Disney-ABC Domestic Television is the domestic
television syndication firm of the
Disney-ABC Television Group, a division of
The Walt Disney Company, that handles the television distribution of product from
Walt Disney Television,
Walt Disney Television Animation,
Saban Entertainment, and
ABC Studios, such as
Scrubs,
My Wife and Kids,
According to Jim,
The Golden Girls,
Empty Nest,
Blossom,
Home Improvement,
Boy Meets World,
8 Simple Rules and
America's Funniest Home Videos.
The company distributes
first-run programming such as
At the Movies and the daytime version of
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, as well as
Live with Regis and Kelly, which is produced by Disney's O&O station
WABC-TV. It also distributes the movie packages from corporate sibling
Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures (
Walt Disney Pictures,
Touchstone Pictures,
Hollywood Pictures, and
Miramax Films).
Disney-ABC Domestic Television was established in 1985 as
Buena Vista Television. In May 2007, the Walt Disney Company announced plans to scale back the use of the
Buena Vista brand, instead focusing on the three core brands of
Disney,
ABC, and
ESPN.
[1] As a result, Buena Vista Television was rebranded for the fall 2007 season as Disney-ABC Domestic Television.
In the fall of 2007, DADT started using their new on-screen identity on its first-run syndicated shows (second-run syndicated offerings had the distribution tag mysteriously dropped completely), its score being a newly remixed version of the previous Buena Vista Television theme.
History of ABC and syndication
ABC's first syndication arm, ABC Films, was spun-off as
Worldvision Enterprises in 1973 due to
fin-syn laws (which have been repealed), it is currently part of
CBS Television Distribution. As BVTV, DADT initially acted as a de-facto syndication arm for ABC after Disney bought the network, since at the same time, ABC's original production division was folded into Touchstone Television. That company became ABC Studios in 2007, also as part of Disney's branding strategy. In between these transactions, Disney reorganized all its non-ESPN TV assets into the Disney-ABC Television Group in 2004, making BVTV the official syndcation arm of ABC.
External links
Disney
