The Walt Disney Company France (french: La Société Walt Disney), formerly Buena Vista International France, is one of

The Walt Disney Company The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Disney Stud ...

's international divisions and also European divisions. It is headquartered in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

Île-de-France The Île-de-France (, ; literally "Isle of France") is the most populous of the eighteen regions of France. Centred on the capital Paris, it is located in the north-central part of the country and often called the ''Région parisienne'' (; en, Pa ...

. The Walt Disney Company France is in charge of all Disney's brands and productions in France. The company also owns and operates French versions of Disney television channel and the

Disneynature Disneynature is an independent film studio that specializes in the production of nature documentary films for The Walt Disney Studios. The production company was founded on April 21, 2008, and is headquartered in Paris, France. The company's n ...

film unit. The Walt Disney Company France also co-produces content with other French media companies.

History

Gaumont Buena Vista International

Gaumont and

Buena Vista International Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, formerly known as Buena Vista Pictures Distribution, Inc. until 2007, is an American film distribution studio within the Disney Media and Entertainment Distribution division of The Walt Disney Company. It h ...

formed Gaumont Buena Vista International, their joint venture French distribution company, in 1992. In a Disney Channel is launched in France, also serving Luxembourg and Switzerland. After the purchase of Fox Family Worldwide, Disney also got a major ownership interest in Fox Kids Europe, which included Fox Kids in France. Fox Kids switched over to Jetix in August 2004. Disney Channel +1, a timeshift channel, and a

Playhouse Disney Playhouse Disney was a brand of programming blocks and international cable and satellite television channels that were owned by the Disney Channels Worldwide unit (now Disney Branded Television) of The Walt Disney Company's Disney–ABC Televi ...

channel launched in 2002. As of 30 June 2004, BVPD and Gaumont dissolved their French distribution joint venture, Gaumont Buena Vista International.

Buena Vista International France

On 30 November 2008 at 8:30 PM,

Disney Cinemagic Disney Cinemagic was a European television brand that consisted of a group of television channels owned by Walt Disney Company Limited (UK) plus two programming blocks by Disney Channels Worldwide. It used to be broadcast on most countries in Wes ...

HD debuted in France broadcasting on CANALSAT from 6am to 1am daily, making the channel the first "children and family HDTV channel in a French market". Jean-Francois Camilleri, head of the company, had the company acquire ''

March of the Penguins ''March of the Penguins'' (French ''La Marche de l'empereur'' ; ) is a 2005 French feature-length nature documentary directed and co-written by Luc Jacquet, and co-produced by Bonne Pioche and the National Geographic Society. The documentary dep ...

'' for the French market. Buena Vista International France also managed to obtain a 20% ownership stake in the French version of the film. However, Buena Vista Pictures Distribution's bid to distribute the film in the US ultimately failed. At the formation of the

film unit, Camilleri was placed in charge of the unit.

Walt Disney Company France

In 2011, Disney Channel HD was launched and

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 y ...

replaced the Playhouse channels. Disney Cinemagic in France was replaced by Disney Cinema in . In 2012, a Disneynature cable TV channel was launched in France. It is currently carried by

France Telecom Orange S.A. (), formerly France Télécom S.A. (stylized as france telecom) is a French multinational telecommunications corporation. It has 266 million customers worldwide and employs 89,000 people in France, and 59,000 elsewhere. In 2015, ...

. Camilleri resigned his posts with Disney France in March 2019. While Helene Etzi was appointed to take over his responsibility as head of Disney's French operations, there was no word on who would helm Disneynature.

Divisions

; Cinema * Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures France (former ''Buena Vista International France''), distribution unit. * Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment France (former ''Buena Vista Home Entertainment France''), video distribution unit. *

, a film unit that produces documentary. ; Television * Disney Channel, flagship channel. * Disney Channel +1, a +1 time shift channel. *

, a channel aimed mainly at children 2–7 years old. ; Streaming service * Disney Channel Pop Pick Play, a service dedicated to Disney Channel productions, include in some TV packages. * Disney English, an educational service include in some TV packages. * Holà Disney, an educational service include in some TV packages. ; Video on demand service * Disneytek, a service dedicated to

Disney 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 October ...

Marvel Marvel may refer to: Business * Marvel Entertainment, an American entertainment company ** Marvel Comics, the primary imprint of Marvel Entertainment ** Marvel Universe, a fictional shared universe ** Marvel Music, an imprint of Marvel Comics * ...

and Star Wars productions. * ABCtek, a service dedicated to

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. ...

productions. * Disneynature TV, a service dedicated to

productions. Euro Disney S.A.S., Disney Store France and

Disney+ Disney+ is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned and operated by the Media and Entertainment Distribution division of The Walt Disney Company. The service primarily distributes films and television se ...

are not part of The Walt Disney Company France.

Closed divisions

; Cinema and animation *

Walt Disney Animation France The Walt Disney Company has owned and operated several animation studios since the company's founding on October 16, 1923, by Walt and Roy Disney as the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio; the current Walt Disney Animation Studios in Burbank, C ...

(former ''Brizzi Films''), an animation studio launched in 1986 and closed in 2003. * SIP Animation (49% minority stake) ; Press * Disney Hachette Presse, a magazine publisher co-own with

Hachette Filipacchi Médias Hachette Filipacchi Médias, S.A. (HFM) is a magazine publisher. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Lagardère Active, a division of the media conglomerate Lagardère Group of France. History '' Hachette'' was founded by Louis Hachette (Fren ...

, closed in 2019. All publications are now published by Unique Heritage Media as part of a licensing agreement with The Walt Disney Company France. ; Television * Toon Disney and Toon Disney +1, a channel launched in 2002 and closed in 2007, replaced by

. *

, a preschool channel launched in 2002 and closed in 2011, replaced by

. * ESPN Classic Sport, a sport channel launched in 2002 and closed in 2013. * Jetix, a channel launched in 2004 and closed in 2009, replaced by

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 ...

. *

and Disney Cinemagic +1, a cinema channel launched in 2007 and closed in 2015,

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Walt Disney Company France, the Companies based in Paris

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

Mass media companies of France Television networks in France