[2] Following the success of Disneyland, in 1957, Disney was producing another primetime series for ABC, the western show Zorro.

[3] In 1961, Disney severed its terms with ABC and moved its weekly program to NBC, where it stayed for nearly 20 years until 1981.

[6] It was followed by three more programs as part of an agreement with CBS, Gun Shy, Small & Frye and Zorro and Son.

[10] In the next season, Disney's television production unit produced a hit in The Golden Girls using the Touchstone Films brand.

[20] The following week, Disney struck development deals with upstart Wind Dancer Productions (headed by Roseanne alumnus Matt Williams), and KTMB Productions (backed by The Golden Girls writers Kathy Speer, Terry Grossman, Barry Fanaro and Mort Nathan).

[21] The first projects were Wind Dancer's Carol & Company and KTMB's The Fanelli Boys, both of which aired on NBC.

[22][23] That same year, Disney signed a long-term contract with producer Michael Jacobs and his production company.

[26] The company also had another drama in collaboration with Stephen J. Cannell, The 100 Lives of Black Jack Savage, which was produced under the Walt Disney TV label.

[30] The company would eventually sign a deal with ABC to develop 5 television movies for the 1993–94 and 1994-95 TV seasons.

[32] Within that same year, Wind Dancer Productions had received an exclusive deal with the ABC television network, with Disney serving as distributor of their series.

[42] In June 1998, former ABC chief Greer Shephard and NYPD Blue director Michael M. Robin launched a production company with an exclusive agreement at the studio.

On August 4, 2008, Lionsgate completed a deal with Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment, the distributor of ABC Studios/Touchstone Television shows on DVD, to acquire the distribution rights to several shows including According to Jim, Reaper, Hope & Faith, 8 Simple Rules and Boy Meets World.

This would add to Disney-ABC's international productions in Latin America, where the company has 16 years of producing local content.

[72] In August 2017, Ryan Seacrest Productions left CBS at the end of their deal to move over to ABC Studios.

[73] Following the expansion of its cable/streaming unit, ABC Studios launched a new alternative division for the full range of unscripted work, from documentaries to game shows to social experiment series.

As the studios have placed the former ABC comedy Cougar Town at TBS, and Devious Maids at Lifetime, Signature was set up in October 2012 to continue the trend.

[68] In October 2013, the division placed its first outside project, Benched, for USA, with a pilot order that finished shooting by December.

In the works with ABC, Signature has a possible straight-to-series Stephen King story adaptation called Grand Central, based on The New York Times at Special Bargain Rates.

[68] Corporate sibling Freeform picked up Rated P For Parenthood for development as its first program from Signature in June 2014.

[78] McG's Wonderland Sound & Vision signed a two-year overall production agreement with Signature, Freeform and ABC Studios in October 2015.

[79] Signature signed SMILF creator, executive producer and star Frankie Shaw to a two-year overall deal in July 2018.

[81] In April 2016, Freeform greenlit Cloak & Dagger with a straight-to-series order, as Marvel Television's first co-production with Signature.

[82] Another co-production with Marvel Television was greenlit in August 2016, with Runaways confirmed for the Hulu streaming service.

In December 2019, an exodus of the international unit's top executives including managing director Keli Lee occurred.

[95] Matt Lopez, creator/executive producer of Promised Land, also signed an overall deal with the studio the same year on November 17.