Gaumont Buena Vista International Gaumont and
Buena Vista International formed Gaumont Buena Vista International, their joint venture French distribution company, in 1992. In , Disney would launch
Disney Channel in France, also serving Luxembourg and Switzerland. After the purchase of Fox Family Worldwide, Disney also got a major ownership interest in Fox Kids Europe, which included Fox Kids in France. Fox Kids switched over to
Jetix in August 2004. Toon Disney, Disney Channel +1, a timeshift channel, and a
Playhouse Disney channel launched in 2002. As of 30 June 2004, BVPD and Gaumont dissolved their French distribution joint venture, Gaumont Buena Vista International. making the channel the first "children and family HDTV channel in a French market". Jean-Francois Camilleri, head of the company, had the company acquire
March of the Penguins for the French market. Buena Vista International France also managed to obtain a 20% ownership stake in the French version of the film. However, Buena Vista Pictures Distribution's bid to distribute the film in the US ultimately failed. At the formation of the
Disneynature film unit, Camilleri was placed in charge of the unit.
Walt Disney Company France In 2011, Disney Channel HD was launched and the channel became available on all ISP in basic offers on 1 April, and
Disney Junior replaced Playhouse Disney. In 2012, a Disneynature cable TV service was launched in France. It was carried by
Orange. As part of the renewal of Disney contract with Canalsat, its exclusive channels Disney Junior, Disney XD and Disney Cinema were removed of
Numericable on 31 December 2015, as it no longer had an exclusivity exemption for its cable network following its purchase of
SFR where it has put its channels on fiber-optic offers. On 26 August 2016,
France Télévisions signed a 3-year contract with Disney France to broadcast Disney series for young people on
France 3 and
France 5, a contract previously held since 2010 by
M6 for its block Disney Kid Club (excluding any Marvel shows which used to be on
France 4). It wasn't renewed and most Disney shows no longer air on French DTT. Camilleri resigned his position with Disney France in March 2019. While Helene Etzi was appointed to take over his responsibility as head of Disney's French operations, there was no word on who would helm Disneynature. In 2019, Canal+ and Disney renewed their partnership for 5 years to launch together
Disney+ in France. It included the renewal of channels and services in exclusivity, but with the arrival of Disney+, the channels Disney XD,
Disney Cinema, and the services Disney Channel Pop Pick, Disney in English, Holà Disney and Fox Play were closed, while
Disney Channel became back exclusive to Canal+. Canal+ was initially the unique distributor of Disney+ outside OTT. In 2024, the
Canal+ and Disney groups didn't find a reagreement with the rise of the importance of streaming against traditional television, involving the termination of its channels and services with
Canal+ on 31 December 2024, while
Canal+ is celebrating its 40th anniversary which is set to lose the initial broadcast of Disney movies on television. On 20 December 2024, new deals were announced with
Orange and
Free for the return of Disney Channel and National Geographic in their basic offers, the distribution of Disney+ and VOD releases. Disney Junior and National Geographic Wild linear channels would then close down in France. ==Divisions==