Disney Channel

Disney Channel (formerly known as The Disney Channel) is an American children's and youth subscription television channel. It is owned by Walt Disney Television, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company. Its programming is aimed mainly at children and young people.

The US channel is also the flagship property of Disney Branded Television (currently led by president of entertainment and chief creative officer Gary Marsh), a group of more than 90 entertainment channels aimed at children and families that is located available in more than 160 countries and 30 languages (among its brands include: Disney Channel, Disney Junior, Disney XD and Radio Disney).

History

The Disney Channel: The beginnings (1983-1998)

The channel began broadcasting on April 18, 1983 at 7:00 A.M. on the Premium cable channel with an episode of Good Morning, Mickey, followed by an episode of Donald Duck Presents. The channel also published a companion magazine, The Disney Channel Magazine. From its beginnings until December 1986 it was a channel programmed for 18 hours; between 7.00 a.m. m. and 1.00 a.m. m., since then and during the following year it became a 24-hour broadcast channel. Their first logo was a display of blue bars, with a Mickey Mouse face, the name: The Disney Channel, in blue capital letters, was below the logo. Disney Channel used this logo from April 18, 1983 to April 3, 1986. Already in 1986, Disney Channel put aside the old programming and little by little it complemented its programming with new shows mostly based on characters from movies from those years. One of the first animated series to debut in 1987 was DuckTales. Throughout this time, several series were released such as Bonkers, Darkwing Duck, The Goofy Troop, The New Adventures of the Little Mermaid, The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, Chip and Chop: Guardian Rescuers. In 1989, the channel launched The All-New Mickey Mouse Club, a musical program made up of children, some of them being current famous singers such as Britney Spears, Cristina Aguilera and Justin Timberlake, until mid-1998.

Zoog/Vault Disney (1997–2002)

In 1997, although beginning in some places in 1994, Disney Channel went from being a premium cable channel to being a channel offered in expanded basic packages. It was from this moment when the channel began to gain viewers.

From this moment on, Disney Channel took on a refreshing look and abandoned the word “The” in the channel, and divided the programming into three blocks: Playhouse Disney, a block intended for preschool children; Vault Disney, which includes classic Disney programming such as Zorro, The Mickey Mouse Club, etc.; and Zoog Disney, which used robot-like characters, called Zoogs, as presenters, and had the channel's most current content. These Zoogs were one-dimensional, however they were redesigned in 2001, to three dimensions and with more mature voices, but were removed a year later.

Disney Channel's original programming skyrocketed during this period. Firstly with Flash Forward in 1997, to continue with other series such as “The Famous Jett Jackson”, “Kim Possible” or “Jett Jackson”. Also in this period, advertising breaks began, without being commercial, just with ads from the network itself.

Relaunch (2002-2006)

In January 2002, Disney Channel revamped its image once again. First, the “Zoog” brand was progressively reduced; Then, on September 9, 2002, the classic programming included in “Vault” was suspended. The channel not only suffered these modifications, since the film content was reduced, and it went from creating more comedic series to animated action series.

In 2004, Anne Sweeney, a veteran cable executive, took control of Disney-ABC Television Group in 2004 and made huge profits from the Channel, largely based on the launch of teenage music stars, whose style and image were carefully targeted at preteen and teen audiences.

Although the channel was focused on preschool children (Playhouse Disney section) and tweens and teenagers, the channel gained popularity in these years among other audience sectors. The channel was known for its Original Series and its media stars, and became one of the most watched channels on cable television, with some series having between four and six million viewers, sometimes higher than some free-to-air networks.

In 2003, Disney Channel released its first musical movie, called The Cheetah Girls. In 2006, High School Musical and Hannah Montana starring Miley Cyrus were released, which became the two most successful productions in the company's history, setting a model of success for subsequent films and series.

Present (2007-present)

In 2007, Disney Channel revamped its look. The logo, instead of bouncing across the screen, became a swirling ribbon to form the logo. The background also became a sphere of astronomy. That same year, the number of original films began to be reduced, limiting itself to four a year, along with two original series. The most famous was High School Musical 2 with 17.2 million viewers.

In 2008 Camp Rock was released on June 20, 2008 and that year several series such as Brian O'Brian and The Suite Life on Deck, the spin-off of Zack and Cody, as well as new original films, such as: The Cheetah Girls: One World was released on August 22, 2008.

In 2009, new programs were launched such as Sonny With A Chance, the first series in high definition, starring Demi Lovato and Jonas starring the Jonas Brothers in May 2009.

Programming

In Disney Channel programming, the series and cartoons produced by Disney Channel (called Disney Channel Original Series) mainly stand out. These contents are intended for a pre-adolescent and adolescent audience. Due to the large number of original series, and their success, the non-original series have been drastically reduced, and those broadcast were The Little Mermaid, Boy Meets World, Buzz Lightyear of Star Command and The Lion King's Timon and Pumbaa, among others

Also, every night, a movie is broadcast, usually produced by Walt Disney, broadcast under the title The Wonderful World of Disney. These films are not only intended for pre-adolescent and adolescent audiences, but are usually intended for the entire family.

In addition to these contents, there is a programming block called Disney Junior, broadcast in the mornings, aimed at preschool children, with both their own and third-party content, aimed at this sector.

Logos

• 

  1983-1987

• 

  1987-1997

• 

  2002-2010.

• 

  2010-2014.

• 

  2014-2019.

• 

  From 2019

Related services

• Disney Channel HD - Disney Channel HD is a Disney Channel feed that transmits in high definition and is issued in 720p resolution format. The feed began to be transmitted on 19 March 2008. Since 2009, most of the original channel programming has been produced and broadcast in high definition, along with some films, original Disney Channel films that were made after 2005 and select episodes, films and series produced before 2009.

• Disney Channel On Demand - Disney Channel On Demand is a video service on demand from the channel, which offers episodes of original series of the channel and Disney Junior programming, along with selected original films and features behind the digital cable scenes and IPTV providers.

• WATCH Disney Channel – WATCH Disney Channel is a desktop computer website, as well as an app for smartphones and tablets that allows subscribers of participating cable and satellite providers (such as Comcast Xfinity and Cox Communications) to watch Disney Channel's programming live on computers and mobile devices - subscribers are required to use verification codes supplied by participating cable providers in order to access transmission on mobile devices.

• Disney+ – Disney+ is a streaming service that offers movies, documentaries, specials, shorts, programs and television series produced by The Walt Disney Studios and Walt Disney Television. Its interface features different thematic sections with Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, National Geographic and Star content (the latter available only outside the United States and, in Latin America, is presented as a separate streaming service).

• Hulu – Hulu is a subscription service to the American video letter owned by Walt Disney Direct-to-Consumer & International, a division of The Walt Disney Company, with NBCUniversal, owned by Comcast, as a shareholder of capital.