trading name disney abc television group type wholly owned subsidiary of disney media networks industry broadcast predecessor capital cities abc inc. founded september 20 1996 ; 20 years ago 1996 09 20 headquarters burbank california u.s. key people ben sherwood president bruce rosenblum president of business operations number of employees 7 000 2016 1 parent disney media networks the walt disney company divisions american broadcasting company abc entertainment group abc owned television stations subsidiaries a e networks llc 50 % abc family worldwide inc. disney channels worldwide inc. website official website abc inc. 2 dba disney abc television group 3 simply disney abc 4 manages all of the walt disney company s disney and abc branded television properties . the group includes the abc television network including abc daytime abc entertainment and abc news divisions as well as disney s 50 % stake in a & e television networks and its 80 % controlling stake in espn inc. 5 while holding the controlling stake in espn disney abc and espn operate as separate units of disney media networks . 6 contents 1 history 1.1 disney abc television group 2 units 3 walt disney television and telecommunications 3.1 wdtt history 4 references 5 external links history edit in 1996 disney acquired capital cities abc 7 bringing abc television network group cc abc broadcasting group abc radio network eight tv and 21 radio stations abc cable and international broadcast group cc abc publishing group and cc abc multimedia group . the cable and international broadcast group contained ownership shares of espn inc. 80 % a & e television networks 37.5 % lifetime television 50 % and its international investments . these investments included tele m nchen 50 % germany ; included 20 % of rtl ii hamster productions . 33 % france and scandinavian broadcasting system 23 % luxembourg . espn also had international holdings eurosport 33.3 % england tv sport 10 % france ; eurosport affiliate and the japan sports channel 20 % . the publishing group including fairchild publications chilton publications multiple newspapers from a dozen dailies including the ft. worth star telegram the kansas city star and more weeklies and dozens more publications in the fields of farm business and law trade journals plus la magazine to institutional investor . the multimedia group pursued businesses in new and emerging media technologies including the interactive television pay per view vod hdtv video cassette optical disc on line services and location based entertainment . 8 in 1993 dic animation city and capital cities abc formed a joint venture called dic entertainment l.p. 9 in april 1996 due to ongoing post disney cc abc merger realignment and retirement of its president wdtt group s division were reassigned to other groups with walt disney television international including disney channel international and buena vista television domestic syndication and pay tv division and gmtv and super rtl holdings were transferred to capital cities abc . 10 in may due to the merger abc ended its abc productions division operations while keeping its boutique production companies victor television dic entertainment abc kane productions and greengrass productions . 11 the international operations of disney tv international and abc cable and international broadcast group were merged in june as disney abc international television . 12 disney had abc group sell various publishing companies in 1997 . chilton was sold to reed elsevier for 447 million and got 142 million from euromoney publications for institutional investor . while in april knight ridder purchased four newspapers including the kansas city star and the fort worth star telegram for 1.65 billion . in august 1999 fairchild publications was sold to conde nast publications . 13 in late 1999 walt disney television along with other television units were transferred from the walt disney studios again to disney abc television group to merge with abc s primetime division abc entertainment to form abc entertainment group . 14 15 16 in march 2000 abc formed disney kids network dkn advertising group via consolidation to sell ads for abc s tgif primetime programming disney s one saturday morning disney s one too syndicated programming block who wants to be a millionaire the wonderful world of disney and winnie the pooh primetime specials . dkn was placed under abc senior vice president of sales dan barnathan and would also work on some ads with radio disney disney.com and disney adventures magazine . dkn added toon disney when the channel started accepting ads in september 2000 . 17 18 abc group chairman robert a. iger was named president and chief operating officer of the walt disney company in january 2000 . 19 in 2000 with an investment by bain capital and chase capital partners heyward re purchased dic enterprises . 20 in september 2002 disney chairman ceo michael eisner outlined a proposed realignment of the abc broadcast network day parts with the similar unit in its cable channels abc saturday mornings with disney channels toon & playhouse abc daytime with soapnet and abc prime time with abc family . 21 in october 000000002003 10 01 0000october 2003 abc family worldwide was changed from a disney coo directly reporting unit to being with in the abc cable networks group run by anne sweeney . 22 disney abc television group edit on 000000002004 04 21 0000april 21 2004 disney announced a restructuring of its disney media networks division with sweeney being named president of abc parent disney abc and espn president george bodenheimer becoming co ceo of the division with sweeney as well as president of abc sports . this move added abc tv network within disney abc . 23 abc1 channel initially launched in the united kingdom on 000000002004 09 27 0000september 27 2004 as the first use of the abc brand outside the us . 24 while abc news now was launched that year in the us on digital subchannel of 70 abc owned & operated and affiliates . 25 disney spun off and merged on june 12 2007 its abc radio networks with citadel broadcasting into citadel communications while retaining its espn radio and radio disney networks and stations and a 10 year news provider licensing agreement for abc news radio with citadel for the networks . 26 27 in february 2007 touchstone television was renamed abc television studio as part of disney s push to drop secondary brands like buena vista for disney abc and espn . 28 abc1 in the uk was shut down on 000000002007 09 26 0000september 26 2007 . 29 on 000000002009 01 22 0000january 22 2009 disney abc said it would merge abc entertainment and abc studios into a new unit called abc entertainment group . 30 31 that april abc enterprises took an ownership stake in hulu in exchange for online distribution license and 25 million in abc network ad credits . 32 the live well network lwn was launched on 000000002009 04 27 0000april 27 2009 by abc owned television stations on the stations subchannels 33 34 35 late that year a e networks acquired lifetime entertainment services with datg ownership increasing to 42 % . 36 in november disney abc sells gmtv to itv for 37 million . 37 on 000000002012 03 24 0000march 24 2012 following the dissolution of the abc daytime division abc family worldwide inc. began taking operational control of soapnet until that network was slowly discontinued for disney junior . 38 39 in 000000002012 07 01 0000july 2012 nbcuniversal confirmed plans to sell its 15.8 % stake in a e networks to disney and hearst entertainment & syndication who became 50 50 partners in the joint venture . 40 on 000000002013 08 21 0000august 21 2013 disney abc announced it will layoff 175 employees . the layoffs are expected to hit positions among technical operations as well as the unit s eight local stations . 41 on october 28 abc news and univision communications launched fusion a hispanic news and satire shows cable channel . 42 in august 2014 a e took a 10 % stake in vice media for 250 million then announced in april 2015 that h2 would be rebrand into the vice channel with an indicated early 2016 launch . 43 disney also made direct investment in vice media with two 200 investments in november 2015 then a week later in december for about a direct 10 % to assist in funding programming . 44 abc family became freeform on january 12 2016 . 45 on april 21 2016 disney abc sold its share in fusion to univision . 46 in september 2016 group president ben sherwood named bruce rosenblum television academy chair and warner bros. tv group s former head to the newly created position president of business operations to reduce the number of direct reports from 17 to about 8 . roseblum would oversee ad sales in conjunction with channel heads affiliate sales and marketing engineering digital media global distribution it research and strategy and business development . this allows sherwood to focus on content and direct operating units that continue to directly report to him abc network units cable channel units disney channels worldwide and freeform abc studios and abc tv stations . 47 units edit abc inc. dba disney abc television group 48 formerly capital cities abc inc. american broadcasting companies inc. 49 generally seen as the copyright holder for abc owned shows disney abc television group digital media walt disney television disney abc home entertainment and television distribution disney abc domestic television formerly buena vista television disney media distribution formerly disney abc international television and before that abc cable and international broadcast group abc entertainment group abc entertainment american broadcasting company 1943 radio 1948 television times square studios division abc daytime 1960 abc media productions formerly buena vista productions valleycrest productions abc news 1945 abc news radio 1968 abc news all media abc news production unit abc news productions 1994 lincoln square productions 2003 present abc digital abc studios formerly touchstone television & abc television studio greengrass productions keep calm and carry on productions victor television productions abc kane productions abc family worldwide freeform abc family digital prodco inc. abc family production company bvs entertainment formerly saban entertainment saban fox kids library . depatie freleng enterprises marvel productions ltd library . abc owned television stations 1948 live well network 2009 abc national television sales abc regional sports and entertainment sales 50 disney channels worldwide disney channel 1983 disney xd disney cinemagic disney junior broadcast satellite disney co. ltd. april 2009 operator of dlife channel japan 51 hungama 2006 radio disney 1996 radio disney group 2003 2014 sold individual stations disney television animation it s a laugh productions dic entertainment 1993 2000 sold joint ventures espn inc. 80 % a e networks joint venture with hearst corporation ; 50 % equity holding ; 1984 includes lifetime entertainment services see article for channels and other units abc enterprises hulu 30 % ; 2009 international television super rtl 1995 germany 50 % rtl ii germany 16 % gmtv 1993 2009 uk 25 % walt disney television and telecommunications edit unit 8 10 transferred to 10 kcal tv los angeles sold to young 52 walt disney television disney studios disney television animation touchstone television buena vista home entertainment walt disney television international cc abc disney channel international buena vista television gmtv super rtl disney interactive disney televentures inc. disney corporate walt disney television and telecommunications wdtt was a division of the walt disney company . at the time disney and capital cities abc merged wdtt s divisions were the disney channel kcal tv los angeles walt disney television touchstone television and buena vista home video international and disney interactive . 8 wdtt history edit on august 24 1994 with jeffrey katzenberg s resignation a reorganization of disney company took place in which richard frank became head of newly formed walt disney television and telecommunications which was split off from its filmed entertainment business walt disney motion pictures . 53