UTV CEO Ronnie Screwvala will be named managing director of The Walt Disney Company India. They’ll also acquire UTV’s Indiagames, their mobile games arm, and UTV Ignition.
Indiagames is India’s number one mobile games company, while UTV Ignition has published titles such as El Shaddai over the last year. India is a vast market to tap.
”This acquisition expands our footprint significantly and allows us to more effectively build, monetise and brand multiplatform franchises, and deliver a rich library of content to the world’s second largest population,” said Walt Disney International chairman Andy Bird.
”We couldn’t be more pleased that Ronnie, with his vast experience and proven track record, will now run our operations in India. Under his leadership, we will be able to deliver more programming on more platforms to this considerable audience.”
UTV CEO Ronnie Screwvala added: ”In combining the creative capabilities of each company we will integrate a large stable of vibrant brands and franchises in the branded entertainment space.”
”With the middle class expected to grow from 50m to more than 500m people by 2025, this market offers huge potential for us to deliver quality branded entertainment to consumers.”
UTV is a leading TV producer in India with the fastest cable network with distribution in 20 countries across 27 channels, reports MCV. Over 100 million viewers per week will be accessible to Disney.
