

and

Toon Disney Toon Disney was an American multinational pay television channel owned by Disney Channels Worldwide, a subsidiary of Disney-ABC Television Group. The channel's target audience was children ages 2–11, and children ages 6–13 during the Jetix ...

channel with five language feeds (English, Malayalam, Kannada, Telugu and Tamil languages). The channels were to be distributed by the Star Group. Disney India planned to focus initially on its channel operations before expanding in to other areas. In the long term, a Disney theme park in India is possible as land has been reportedly found on the outskirts of Delhi. Also in December, with Indiagames as a partner, the Walt Disney Internet Group released Disney games, wallpapers and ringtones in the market which is also available on

AirTel Bharti Airtel Limited, commonly known as (d/b/a) Airtel, is an Indian multinational telecommunications services company based in New Delhi. It operates in 18 countries across South Asia and Africa, as well as the Channel Islands. Current ...

. In 2005,

Disney Consumer Products Disney Consumer Products, Inc. is the retailing and licensing subsidiary of the Disney Parks, Experiences and Products segment of The Walt Disney Company. Previously, Consumer Products was a segment of Disney until 2016, then a unit of Disney Co ...

(DCP) began working with various Indian retail outlets to establish Disney Corners within the outlets to sell licensed merchandise. In August, Funskool India and Disney entered in a contract for Funskool to sell Disney Princess products in India. Disney India and

Yash Raj Films Yash Raj Films (YRF) is an Indian film production and distribution company founded by veteran filmmaker Yash Chopra in 1970. It mainly produces and distributes Hindi and Punjabi films. The company has grown to be one of the largest film studios ...

agreed to co-produce and co-finance a yearly animated film for the India market in January 2007. Both companies would also work together on merchandising and games for the films. In July 2006, Disney India acquired a controlling stake in

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 ...

from UTV Software Communications Limited while also taking a 14.9% share in UTV. In 2008, the company took an additional 17.5% share in UTV. On 26 September 2006, the Disney Jeans brand was launched under license to Indus Clothing, which planned to open 30 Disney Jean stores by the end of 2007. In October, DCP franchised to Ravi Jaipuria Corporation the rights for five years to set up 150 Disney Artist brand stores and wholesale under the Disney Artist brand Disney character branded greeting cards, stationery, arts, crafts and party products in India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Maldives.

Disney Publishing Worldwide Disney Publishing Worldwide (DPW), formerly known as The Disney Publishing Group and Buena Vista Publishing Group, is the publishing subsidiary of Disney Parks, Experiences and Products, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company. Its imprints incl ...

, a division of Walt Disney India, announced a licensing agreement in April 2009 with local publisher Junior Diamond to publish Disney comic books, in both English and Hindi. Jetix/Toon Disney was switched over in India to

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 ...

on 14 November. In May 2011, Disney and UTV agreed to co-produce Disney branded family films with both handling creative function and UTV producing, marketing and distributing the films. Walt Disney Company (South East Asia) Pvt Ltd. in July 2011 offered to purchase the public shareholders' stakes with approval given by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs for them to increase their ownership. In February 2012, Disney announced the completion of the acquisition of UTV with UTV Chief Executive Officer Ronnie Screwvala becoming Managing Director of TWDC India replacing Mahesh Samat, who joined the company in 2007 from Johnson & Johnson. In October 2012, Disney launched Disney Junior India, an ad-free channel for preschool kids. Earlier it was a one and a half hour programming block on Disney Channel India. Disney India launched its Live Entertainment operations in 2015 with the production of a ''

Beauty and the Beast ''Beauty and the Beast'' (french: La Belle et la Bête) is a fairy tale written by French novelist Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve and published in 1740 in ''La Jeune Américaine et les contes marins'' (''The Young American and Marine ...

'' musical to be shown from October to December in Mumbai and Delhi. Disney India indicated in August 2016 that it was shutting down UTV Pictures, its Hindi film production unit, and focusing only on distribution of its Hollywood films. Disney India managing director Siddharth Roy Kapur also indicated he would let his contract lapse on 1 January 2017. On 28 November 2016, Mahesh Samat was to return as managing director, four years after he left the company. 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. 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. The channel will not have any animation content, and will be replacing Bindass Play. Disney launched its second HD channel UTV HD on 21 October 2018, showing Bollywood and Hollywood films in Hindi. It premieres a new movie every Friday. 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. On 14 December 2017, The Walt Disney Company announced the 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 ...

, which includes

. Consumers Products licensed DLF Brands for Disney & Me stores that opened in April 2018. The Live Entertainment divisions' second musical, ''

Aladdin Aladdin ( ; ar, علاء الدين, ', , ATU 561, ‘Aladdin') is a Middle-Eastern folk tale. It is one of the best-known tales associated with ''The Book of One Thousand and One Nights'' (''The Arabian Nights''), despite not being part o ...

'', premiered on 20 April 2018. On 13 December 2018, Disney announced

Uday Shankar Uday Shankar (8 December 1900 – 26 September 1977) was an Indian dancer and choreographer, best known for creating a fusion style of dance, adapting European theatrical techniques to Indian classical dance, imbued with elements of Indian cl ...

, who serves as president of Fox Asia and chairman of the Star India, will lead Disney's Asian Pacific region and chairman of Disney India after the acquisition of 21st Century Fox, including Star India closes. On 1 April 2019, Uday Shankar, president Disney Asia Pacific, announced the restructuring of the complete entity of

and Disney. Sanjay Gupta will lead the Indian businesses and head the Disney Studios India,

Fox Star Studios Star Studios (formerly known as Fox Star Studios) is an Indian motion picture production and distribution company. It is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Disney Star, part of the Disney International Operations segment of The Walt Disney Company. Th ...

and UTV Motion Pictures in India, directly reporting to Uday Shankar who is also Chairman of Star and Disney India. Gupta resigned as country head in November 2019. Disney XD was replaced with

Marvel HQ Super Hungama is an Indian pay television channel owned by Disney Star, a wholly owned subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company India. It airs primarily children's animated series and is a direct sister channel to Hungama TV. It was launched as M ...

channel on 20 January 2019 at noon. Star India networks took over distribution of Disney channels in July 2019. Disney Channel, Hungama TV, Marvel HQ and Disney Junior became part of ''Disney Kids Pack'' while Bindass and Disney International HD became part of ''Star Value Pack''. On 30 December 2020, Disney announced that the Star branding will be replaced with Utsav from 1 February in Netherlands. On 26 January 2022, Tata Sky was rebranded into

Tata Play Tata Play (stylised as TΛTΛ PLΛY, formerly TΛTΛ , sky) is an Indian direct broadcast satellite (DTH) service provider using MPEG-4 digital compression technology, transmitting using INSAT-4A and GSAT-10 satellite. Incorporated in 2005; i ...

. Marvel HQ was replaced with Super Hungama channel on 1 March 2022. On 14 April 2022, Star India was rebranded into

Disney Star Disney Star Private Limited is an Indian media conglomerate and a wholly owned subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company India. It is headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra. Disney Star network runs more than 70 TV channels in eight languages, rea ...

Units

Current Units

* Disney Consumer Products and Interactive Media **

** Disney Interactive *

** Star Media Networks *** Star Sports *** Star Media Networks South ****

Asianet Star Communications Asianet Star Communications, formerly Asianet Communications, is an Indian media company headquartered in Trivandrum owned by Disney Star, a wholly owned subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company. Asianet Star Communications operates Malayalam cha ...

**** Star Maa Network **

Star Studios Star Studios (formerly known as Fox Star Studios) is an Indian motion picture production and distribution company. It is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Disney Star, part of the Disney International Operations segment of The Walt Disney Company. T ...

Novi Digital Entertainment Disney Star Private Limited is an Indian media conglomerate and a wholly owned subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company India. It is headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra. Disney Star network runs more than 70 TV channels in eight languages, rea ...

***

Disney+ Hotstar Disney+ Hotstar (also known as Hotstar) is an Indian brand of subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned by Novi Digital Entertainment of Disney Star and operated by Disney Media and Entertainment Distribution, both d ...

** Mashal Sports (74%) *** Pro Kabaddi League **

Indian Super League The Indian Super League (ISL) is an Indian professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the Indian football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. Organised by the All India Football Federa ...

(35%) *

(30%)

Former Units

* Walt Disney Pictures India * Disney India Media Networks * UTV Software Communications **

UTV Indiagames UTV Indiagames (formerly known as Indiagames) was a video game publisher across various platforms for the South Asian market. It was founded in 1999 by Vishal Gondal, as a five-member team. UTV Indiagames in its current iteration is solely a ...

** UTV Motion Pictures

Walt Disney Pictures India

Home Entertainment

The following Indian films were released under the

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 ...

banner.

Disney Live Entertainment

: Musicals * ''

'' (2015) The staff on the show include Vikranth Pawar (director), Lesle Lewis (music director), and Terence Lewis (choreography). * ''

'' (2018) The musical is co-produced with Indian company BookMyShow.

Current Channels

The following channels will soon be brought under Disney Star Private Limited once UTV channels are replaced by Star-themed channels.

Former Channels

The following list includes channels discontinued by The Walt Disney Company India

Notes

References

External links

*
Info
at

The Economic Times ''The Economic Times'' is an Indian English-language business-focused daily newspaper. It is owned by The Times Group. ''The Economic Times'' began publication in 1961. As of 2012, it is the world's second-most widely read English-language bu ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Walt Disney Company India public limited company. Film production companies based in Mumbai

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

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

Broadcasting Broadcasting is the distribution of audio or video content to a dispersed audience via any electronic mass communications medium, but typically one using the electromagnetic spectrum (radio waves), in a one-to-many model. Broadcasting began wi ...