English Entertainment
Disney firms up plans to launch its three channels
CANNES: Walt Disney Television International president David Hulbert is quite gung-ho about India. At MipTV in Cannes, Hulber told a European media website that his company was more interested in India than China. He said that Walt Disney Television is chatting with Indian distributors to introduce “two or three” channels in India this year.
“We are in discussions with people like Star, ESS and Sony about distribution as part of their bundle rather than launching the channel as a joint-venture,” Hulbert told the website. The final call on its distribution partner is expected to be taken by July and a Diwali launch of the three Disney channels – Playhouse, Toons and TDC – is looking increasingly likely.
The media powerhouse only recently severed relations with its more than 10-year-old partner Modi Entertainment Network (MEN) and shuttered its joint venture with the Lalit Modi promoted MEN, Walt Disney India Private Limited.
Hulbert shrugged off the recent CAS imbroglio adding that he was quite sanguine that the Telecom Regulatory Authority (Trai) would not bring a heavy hand on the cable and satellite television broadcasting industry, working as a facilitator. He added that Disney has already started dubbing Disney programmes into Hindi, Tamil and Telegu for the new channels.
Additionally, the company is also on a recruitment drive for its proposed channels and has appointed local agencies to help it zoom in on the talent. The recent Ficci Frames conference held in Mumbai last month had witnessed the the senior Asian Disney management in full attendance.
According to its application with the Foreign Investment Promotion Board, it will be setting up a wholly-owned subsidiary in India, and will invest $10m in India over the next five years. Besides the new channels, the company intends to take a dekko at other forays such as production and distribution of local movies, branded merchandising, theme parks and resorts.
English Entertainment
Ellison takes his Paramount-Warner Bros case straight to theater owners
The Skydance chief goes to CinemaCon with promises and a skeptical crowd waiting
CALIFORNIA: David Ellison strode into a room packed with thousands of cinema owners and executives at CinemaCon in Las Vegas on Thursday and did something rather bold: he looked them in the eye and asked them to trust him.
The chief executive of Paramount Skydance vowed that his company would release a minimum of 30 films a year if regulators greenlight its proposed $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros Discovery, a deal that has made theater owners deeply, and loudly, nervous.
“I wanted to look every single one of you in the eye and give you my word,” Ellison told the crowd. “Once we combine with Warner Bros, we are going to make a minimum of 30 films annually across both studios.”
It was a confident pitch. Whether it landed is another matter. Cinema operators have already called on regulators to block the deal, and scepticism in the room was hardly concealed.
Ellison pushed back by pointing to recent form. Paramount, born from the merger of Paramount Global and Skydance Media last August, plans to release 15 films this year, nearly double the eight it put out in 2025. Progress, he argued, was already underway.
He also threw theater owners a bone they have long been chasing: all films, he pledged, would run exclusively in cinemas for a minimum of 45 days, drawing applause from a crowd that has spent years fighting for exactly that commitment across the industry.
“People can speculate all they want,” Ellison said, “but I am standing here today telling you personally that you can count on our complete commitment. And we’ll show you we mean it.”
Fine words. The regulators, however, will have the last one.
