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Television Businesses

Disney Removes Fox From TV Studios, Revives Touchstone (hollywoodreporter.com) 43

Posted by BeauHD from the rebranded-studios dept.
Disney is rebranding its TV studios to remove the Fox name from two of them. From The Hollywood Reporter: Nearly a year and a half after acquiring 20th Century Fox Television and Fox 21 TV Studios, Disney is changing the former to simply 20th Television, while the latter will become Touchstone Television. Additionally, ABC Studios and its subsidiary ABC Signature Studios are folding into one unit that will now be called ABC Signature. The full integration of the Disney Television Studios rebranding is effective immediately, with new logos and motion end cards that viewers will see on screen expected to be completed by year's end. No executive changes or layoffs are expected as part of the changes.

The decision to remove "Fox" from two of the studios' names was part of the larger $71.3 billion deal between Disney and 21st Century Fox. Fox was dropped from film divisions 20th Century and Searchlight in January. Dropping the Fox 21 banner in favor of Touchstone revives the former Disney brand that was retired in 2007 as the division was then-rebranded as ABC TV Studios as part of the company's push to drop such lesser-known brands in favor of those leaning into its signature assets. Reviving Touchstone is a way to honor the past.
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Disney Removes Fox From TV Studios, Revives Touchstone More

Disney Removes Fox From TV Studios, Revives Touchstone

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  • I would bet that one of the main reasons is a tax dodge. There is a old quote from a book that goes something like this "those Hollywood accountants can make a elephant disappear up its own ass".

    • I don't think the tax officials are stupid enough to be fooled by something this simple. After all they still have the same tax ID number.

    • Re:Reason (Score:5, Interesting)

      by phantomfive ( 622387 ) on Monday August 10, 2020 @06:33PM (#60387561) Journal
      That's interesting, I thought it was because too many people hate the name "Fox."

    • Re:Reason (Score:5, Insightful)

      by transporter_ii ( 986545 ) on Monday August 10, 2020 @06:35PM (#60387565) Homepage

      I would say it is to distance itself from Fox News. They are very polarizing, and polarizing isn't exactly what you want when you are trying to appeal to everyone.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by vlad30 ( 44644 )
        they may be polarizing but the numbers https://www.statista.com/stati... [statista.com] says they are popular. the change was in the sale deal Fox news doesn't want to be associated with Disney as much as Disney doesn't want Fox

      • I would say it is to distance itself from Fox News. They are very polarizing, and polarizing isn't exactly what you want when you are trying to appeal to everyone.

        Plenty of "Disney" actions are polarizing; it's just that you don't see it when it's on your "side". Like how fish don't notice water.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

        Fox also has a reputation for cancelling stuff and botching franchises.

        Premiering on Fox? I'll wait to see if it makes it to the end of season 1 I think. 20th Century Fox movie? Probably another Spiderman or X-Men quality movie.

    • How about, "2Oth Century" is now literally outdated!

  • Our public funded broadcaster in Australia is the "ABC"... and they put items on the end of the name, I.e:- "ABC News". If they try and use "ABC Signature" in Australia - they will have issues.

    • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward

      Our public funded broadcaster in Australia is the "ABC"... and they put items on the end of the name, I.e:- "ABC News". If they try and use "ABC Signature" in Australia - they will have issues.

      The two ABCs have coexisted since 1943, so I sincerely doubt there will be an issue.

  • It could be to avoid being associated with Fox News, which has a very partisan connotation these days. Of course they are not going to state that out loud; it could alienate fans of Fox News. Thus, they talk about "honoring broadcasting history" instead.

  • Whenever I see the 20th Century Fox searchlight intro it reminds of when I first saw Star Wars Episode IV at the age of 7.

    In contrast, whenever I see the Disney logo now I am reminded of how they destroyed the entire Star Wars universe for me. Disney sucks.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by teg ( 97890 )

      Whenever I see the 20th Century Fox searchlight intro it reminds of when I first saw Star Wars Episode IV at the age of 7.

      In contrast, whenever I see the Disney logo now I am reminded of how they destroyed the entire Star Wars universe for me. Disney sucks.

      How did Disney destroy it? The first movies (IV-VI) were great - pretty unique at the time, and great leaps forward in several disciplines. The 90s Star Wars games were also incredible - TIE fighter, X-Wing, Jedi Knight etc.

      However, George Lucas did also create episodes I-III, including our favourite Jar Jar. The Disney episodes 7-9 are far, far superior to those - granted, not a very high bar for success, but claiming that they destroyed the franchise sounds rather strange. While I haven't had the chance

  • Reviving Touchstone (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Sebby ( 238625 ) on Monday August 10, 2020 @07:04PM (#60387657)

    Reviving Touchstone is a way to honor the past.

    Or, you know, just dropping “Fox” because it’s so fucking toxic.

  • You screamed and everybody comes a-running
  • Neither criteria satisfied here.
  • The sad part is that this is all somehow relevant in the scheme of things and the way things are.

  • the former Disney brand that was retired in 2007 as [Touchstone] was then-rebranded as ABC TV Studios as part of the company's push to drop such lesser-known brands in favor of those leaning into its signature assets.

    I definitely recognise Touchstone, but I've never in my life heard of ABC TV Studios. Maybe a US thing?

    • Maybe so. Here in the US I do personally find ABC more recognizable, although I have heard of Touchstone. ABC is a major network, so slapping its name onto a TV studio probably made sense.
      • Disney used different studio names for different ratings. Buena Vista was used for some PG-13 movies and Touchstone was used for some R movies. In 1984 Splash was the first movie under the Touchstone name, followed by many others: The Color of Money, Good Morning, Vietnam, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Dead Poets Society, Pretty Woman, Sister Act, Beaches, Turner & Hooch, Ed Wood, The Insider, The Royal Tenenbaums, Sweet Home Alabama, The Help, War Horse, Lincoln, and Bridge of Spies. https://en.wikipedi [wikipedia.org]

    • ABC TV Studios isn't a big thing in the US (in fact, probably less known than Touchstone) but ABC is massive. It was one of the 3 original national channels way back. Their big shows are in the 6.5 million+ viewers week-in week-out.

  • This is really SchrÃdinger's name change

    To those who hate Fox News, this will be taken as a "good for them, they are ditching the toxic name, I don't need to boycott them"

    To those who are Fox News fans, this will be "good, they had to do this due to not having the naming rights/ it being part of the deal. not a slight to us Fox News Fans, I don't need to boycott them"

    The probability waveform only collapses for the observer ;)

  • Disney's vision is that you will have twenty televisions in your house, and that you will have to pay a separate fee to get their content on each of them.

  • thats funny bc fox pulls better numbers than the NBA disney is trying to help survive lol, get woke go broke, next month will see an article just like the one above talking about hbo layoffs lol, disney will be next parents are sick of you indoctrinated our kids with your toxic far left beliefs. Fox calls that out you cant stand it just like the commentors lol
  • When I see the name "Fox," I always think "really good a fiction." Now it'll only be associated with the fiction that isn't entertaining for me.

  • Given the associations (Tucker Carlson, for one), it's not surprising they would drop "Fox", though possibly there are other reasons for doing this that I can't see as I'm not a corporate tax expert.

  • Reminds me of 5th 3rd Bank.

    Is that really the best name they could think of?

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