Disney India Names VP/GM for Distribution

MUMBAI: Raju Venkataraman has been appointed as the VP and general manager of the newly re-named Disney Media Distribution in India.

Venkataraman will be responsible for the licensing of branded and non-branded content to all platforms in the Indian market. He will continue is his capacity as VP of channel distribution for Disney Media Distribution for the Asia Pacific. In his new role, Venkataraman reports to Mahesh Samat, the managing director of The Walt Disney Company India. He also continues to report to Rob Gilby, the managing director for Disney Media Distribution Asia Pacific.

Venkataraman will oversee the team in India comprised of Manju Nair, the associate director of program distribution, and Venkat Ramana, the director of channel distribution for India and South Asia. Nair will be responsible for strategically developing and managing the content distribution business in India, Ramana will be tasked with increasing the reach and revenue of Disney network of channels through distribution on multiple platforms across India and South Asia.

Samat commented: “Raju has been a key contributor in building the reach and relevance of the Disney brand in India. His strengths in critical functions such as finance, sales and business operations across the breadth of our business will help drive synergies between program and channel distribution to further enhance the reach of our popular international and local content across multiple platforms.”

Gilby added: “Raju’s expanded role will enable Disney to leverage his expertise to rapidly grow our business with existing and new media distribution partners in India, while tapping into exciting new opportunities to make the Disney Channels network available to families and kids across platforms and markets in Asia Pacific.”

Of his new post, Venkataraman said: “I am excited to lead the Disney Media Distribution team as we work towards creating a Disney generation in India. We are committed to take Disney’s vast and compelling portfolio of stories to as many Indian kids and families as possible.”