Disney is preparing an overhaul of its television business that is expected to trigger hundreds of layoffs and consolidate separate creative divisions, according to a Wall Street Journal report carried by The Times of India. The restructuring is still being shaped by senior leadership and may not be finalised until the end of the year.
The review is the latest move since Josh D’Amaro, formerly theme parks chief, took over as CEO in March and began pushing the company to operate as a cohesive digital entertainment system rather than a collection of separate channel businesses.
Cuts already underway
The television changes follow a series of workforce reductions that began under former CEO Bob Iger. Earlier cycles have already affected Pixar, marketing departments, ABC News and ESPN. More than 300 employees were cut earlier this week, mostly in corporate human resources and IT.
Disney’s legal and global affairs division is also preparing for reductions. Horacio Gutierrez, Disney’s chief legal and global affairs officer, told staff the division “will be a much smaller organisation than it is today”, pointing to automation as one reason for the shift. The unit employs roughly 1,000 people.
From silos to one system
Dana Walden, Disney president and chief creative officer, described the thinking at a Bloomberg event on Thursday. “There is a need to constantly evaluate how you’re structured and how big is the organization,” she said. Disney, she added, is “centralising as a television business, not a bunch of silos.”
The reorganisation is being led by Debra OConnell, chairman of Disney Entertainment Television. Her scope includes a wide portfolio brought partly through Disney’s 2019 acquisition of 21st Century Fox:
- ABC Entertainment
- 20th Television
- Hulu Originals
- Disney Kids & Family
- National Geographic Content
- Freeform
Today these units largely keep their own leadership teams while producing for Disney+, Hulu, linear channels and third-party distributors. Insiders say consolidation is likely to affect some executives running those groups.
What marketers should watch
The move mirrors wider industry pressure: streaming has not replaced the profit margins cable subscriptions once delivered, pushing legacy studios to trim budgets and simplify their structures. Disney’s leadership appointments underline the direction—former YouTube executive Adam Smith now chairs streaming, and Silicon Valley veteran Karandeep Anand has come in as chief technology officer.
In August, Disney opened a voluntary early-retirement package for executives aged 50 and older with at least a decade of tenure, holding off on finalising the television roadmap until participation numbers were clear. That sequencing—early exits first, structure second—can signal which teams will be prioritised.
For marketing professionals, the lesson is not just about Disney. When a company centralises around a single system, marketing and content teams tend to be reorganised around audiences and formats rather than legacy channels. Skills that work across brands, platforms and automation tools become more valuable in that environment.
Source: The Times of India
