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Disney Channel is a children's entertainment channel available in the United Kingdom and Ireland since 1 October 1995. A one hour timeshift service called Disney Channel +1 is available on Sky and Virgin Media. Disney Channel currently has three sister channels; Disney Cinemagic, Disney Junior and Disney XD.

Overview

Disney Channel had an interactive television service on Sky. Viewers who press the red button on their Sky remote control are able to access information about shows, character profiles, detailed TV listings, quizzes, and hundreds of messages submitted by viewers.The interactive service also includes links to a small selection of games. Some can be played as 'overlay' games, with the channel video continuing in the background; others are accessible via a link to a Disney-branded section of BSkyB's Sky Games interactive service. The overlay games are developed by Pushbutton and French game developers Visiware. The interactive service was designed and built by Pushbutton, and went live in September 2007 replacing the old service created by Tamblin. Previously, Disney Channel also had a Teletext service, consisting of about 200 pages, known as Disney Text.

Disney Channel used to carry the British version of sign language on its late evening programming. All of Disney Channel's shows are now Audio Described on Sky.

History and availability

1989-1999: Early years

Disney Channel was originally planned to launch in 1989 on the newly launched Sky satellite service. It was featured in much of the promotional material surrounding the launch of Sky Television and the Astra satellite. Due to an apparent dispute, the launch was cancelled. Sky Television filed a lawsuit against the Walt Disney Company for not launching the channel.The lawsuit was closed later.

Super RTL launched in April 1995, as a joint venture between RTL Group predecessor company Compagnie Luxembourgeoise de Télédiffusion and The Walt Disney Company. Seven months later, the channel appeared on 1 October 1995. At first the channel's broadcasting hours were 06:00 to 22:00 with Sky Movies Gold airing during the station's downtime.

1999-2003: Circles Era

On 29 September 2000, Disney Channel launched two sister channels, a pre-school oriented Playhouse Disney and the now-defunct 24-hour cartoon channel Toon Disney. A one hour timeshift of Disney Channel also launched on the same day. All 3 were only available to Sky subscribers. NTL and Telewest customers could only receive the main Disney Channel. On all platforms, the Disney Channel package was a premium offering, requiring an additional subscription fee in order to view, though Sky subscribers could receive the channels for free if they also subscribed to the full Sky Movies package (aka Sky Movies World, with contained 4 Sky Premier channels, 5 Sky MovieMax channels and 2 Sky Cinema channels). Despite the launch of Playhouse Disney, Disney Channel continue to air a block of Playhouse Disney-branded preschool programmes during school mornings, although has in recent years been greatly reduced. .

2003-2007: The Bounce Era

On 15 March 2003, Disney Channel UK adopted Disney Channel US's new logo (designed by CA Square), along with new graphics.

In early 2006, Sky and Disney were locked in ongoing negotiations over a new contract for carriage on the former's digital satellite television service. The previous, ten-year deal, which was inked while Sky floated on the stock exchange in 1994, was temporarily extended whilst both sides attempted to reach an agreement. Sky was understood to have been seeking a substantially reduced payment towards the kids broadcaster. A new agreement, reported to be worth £130 million a year, was reached on 27 February 2007. As a result, on 16 March, changes were made to the Disney services in the UK. Disney Channel and Playhouse Disney ceased to be premium add-on channels and instead operated as part of basic-level subscription packages (such as Sky's "Kids Mix".) A new premium service, subscription channel Disney Cinemagic, was launched to take the Disney slot in the Sky Movies premium bundle; Toon Disney was taken off the air to free up a broadcast slot for the Cinemagic channel, and has never returned; Disney Channel's main one-hour timeshift, Disney Channel +1 was initially taken off the air to free up a slot for the premium Disney Cinemagic +1. However, Disney Channel +1 subsequently returned on 26 June 2006.

On 27 October 2006, Disney Channel was added to Top Up TV Anytime, a new service that downloads programming from 19 channels to a special digital video recorder. In 2007 Disney have added more VoD content to Virgin Media's Service. On 22 November 2007 it was announced Disney Channel joined the lineup for Picnic, BSkyB's proposed new pay-TV service for DTT.

2007-2011: The Ribbon Era

2007 saw the debut of two new original series, the That's So Raven spinoff Cory in the House which ended after two seasons (a possible casualty of the 2007 Writer's Guild strike, which caused freshman or sophomore series whose production was interrupted midway through the season to eventually be cancelled), and the popular Wizards of Waverly Place, starring Selena Gomez, David Henrie and Jake T. Austin.

2008 is recognized for its new series such as Phineas and Ferb, Brian O'Brian, and The Suite Life on Deck, the spin-off to The Suite Life of Zack & Cody, plus new Disney Channel Original Movies such as Camp Rock, Minutemen and The Cheetah Girls: One World. The Suite Life on Deck was the number one series in the respective categories in kids ages 6–12 and tweens ages 9–14 in 2008.

In 2009, Disney Channel launched two new series: Sonny with a Chance (the first original series shot in high definition) starring Demi Lovato in February, and JONAS starring the Jonas Brothers in May. New movies in 2009 included: Dadnapped, Hatching Pete, Princess Protection Program, and Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie. The four original movies for 2009 had the widest range of Disney Channel Stars in the networks history.

First time ever since Starstruck the Disney Channel original movie premiered in May 2010 had been displayed in a widescreen aspect ratio (16:9). A new set of programme mini-idents were launched on Saturday 11 September 2010. The theme for each ident is made for the programme. The idents previously had a polkadot background.

This time Disney Channel chose to broadcast most of their shows in a 4:3 aspect ratio, despite much of their newer programming being produced in a 16:9 widescreen aspect ratio.

During Spring 2011, Disney Channel Premiered the final episode of the 5 year long running of Hannah Montana, and the final episode Wherever I Go premiered with 621,000 views becoming the most watch episode watch in Disney Channel in the United Kingdom.

2011-present: The Smartphone Logo Era

On 1 September 2011, Disney Channel adopted the current US logo which launched in early 2010 as well as using the widescreen (16:9) format in all programming that has been produced in this format. (Another version of the reface will be later be carried out in the U.S around Fall 2012.) Disney Channel HD, a simulcast of the Disney Channel in high-definition, launched on 15 September 2011 on Sky. The launch was accompanied by a handful of new series including A.N.T. Farm, Friends for Change Games, So Random! and PrankStars, the UK TV premiere of Lemonade Mouth and brand new episodes of shows such as Wizards of Waverly Place, Fish Hooks and Good Luck Charlie as part of the "New Season".

In 2012, Disney channel launched two new series: Jessie starring Debby Ryan in February and Disney Channel's newest show Austin & Ally starring Ross Lynch and Laura Marano in April. Three Disney Channel Original Movies premiered during the Q1 of 2012 including Geek Charming, The Suite Life Movie and Frenemies staring Bella Thorne and Zendaya. The Suite Life on Deck ended it's Suite Life franchise during Ferbruary 2012 and Wizards of Waverly Place, Disney Channel's longest-running original series with 106 episodes, ended its run on the channel in March 2012. On June 1, 2012, Disney Channel updated their television format to the format used for Disney Channel's USA network, with the premiere of the Disney Channel Original Movie, Radio Rebel. The new format included a coloured logo and new bumpers and promos layout.

Live presentation

Until recently, live presentation was an important feature of Disney Channel. The best known example of this launched in September 1997 as Disney Channel UK Live, and relaunched as Studio Disney on 1 May 1999. Presenters included: Nigel Mitchell, Emma Lee, Leah Charles, Jean Anderson, Mark Rumble, Amy Garcia, Ollie from Freefaller, James McCourt, Jemma James (now Jemma Forte). Studio Disney ran on weekdays, usually from 16:00 to 19:00, in direct competition with similar services offered by CBBC, CITV and Nickelodeon. The show featured a team of between two and six presenters who came on air between programmes, giving viewers the opportunity to call in, interact and win prizes. Studio Disney also produced many of its own short programmes, including Wish Upon a Star and Junior Journo, which were aired during the block itself and between programmes at other times. Studio Disney bowed out on 1 July 2005, in line with the disappearance of afternoon in-vision presentation on CITV and Nickelodeon the previous year and leaving the channel with a format similar to that of its American counterpart.

The live presentation of the show, would also run competitions in which viewers could win holidays, and other prizes. Special holiday competitions would be run, New Year, Easter, Mother's Day, Father's Day, Chinese New Year, Christmas, etc. For instance, a Mother's Day Competition of 2003 involved Emma Lee surprising four entrants and their mothers to a special get-away. Meanwhile, a Father's Day - Competition of 2004 involved James McCourt and Nigel Mitchell treating one lucky dad to a day at Silverstone Grand Prix track.

At other times of day, pre-recorded presentation was used, typically recorded in such a manner that viewers would believe that it was live. An example of this was breakfast segment Up (and later called Zoom!), which was hosted out-of-vision by Capital Disney presenter, and managing director Will Chambers. Another example originated from the Monster March event that ran throughout March 2002, during which the schedule featured many monster-themed shows and movies. Pre-recorded sketches featuring a Mexican dinosaur puppet named Raoul were inserted between programmes, and as this proved popular, Raoul was given a number of his own segments on the channel over the next few years, including The Raoul Show, Good Morning Raoul and The Raoul Summer. The best sketches from The Raoul Show were made into a series of short programmes entitled The Best of Raoul. Raoul was even the subject of a question on the 20th Anniversary edition of Trivial Pursuit.

Disney Channel also held an annual awards ceremony called the Disney Channel Kids Awards. The categories were centred around music, sport, television and film. The winners in each category were voted for by viewers online. The ceremonies, hosted by Studio Disney presenters, were held at The Royal Albert Hall and London Arena. These were broadcast on Disney Channel and Channel 5 and featured performances from popular music artists such as Girls Aloud.

Website

Disney Channel's website features information, games, interactive features and contact details and submission forms. The site has been made entirely in Adobe Flash since 1 May 1999, the same day as the 1999 re-brand. In May 2003, it was completely redesigned to fit with the other Disney Channel's worldwide after the global rebrand. In 2007 it was added to disneychannel.co.uk, when the website's homepage was revamped to fit the look of the American site. In 2011, along with the other Disney sites, it was revamped. in September 2011, it was revamped once again, due to the new logo.

Sister networks

Disney Cinemagic

This television channel in the United Kingdom is the premium subscription movie service available on most major platforms. The channel was launched on 16 March 2006, and carries programmes such as Lilo and Stich and Recess which were shown on its predecessor Toon Disney (UK & Ireland) The channel carries two counterparts, a timeshift channel and a HD channel.

Disney Junior

This television channel in the United Kingdom is aimed at preschool children. The channel was launched on 29 September 2000 as Playhouse Disney and carried programming such as Winnie the Pooh. The channel was rebranded as Disney Junior on 7 May 2011. The channel carries a single counterpart, a timeshift channel.

Disney XD

Disney Channel services

• iTunes

The channel regularly updates its iTunes library with the latest episodes. Some of these are available in HD.

• Disney Channel On Demand is the channel's video-on-demand service, offering select episodes of the channel's original series. It is available from Sky Anytime (and plus), Virgin Media and BT Vision.

Disney Channel programmes

Most watched programmes

The following is a list of the ten most watched shows on Disney Channel UK, based on Live +7 data supplied by BARB up to 10 April 2012. The number of viewers does not include repeats.

Top 5 Most Watched DCOM

The following is a list of the five most watched Disney Channel Original Movies on Disney Channel UK, based on Live +7 data supplied by BARB up to 1 March 2012. The number of viewers does not include repeats.

Films

Disney Channel traditionally broadcast most of its movies, including Walt Disney Studios movies and Disney Channel Original Movies, on the main channel. These were usually shown daily at 7pm under The Wonderful World of Disney (earlier The Magical World of Disney) brand. On weekends, the channel would show at least three movies per a day. The Saturday Movie Showdown took place every Saturday morning, wherein viewers were invited to vote for one of a selection of three movies on the channel's website, the winner being aired in the 11am slot. Starting in 2003, Latterly, a movie was transmitted in widescreen with Dolby Digital Surround Sound on Sundays at 4pm - much of the channel's other content was in 4:3 at this time.

However, when Disney Cinemagic launched in March 2006, The Wonderful World of Disney and the Sunday widescreen movie were axed, and all Walt Disney Studios movies were moved over to the new channel, such that they can remain as a premium add-on. However, Disney Channel Original Movies are still broadcast regularly on Disney Channel, with premieres of new ones shown on Friday evenings a short while after their premiere in the US (usually a few weeks, though in some cases, such as Full Court Miracle and Tiger Cruise, the delay can be up to several years - the latter, which had its US premiere in 2004, has never been aired in the UK). As a result of these changes, movies are now shown more frequently across Disney's channels overall, and non-Cinemagic subscribers can now see Disney Channel Original Movies. In December 2009 it was announced the Disney Channel UK was going to premiere two movies in that month; Den Brother and 16 Wishes, which is very rare for Disney Channel. This happened again in September 2011, with the premieres of Lemonade Mouth and Phineas and Ferb The Movie: Across the 2nd Dimension. The most recent movie to premiere was Radio Rebel on Friday 1st June 2012. Below is a list of upcoming movie premieres:

• Let it Shine (Friday 20th July 2012)
• Girl vs. Monster (October 2012)

Seasonal programming blocks

• Summer - The network runs summer programming blocks every year with differing themes titled "Disney Channel Summer". Generally most of the network's series airs re-run episodes chosen by the viewers through the summer and original movies premiere in these months to take advantage of the largest possible children's audience, as do most children's networks. There are also new episode premieres sometimes.
• New Season Every September after Summer and part of the new school term, Disney Channel UK airs a special Night of Premieres, which showcases a brand new Disney Channel Original Movie and add adverts of new series and events occurring in the coming months.
• Halloween - In October, Disney Channel airs Halloween programming in an annual event, Halloween films such as the Halloweentown series have premiered in this month, along with Twitches, Twitches Too, and Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie, along with Halloween episodes of the network's original series. There are also premieres of brand new Halloween-themed episodes of Disney series.
• Christmas - The network's December schedule usually focuses on Christmas programming, with the title of the branding changing every year. Christmas films and specials such as Good Luck Charlie, It's Christmas! have premiered in this month, along with Christmas episodes of the network's original series such as Phineas and Ferb Christmas Vacation, and several So Random! Christmas Specials.
• New Year's - On New Year's Eve, Disney Channel UK airs the most popular shows which has aired though out the year, then the network airs a marathon on the day of the New Year. From 2009, Disney Channel UK airs a marathon of The Suite Life on Deck. In 2012, they will start changing their New Year schedule to the same as the USA, with a special event.
• Disney's Friends for Change Games - The Disney's Friends for Change Games are an Olympic-based televised event aired on Disney Channel and is part of The Walt Disney Company's Friends for Change initiative. It replaces the Disney Channel Games and premiered in October, 2011. The games will not return in 2012.

Branding

Generally the UK network has followed the American network with regards to logo changes, while trailing their mother network by a year in instituting them. The network launched with the first "Mickey silhouette in a screen shape" logo in 1995, then the "television set" logo in 1997 with a minor change in 1999. The "text and ears silhouette" was instituted in 2005, with the current curved icon logo coming into use in 2011.

References

1. "Pushbutton creates interactivity for Disney Channel UK".
2. "Number 2043". SWEDEN CALLING DXERS. 16 May 1989.
3. ^ BARB, via
4. "Selena Gomez marks Disney Channel HD launch". Digital Spy. 6 July 2011.
5. "Disney grows network line-up". C21 Media. 6 July 2011.
6. "Wizards Of Waverly Place ends".

External links

• DisneyChannel.co.uk
• Disney Channel at TV Ark
• Disney Channel UK's's YouTube Page

• Misplaced Pages articles needing factual verification from July 2007
• Use dmy dates from August 2011
• Disney television channels in the United Kingdom
• 1990s British television series
• 2000s British television series
• 2010s British television series
• Commercial-free television networks
• Children's television networks
• Children's television channels in the United Kingdom
• Television channels and stations established in 1995
• 1995 establishments in Ireland
• 1995 establishments in the United Kingdom