ABC Signature is an American television production studio that is a subsidiary of Disney Television Studios, a division of Disney Entertainment, which is a division of The Walt Disney Company. The studio is the production arm of the ABC television network, and started in 1950 as the television unit of Walt Disney Productions, which was later renamed Walt Disney Television as a separate company from Walt Disney Television Animation, in 1983, and launched a subsidiary, the first incarnation of Touchstone Television, established in 1985 (later became part of ABC in 1999, and merged Walt Disney Network Television into Touchstone Television in 2003) and renamed ABC Studios in 2007. It adopted its current identity on August 10, 2020, after a merger between ABC Studios and the original ABC Signature Studios. Since 2008, the studio also functions as a label used by Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment for its distribution of the studio's shows on home media. Background Walt Disney Productions (television unit) In the 1930s, Walt Disney had no interest in television. This was changed by 1950 when Walt Disney did an hour-long special on NBC, followed up a year after by a special on CBS. Both of these programs received excellent ratings. Disney eventually got into full series production when Disneyland debuted on ABC in 1954. Following the success of Disneyland, in 1957, Disney was producing another primetime series for ABC, the western show Zorro. It did not last long in the ratings and was cancelled in 1959. In 1961, Disney severed its terms with ABC and moved its weekly program to NBC, where it stayed for nearly 20 years until 1981. For years, Disney's lone television show on primetime was the eponymous anthology series. After NBC axed the program, in 1981, it struck an agreement with CBS to take the anthology program there. In 1982, Disney produced the first prime-time show since the cancellation of Zorro in 1959, Herbie the Love Bug. It was cancelled after only one season. It was followed by three more programs as part of an agreement with CBS, Gun Shy, Small & Frye and Zorro and Son. Both of these were sitcoms, and it also cancelled after only one season. History Walt Disney Television/Touchstone Television After the cancellation of the three prime-time series on CBS in 1983, Disney ventured back into primetime television. The Touchstone Films banner was used for TV by then-new Disney