MUMBAI: Walt Disney Company (India) has put in place the regional distribution team for its television channels, but is yet to hire a national head.

The company, which is planning to launch three kids' channels in India early next year, has poached Venkat Ramana from MTV Networks India to head affiliate relations in the southern region. Kapil Sahni from Aaj Tak will look after the northern region while Arup Gopikrishna will be in charge of the western region. Gopikrishna had joined Zee-Turner a few months back as assistant vice-president for distribution of Zee Cinema and Zee Music.

The team is expected to join on December 1. "The national head of distribution is yet to be finalised. Even the vacancy for the eastern region is not yet filled up," a source says.

Walt Disney is in final stages of negotiations with Star India for the distribution of its channels, but the deal has not yet been struck. "We are expecting the deal to happen any time," says the source. Walt Disney's internal team is expected to look at the brand management for the distribution market and monitor its network development.