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Disney Television Studios Rebrands Its Three Units As 20th Television, ABC Signature & Touchstone Television

Nellie Andreeva
·4 min read

Disney Television Studios has launched a major rebrand of its three studios, 20th Century Fox Television, Fox 21 TV Studios and ABC Studios/ABC Signature. The move comes nearly 18 months after Disney’s $71.3 billion acquisition of key 21st Century Fox assets and seven months after the Disney-owned film companies — 20th Century Fox Studios and Fox Searchlight Pictures — dropped “Fox” in January to become 20th Century Studios and Searchlight Pictures.

ABC Studios and its cable/streaming subsidiary ABC Signature, led by president Jonnie Davis, will merge into one studio entitled ABC Signature. Fox 21 Television Studios, led by president Bert Salke, will be renamed Touchstone Television. 20th Century Fox Television, led by president Carolyn Cassidy, will become 20th Television. Because they are all part of Disney TV Studios, the divisions also all dropped “studios” from their monikers.

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Removal of Fox was agreed to when the transaction between Disney and 21st Century Fox was negotiated to avoid confusion in the marketplace. While rebranding 20th Century Fox TV by simply dropping “Fox” was straightforward, renaming Fox 21 TV Studios posed a conundrum, leading to the delay in the overall rebrand. The solution came in the form of Touchstone Television, bringing back a legacy Disney television brand that was retired in 2007. While Fox 21’s name is gone, the new Touchstone TV logo keeps its signature typewriter font for continuity.

The new graphic logos (see above) and “motion end cards” (see below) will be rolled out in new episodes of Disney Television Studios programming going forward. The changes are effective immediately, though the new names and logos may not be fully integrated until the end of the year. Library titles and episodes broadcast before the rebrand will remain unchanged.

“Our new studio names and logos mark a new day for ABC Signature, 20th Television and Touchstone Television while honoring their rich histories and the creative power of The Walt Disney Company,” said Disney Television Studios president Craig Hunegs. Dana [Walden] and I could not be more pleased with the first year of our three studios together as part of Disney Television Studios and we believe that with our powerhouse talent roster and exceptional studio teams, the best is yet to come.”

The three units of Disney Television Studios recently earned 47 Emmy Award nominations including a nod for Outstanding Limited Series for Little Fires Everywhere, as well as acting nominations for Kerry Washington, Anthony Anderson, Tracee Ellis Ross, Billy Porter, Sterling K. Brown, Ron Cephas Jones and Phylicia Rashad; directing nods for Lesli Linka Glatter (Homeland) and Gail Mancuso (Modern Family); and Outstanding Animated Series nods for Bob’s Burgers and The Simpsons, among others.

Disney Television Studios currently produces the No. 1 scripted series on 10 networks/platforms: Grey’s Anatomy/ABC, This Is Us/NBC, 9-1-1/Fox, American Horror Story/FX, Queen of the South/USA, American Dad/TBS, Barkskins/Nat Geo, Grown-ish/Freeform (adults 18-49, L+7) and Little Fires Everywhere/Hulu (first eight weeks). DTS also holds the No. 1 drama and comedy on ABC (Grey’s Anatomy (2.6) and Fox (9-1-1 (2.5).

Coming up for the combined studio are new fall and midseason shows Big Sky and Call Your Mother for ABC; Genius: Aretha for Nat Geo; Woke, Books of Blood, Dopesick, Mysterious Benedict Society and Only Murders in the Building for Hulu; Big Shots, Mighty Ducks, Turner & Hooch and Just Beyond for Disney+; Impeachment: American Crime Story and Old Man for FX on Hulu; Filthy Rich and Next for Fox; and Hoops and Ratched for Netflix.

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