Peter Rice, who is responsible for Disney’s 20th Television, ABC Entertainment, ABC News and FX television channels, has been at the top of the company since 2019. Before that, he worked for about thirty years at 21th Century Fox, which was acquired by Disney in 2019. The American news site CNBC reports that the layoff comes as Disney works hard to expand its streaming branch. The dismissal could be related to that.
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Sources tell anonymously in ‘The Los Angeles Times’ that it did not click well with the new direction that Disney wanted to take. Distribution decisions — whether new shows would air on traditional television channels or streaming services — would have been handed over to Kareem Daniel since CEO Bob Chapek’s arrival. As a result, people like Peter Rice had less opportunity to make decisions. That caused tensions between Rice and Daniel, to the extent that insiders were surprised that Rice’s contract was extended last year.
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But on Wednesday, Chapek took Rice aside and informed him in a conversation of less than 10 minutes that he had been fired. Reportedly because there was “not a good match”. According to the insiders, Rice did not see the resignation coming. He is succeeded by Dana Walden.
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