Walt Disney Company is going through a major shakeup as the world’s top entertainment conglomerate restructures its burgeoning television empire under the leadership of Dana Walden, Chairman of Disney Television.
In essence Disney has consolidated its three television properties into two divisions. Touchstone, which was originally known as Fox 21, will be merged into 20th Television and its head executive for 10 years, Bert Salke, will step down.
But no one is likely to shed tears for Salke, as unnamed sources told the Hollywood Reporter that the veteran TV exec has signed a four-year production deal with Disney worth $20 million. Salke will return to his roots as a show runner and executive producer.
That was the biggest change this week at Disney, but far from the only one. ABC Entertainment’s president Karey Burke takes a step up as she will now oversee the newly expanded 20th Television division, and Touchstone’s current team will now report to her as part of a much larger studio.
Carolyn Cassidy, who previously served as president of 20th Television will now be the executive VP of development, and will also report up the line to Burke, while Salke’s former number two executive at Touchstone, Jane Francis, will now become executive VP of series development at 20th Television.
Over at ABC, the senior VP of original programming at Hulu, Craig Erwich, has also been promoted. He will now serve as the president of Hulu originals and also takes over for Burke running ABC Entertainment.
There’s also change coming to Disney Television Studios, which was essentially the umbrella organization that oversaw 20th Television, Touchstone TV and ABC, as president Craig Hunegs moves to a new role working directly with Walden as president of entertainment for Walt Disney Television. Walden herself was promoted to Chairman of Entertainment at Walt Disney TV in November.
This seismic shift at Disney occurs as part of a series of major changes at the House of Mouse in an attempt to better position the company for its decisive entry into the television streaming market, while eliminating staff redundancies in its various divisions.
That process began in October when Disney CEO Bob Chapek announced the company is shifting its focus to streaming, and promoted former consumer products president Kareem Daniel to oversee a new Media and Entertainment Distribution Group.
It’s expected there will be more changes and layoffs in the coming months as the various divisions sort out their individual management teams, but Walden is confident the changes will lead Disney to an even stronger position in the entertainment sector.
“This has been an incredibly challenging but successful year,” Walden said Tuesday. “Our television studios produce many of the top-rated shows in the industry. ABC is now the No. 1 entertainment network and the Hulu Originals team launched their most successful slate yet of critically acclaimed, award-winning, high-performing shows. I am proud of our exceptional leadership team and all we have accomplished, but the media landscape is changing and this reorganization better positions us for the future. 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.”