NEWS: Disney's Strategy Restructure Leads to Big Leadership Changes at Disney TV

Back in October, Disney CEO Bob Chapek announced a major restructuring of the Walt Disney Company.

This structural shift is to move the company to a focus on direct-to-consumer services, such as streaming. Now, as this shift continues, there have been some major changes to the structure of Disney’s TV studios.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Disney’s three TV studios, Touchstone, 20th Television, and ABC, have been merged into two with Touchstone being absorbed by 20th Television. Touchstone’s president Bert Salke is stepping down from Disney TV to return to working as a showrunner and Executive Producer.

The changes don’t stop there, however. ABC Entertainment president Karey Burke will move to become president of the expanded 20th Television with Craig Erwich, a senior VP at Hulu, will take over as president of ABC Entertainment.

Walt Disney holds a few of his “friends” while standing near an ABC-TV camera. [The Walt Disney Company]

The animation and unscripted programming teams at 20th Television will become separate units and continue to expand. Disney Television Studios president Craig Hunegs will move to a new role as President of Entertainment for Walt Disney Television. Hunegs’ new role will include working directly with the Chairman of Entertainment to lead a centralized business affairs, production, casting, and creative talent development and inclusion team, while also overseeing 20th Animation and a newly formed unscripted division.

The Hollywood Reporter notes that additional layoffs are expected at some point, though it is not clear who or when.

Photo by 20th Century Fox Television/Kobal/Shutterstock (5876429a)

Of the shakeup, Chairman of Entertainment Dana Walden said, “The changes we are announcing today are in service of three goals: rightsizing our organization, streamlining functions across our studios and original content teams, and strengthening our partnerships with the extraordinary creators who call Disney Television Studios their home.”

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Disney has continued this restructuring as the company still continues to suffer financially due to the global health crisis. The Disney TV teams are expected to be the last of the major TV-side restructurings at Disney.

What do you think of the latest round of restructuring at Disney? Tell us in the comments!