K Madhavan quits Disney Star: Leadership shake-up ahead of merger with Viacom18

Even as Viacom18 and Disney Star are in the final stages of formalising their merger, there are some shake-ups happening in the top leadership. As per industry sources, K Madhavan, Country Manager and President, Disney Star, has stepped down. When Adgully reached out to Disney Star to confirm the news, the officials refused to comment on the development.

The coming days are expected to see restructuring of roles across the merged entity. Industry sources have also informed Adgully about the departure of Sajith Sivanandan, Head of Disney+ Hotstar India.

In his 15-year with Disney Star, Madhavan has strengthened Disney, Star, and Disney+ Hotstar operations, steering them to leadership positions in the GEC, OTT and sports spaces. As Country Manager & President of Disney Star, has been overseeing channel distribution and advertising sales, as well as a thriving local content production business with nearly 20,000 hours of original content every year across 70+ TV channels in 9 languages reaching around 700 million viewers a month.

Madhavan had joined Star India in 2009 as its South Head. Under his leadership, the company built a thriving regional entertainment portfolio. Previously, he was the driving force behind Asianet’s growth as the undisputed leader in Malayalam with more than 50% market share, serving as MD and CEO from 2000-2008. His vision for the regional language network led the company to set benchmarks in quality programming in South India.

Meanwhile, as the Head of Disney+ Hotstar, Sajith Sivanandan has been driving India’s overall strategy, growth, revenue and product operations. He has also been responsible for developing the streaming services’ strategic business goals and outlining a sustained and exponential development roadmap. Collaborating closely with the Disney+ team across the United States, APAC and EMEA regions, he supports the continued expansion of Disney+ Hotstar, making it India’s most extensive streaming service.