Disney Media and Entertainment Distribution LLC (DMED) was a business segment of The Walt Disney Company, headquartered in Burbank, California. It was formed on October 12, 2020, as part of a strategic reorganization of Disney's media and entertainment businesses, primarily to accelerate its direct-to-consumer streaming strategy. DMED was responsible for managing Disney's streaming services, advertising operations, and its linear and syndicated television networks. This included oversight of Disney+, Hulu, ESPN+, and Star, as well as theatrical film distribution and content licensing. DMED was dissolved on February 8, 2023, with its functions moving into Disney Entertainment, one of three new major divisions of The Walt Disney Company.
DMED's operations encompassed the commercialization and global distribution of all Disney content. This included distributing over 30,000 hours of programming to more than 1,300 platform partners across 240 territories worldwide, featuring content such as feature films, scripted and reality series, live-action and animated children's content, ABC News, and specials. A key component of DMED's infrastructure was Disney Streaming (formerly BAMTech), a streaming technology services company that underpins Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+. Disney acquired full control of BAMTech in 2022.
As a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company, DMED's litigation posture reflects that of an operating company. DMED is recorded as a defendant in one tracked case. This aligns with a posture of defending against intellectual property assertions rather than being a patent assertion entity.
DMED is a defendant in the case Adeia Media Holdings LLC et al. v. BAMTech, LLC et al., filed on November 7, 2024, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware. This lawsuit, brought by subsidiaries of Adeia Inc., alleges infringement of six U.S. patents related to media streaming and content delivery technology, including features like "chunking," content delivery networks (CDNs), and viewing progress tracking. The lawsuit names several Disney entities as defendants, including BAMTech, LLC, Hulu, LLC, and ESPN, Inc., indicating that the patents in question relate to the technology powering Disney's streaming services. Adeia Inc. is an R&D and intellectual property licensing company with over 11,500 patents and applications worldwide, particularly in media and semiconductor industries.