Disney Star, the Walt Disney Company’s local unit, has restructured its internal leadership team following the departure of Kevin Vaz, former head of network entertainment channels, in April.
According to a news report in Mint, K Madhavan, Disney Star’s country manager, announced the changes in an internal email.
Gaurav Banerjee will now be in charge of Star Bharat, Hindi and English Movies cluster, kids and infotainment, and the regional portfolio (East), which includes Star Jalsha and Star Kiran, in addition to leading the company’s video streaming platform, Disney+ Hotstar. Madhavan will continue to receive reports from Banerjee.
Krishnan Kutty will now report directly to Madhavan as the business and content head for the entire South and Marathi regional portfolio, which includes Star Suvarna, Star Maa, Asianet, Star Vijay, Star Pravah, and Disney+ Hotstar regional specials.
Sumanta Bose will continue as the business head for Star Plus and Star Utsav, reporting directly to Madhavan, and will also lead content for Star Plus, Star Jalsha, and Disney+ Hotstar Hindi specials, reporting to Banerjee and reporting to Sajith Sivanandan, head of Disney+ Hotstar.
Alok Jain, who oversaw Star MAA, Star Jalsha, Star Kiran and Star Suvarna, has chosen to quit the organization and pursue an opportunity elsewhere.
“The following changes will allow us to create a more efficient and streamlined approach to our revenue, marketing and operations functions,” the email added.
Disney Star did not respond to queries on leadership changes.
In addition to overseeing technology and operations for the Disney cluster, Mani Rangarajan will assume complete oversight of these functions for the network. Accordingly, Vivek Dhaimade, head of traffic and presentation and Gajendra Tijare, head of broadcast technology and operations will report to him.
Minakshi Achan, in addition to her current role as head of creative communications, will also oversee social listening. Venke Sharma, head of the distillery, will report to her.
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