In making the announcement, Pyne said, "Tom has an exemplary track record in leading our programme distribution business to success in these key markets, and is the ideal executive to lead our new integrated team across both content and channel distribution. We believe this market-differentiating structure - a first among studios - will put us in an excellent position to maximise strategic value for our company, through best serving our clients' needs."

This new team's responsibilities will span across all platforms such as terrestrial, pay, cable/satellite, telco, and IPTV, and technologies such as PPV, DTT, VOD, broadband and mobile.

Toumazis added, "I'm delighted to be given the opportunity of leading this group to an exciting future. I'm looking forward to working with the Disney Channel, ESPN and DAIT teams, and some of the strongest channel brands and programming in the world, to create a best-in-class distribution division."

In leading this team, Toumazis will drive growth in the distribution and revenue of TWDC's channels, and television, film and sports content through the Walt Disney Studios, ABC Studios, Disney Channel, Disney-ABC Cable Networks and ESPN, managing key client relationships and leading deal negotiations.

In this role, he will work closely with Disney Channel and ESPN teams led by John Hardie, EVP and MD, Disney Channels EMEA and Lynne Frank, SVP and MD, ESPN EMEA. He will also liaise with Disney's European management board, and other Disney divisions to develop overall company media growth strategies.

Disney currently has 24 Disney-branded channels and 8 ESPN channels in EMEA. Jetix Europe has 15 channels in EMEA. Disney also licences over 30,000 hours of content to 1,300 broadcasters across 240 territories outside of the US.