Disney Branded Television

Disney Branded Television is a subsidiary of Walt Disney Television, a unit of Disney General Entertainment Content, the division of The Walt Disney Company that operates various children's television channels around the world: Disney Channel, Disney XD, Disney Junior, Disney Cinemagic, Dlife, and Hungama TV. In addition, the division is responsible for operating Disney Television Animation and was also in charge of Radio Disney.
Disney Channel was originally established in the United States in April 1983 as a premium cable channel, and has since converted to a basic service; in addition, Disney Channel's programming has expanded internationally with the launch of various country-specific and regional versions of the channel, as well as program licensing agreements reached with television networks not bearing the Disney Channel brand.
Previous corporate names were: Walt Disney Entertainment, Inc. (1982–1983), The Disney Channel, Inc. (1983–1997), Disney Channel, Inc. (1997–2001), ABC Cable Networks Group (2001–2005), and Disney Channels Worldwide (2005–2020).
==History==
===Walt Disney Entertainment, Inc.===
On November 10, 1981, Walt Disney Productions and Westinghouse Broadcasting released that they had agreed to start a family-oriented cable television service. In 1982, Disney hired Alan Wagner to develop a cable channel. By July 15, 1982, Disney incorporated Walt Disney Entertainment, Inc. which was rename by January 28, 1983 to The Disney Channel, Inc. 
===The Disney Channel, Inc.===
The channel, The Disney Channel, was launched in April 1983 with 16 hours of programming as a premium channel. The channel became profitable in January 1985, 20 months after launch. The channel moved into the home satellite dish market thus scrambling its signal. The channel started moving to the basic cable level on September 1, 1990 with TCI Montgomery Cablevision. In March 1995, the second Disney Channel began broadcasting in Taiwan while the third is launched in October for the United Kingdom.
===Disney Channel, Inc.===
By September 29, 1997, the corporate name was shorten to Disney Channel, Inc. In December 1997, the Toon Disney channel was announced as a basic channel consisting of Disney classic animation. As of April 1, 1998, most of the international version are pay channels while Taiwan and Malaysia are ad supported and the USA is a basic channel. The Toon Disney Channel was launched on April 18, 1998 on the Disney Channel's 15th anniversary.
===ABC Cable Networks Group===
Disney Channel, Inc. changed its name to ABC Cable Networks Group, Inc. by January 31, 2001. In October 2003, ABC Family Worldwide was changed from a Disney COO direct reporting unit to being within the ABC Cable Networks Group.
In January 2004, Fox Kids Europe, Fox Kids Latin America, and ABC Cable Networks Group agreed to the Jetix programming alliance that would rebrand Fox Kids as Jetix for all blocks, channels, and companies.
===Disney Channels Worldwide===
In November 2005, Barry Blumberg resigned as President of Walt Disney Television Animation as to allow the planned transfer of the TV animation into Disney Channels Worldwide.
In 2006, Disney TV India acquired Hungama TV from UTV Software Communications Limited Disney Cinemagic began broadcasting in the UK in March 2006 as the start to the launch of several Cinemagic channels including timeshift and HD versions across Western Europe.
Disney XD (DXD) was launched on February 13, 2009, taking over the channel space of Toon Disney in the US, while Jetix switched over to DXD (or for some Disney Channel) starting with France on April 1. Also in April, the Walt Disney Co., Ltd. Japan started Broadcast Satellite Disney Co., Ltd. to broadcast a women and family targeted channel, Dlife, with licensed received in October 2010 and debuted on March 17, 2012.
Jetix Play was closed on August 1, 2010 in most countries, on September 1, 2010 in Turkey, and in Romania, it closed on March 12, 2011. In the most countries, the channel was replaced with Playhouse Disney.
On May 26, 2010, Disney–ABC Television Group announced the launch of Disney Junior, which would replace the Playhouse Disney morning block on sister network Disney Channel in February 2011, and extend to a standalone preschooler-oriented channel that would replace Soapnet in January 2012. All 22 Playhouse Disney channels and blocks outside the U.S. also were renamed to "Disney Junior" in 2011.
On March 28, 2013, Cinemagic was replaced in the UK market with Sky Movies Disney.
On May 7, 2015, Sky NZ and The Walt Disney Company announced the launch of Sky Movies Disney, dedicated to Disney family movies launching on July 1, 2015.
Disney India Media Networks shut down Bindass Play, a Hindi music channel, and replaced it with Disney International HD on October 29, 2017. This general entertainment channel is in English and HD, targeted to ages 14 to 25 while only tapping Disney live action shows.
===Company split===
With Disney's March 14, 2018 reorganization, all international channels including Disney Channel have been transferred to Walt Disney Direct-to-Consumer and International, a new segment, while the US unit is still under Disney–ABC Television Group. On January 9, 2019, Disney India Media Networks shut down Disney XD India and replaced it with Marvel HQ, a channel featuring shows and movies from Marvel Entertainment as well as some acquired programming.
Shortly after the November 2019 launch of Disney+ in New Zealand, Disney shut down its linear channels there. In June 2020, Disney Channels Worldwide announced that all three of the networks owned by Disney Channels Worldwide in the United Kingdom would be shut down on October 1, with content thereafter to be available via the Disney+ streaming service, as the extension of a carriage deal with Sky and Virgin Media could not be reached.
===Disney Branded Television===
Following a company restructuring in November 2020, the Disney channels became part of Disney Branded Television, a newly created unit of Disney General Entertainment Content. Headed by the former Disney Channels Worldwide president, Gary Marsh, the new unit oversees development and production of content made for kids, tweens, teens and families for Disney Channel, Disney Junior, Disney XD and Disney+. Disney Branded TV also oversees all Disney+ unscripted series and specials. In December 2020, Disney announced that Radio Disney and Radio Disney Country would cease operations in early 2021. Following the reorganization, the management of Disney XD was moved to Disney Media and Entertainment Distribution.
On May 25, 2021, Disney announced that they would close 100 TV channels internationally by the end of 2021 following the 30 closures that occurred in 2020; this not only included Disney-branded channels, but also Fox Networks Group channels inherited from Disney's acquisition of 21st Century Fox in 2019. The closure was mostly targeted in Asian countries.
The closure of the global channels is still going as of 2022, as closures in Latin American and Turkey have taken place during the first half of the year, and in Russia during the second half of the year (albeit in this case as a result of Russia's invasion of Ukraine).
==Worldwide Closures==
With the decline in ratings of TV channels and rise in popularity of streaming services throughout the 2010s, and leading up to the launch of its Disney+ streaming service, several television channels from Disney Branded Television began to shut down, starting in 2019.
*On December 1, 2018, it was announced that Disney XD will shut down in Australia and New Zealand on January 6, 2019 with the selection to move all shows to Disney Channel.
*On October 1, 2019, the Italian Disney XD shut down alongside the Italian counterparts of Fox Life, Fox Comedy, and Fox Animation, due to Disney not renewing its contract with Sky Italia, with this also being the main reason for eventual closure of the Italian counterparts of Disney Channel and Disney Junior.
*On October 31, 2019, Sky Movies Disney in New Zealand was shut down.
*On November 7, 2019, Disney ended its output agreement with Foxtel Movies. Foxtel Movies Disney was shut down and was replaced by Foxtel Movies Kids.
*On November 30, 2019, New Zealand's Disney and Disney Junior channels were shut down due to the launch of Disney+. However, Sky Movies Disney was replaced by the 24/7 version of Sky Movies Family.
*On February 29, 2020, Australia's Disney and Disney Junior channels were shut down on Foxtel due to the launch of Disney+.
*On March 31, 2020, Dlife, a women and family targeted channel of The Walt Disney Company Ltd. Japan and Disney Channels Worldwide, and through Broadcast Satellite Disney Co., Ltd., was officially shut down.
*On April 1, 2020, Spain and Germany's Disney XD channels were permanently shut down, one week after the release of Disney+ on those countries.
*France's Disney XD was also planned be to shut down on the same day but due to Disney+ in France being delayed until April 7, 2020, the closure of the channel was delayed as well, only happening on the day of the release of the streaming service, although it still closed down on the services of Canal+ on April 1.
*On April 30, 2020, by 23:50 PM AEST, the Australian Disney Channel and Disney Junior have permanently shut down, making this the first time a vanilla Disney Channel became completely defunct.
*Shortly after, on May 1, 2020, by 0:00 AM CEST, the Italian Disney Channel and Disney Junior shut down permanently as well, and by 0:00 AM BST on the same day, Disney XD +1 on the UK became defunct too.
*On June 1, 2020, by 0:00 AM, the Southeast Asian Disney Channel, Disney Junior, and Disney XD became unavailable in Singapore, despite the channels still being active in other countries.
*On October 1, 2020 by 0:00 AM BST, Disney Channel, Disney XD, and Disney Junior in the UK were permanently shut down, due to Sky UK and Virgin Media declining to renew its carriage deal with Disney, with its content moving exclusively to Disney+.
*On October 19, 2020, it was announced that Disney XD in Japan would shut down on February 1, 2021, by 0:00 AM JST. The following day, it was also announced that Disney XD in Scandinavia would shut down after December 31, 2020.
*On December 10, 2020, it was confirmed that Disney XD in Southeast Asia and Disney Channel in Malaysia would both shut down on January 1, 2021, by 0:00 AM.
*Disney XD also closed down in Greece, Serbia, and Turkey at the end of January 31, 2021.
*On April 27, 2021, it was confirmed that Disney Channel and Disney Junior in Southeast Asia, with the exception of Taiwan, would both shut down on October 1, 2021, alongside multiple Fox, Star and Fox Sports channels.https://geekculture.co/disney-shutting-down-18-cable-channels-in-southeast-asia-and-hong-kong-from-1-october-2021/
*On May 1, 2021, by 5:00 AM (UTC-4) the Pacific feed for Disney Channel and Disney Junior in Latin America became defunct and was replaced by the South feed of the region. On the same day by 8:00 AM (UTC-3), the South feed for Disney XD in Latin America also became defunct, and it was replaced by the feed utilized for the Andes region.https://www.tvlaint.com/2021/04/disney-reducira-los-feeds-de-sus-canales.html
*On May 17, 2021, it was confirmed that FOX in the UK, would shut down by 6:00 AM BST on July 1, 2021, given the success of Disney+ in the UK and the addition of the adult section Star.https://whatsondisneyplus.com/the-walking-dead-war-of-the-worlds-coming-to-disney-when-fox-channel-closes-in-the-uk/
*On June 10, 2021, it was confirmed that FOX Crime in Italy, would also shut down on July 1, 2021, by 0:05 AM CEST.https://www.teledigitale.it/cultura/tv/fox-crime-chiude/
*On July 4, 2021, it was confirmed that Disney Channel and Disney Junior in South Korea would also shut down on October 1, 2021, alongside the Southeast Asian versions.https://www.etnews.com/20210702000174
*On July 6, 2021, it was confirmed that Disney Junior and FOX in Germany would also shut down on October 1, 2021, with their content being transferred to Disney+ or, in the case of Disney Junior, to the German Disney Channel (which since January of 2014 has become a free to air channel in Germany).https://www.broadbandtvnews.com/2021/07/06/disney-to-close-fox-and-disney-junior-in-germany/
*On August 24, 2021, it was announced that FOX in the Sub-Saharan Africa, would shut down also on October 1, 2021.https://www.news24.com/channel/tv/news/disney-ends-the-fox-channel-in-africa-rips-away-the-walking-deads-final-season-20210824
*On August 27, 2021, it was confirmed that Disney Channel in Taiwan would shut down on January 1, 2022, by the official Disney Taiwan Website, thus bringing a definitive end to Disney Channel in Southeast Asia.
**In addition to that, the FOX and FOX Movies channels in Taiwan got rebranded as Star branded channels.
*On September 25, 2021, it was announced that all the Star Premium Channels in Latin America (previously known as Fox Premium Channels) would close on February 1, 2022. Despite this, Star Channel, Star Life, FX and FXM will continue operating after this date.https://pisapapeles.net/disney-anuncia-el-fin-de-los-canales-star-premium-para-el-31-de-enero-de-2022/
*On October 17, 2021, it was announced that Marvel HQ in India, which took the place of Disney XD in India on January 20, 2019, would be rebranded as "Super Hungama", becoming a sister channel to Hungama TV, an Indian kids channel owned by Disney (albeit entirely absent of any Disney owned content), thus removing the channel of any direct connections with the Disney brand.https://animenewsindia.com/2021/10/07/disney-india-will-rebrand-marvel-hq-as-super-hungama-soon/ The rebrand was supposed to take place on December 1, but was later delayed indefinitely due to changes in telecommunications rules imposed by the Indian Government, until March 1, 2022 when the rebranding finally took place.
**Despite this, Super Hungama will still be airing Disney owned TV shows such as Big City Greens, Milo Murphy's Law, The Heart of the Jungle, and, surprisingly, Buzz Lightyear of Star Command.
*On December 2, 2021, it was announced that FOX Life in Spain alongside the traveling channel Viajar (a traveling channel originally owned by Canal+ Spain, and later sold to Fox), would both end their transmissions on January 1, 2022. https://www.neeo.es/2021/12/02/disney-decide-cesar-dos-de-sus-canales-en-espana/
*On December 22, 2021, various TV Operators in Latin America were informed that Disney XD, Star Life (Previously FOX Life), FXM, Nat Geo Wild and Nat Geo Kids in Latin America will all close down on April 1, 2022.https://twitter.com/OjoalaTele/status/1480554387420291075 This was later made public on the beginning of January 2022.https://tavilatam.com/latinoamerica-confirmado-disney-cierra-en-la-region-disney-xd-nat-geo-kids-nat-geo-wild-fxm-y-star-life/
**In addition, Disney also announced plans to discontinue Disney Junior already in Brazil by April 1, 2022, and to replace Star Life in Brazil with Cinecanal, a movie channel previously only avalible to Spanish speaking countries in Latin America
*On March 21, 2022, it was announced that Disney Channel would close in Turkey ahead of the release of Disney+ in the region in June 14.https://www.instagram.com/p/CbXYBKilDFt/ It was later confirmed that the channel would close on April 1, 2022https://twitter.com/Platformlar1/status/1508023800910200835, with the channel's license expiring at the end of the month.
*On July 1, 2022, FOX in Italy had closed down.
**This marked the end of any Pay-TV channels that are part of Disney Branded Television (not counting BabyTV or any channels from the National Geographic Lineup) in any territories where Sky Europe operates as a Pay-TV Operator (UK, Germany and Italy).
*On October 1, 2022, the VOD service FOX+ was discontinued in Portugal with its content being transferred to Disney+.
**The service had been also discontinued in Germany and Hungary a few months prior to the release of Disney+ in the corresponding countries.
*Also, on October 1, 2022, FOX Crime in Turkey has shut down with its content being transferred to FX Turkey, in addition to the National Geographic, National Geographic Wild and BabyTV channels in Italy also shutting downhttps://www.tvdigitaldivide.it/sky-il-1-ottobre-2022-chiude-il-canale-national-geographic/ .
**This not only marks the first definitive closure of a National Geographic channel worldwide, but also marks the definitive end of any linear TV services in Italy under the control of The Walt Disney Company.
*Due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, all Pay TV channels in Russia under the control of Disney were discontinued (FOX, FOX Life, National Geographic, National Geographic Wild, and Baby TV), and mostly replaced by original Russian channels on October 1, 2022, and all of the Russian Disney social media accounts were deleted including Youtube channels, leaving the Russian Disney Channel as the only active asset from Disney in Russia until December 14, 2022, when it also closed down and was replaced by an original russian channel named "Solntse" (Солнце), thus discontinuing any activities from The Walt Disney Company in the Russian market.
**The Pay TV channels are, however, still active in CIS regions outside of Russia.
*On December 1, 2022, FX, FOX Crime, FOX Family Movies and Fox Rewayat were all discontinued in Middle East, without any announcement.
*On January 26, 2023, it was announced that National Geographic and National Geographic Wild will be closing down in Australia and in New Zeland on April 1, 2023https://tvblackbox.com.au/page/2023/01/26/fox-funny-nat-geo-and-nat-geo-wild-channels-to-be-removed-from-foxtel-and-fetch-platforms/https://help.sky.co.nz/s/article/Nat-Geo-Changes, marking the definitive end of any linear TV services in Australia and New Zeland under the control of The Walt Disney Company, with the exception of the channels ESPN, ESPN 2 and BabyTV.
==Localization==
The international channels brands the on-air look consistently to the Disney brand. Individual channel managers are allowed to develop schedules and marketing programs to allow for the children's preferences in the market. Additional, local programming is acquired that meet Disney's standards which is a difficult. After a program is successful in a market, the program's format may be developed for other Disney Channels' market viewing tastes.
==Channels==
Country 	Disney Channel	Disney XD 	Disney Junior 	Other services 	Operator 	Source(s)
United States 	Yes 	Yes 	Yes 	East, West, HD, Radio Disney 	Disney CWW 	Kirchdoerffer, Ed. (April 1, 1998). A Salute to Disney Channel: Drawing up Toon Disney. kid Screen.com. Accessed on March 4, 2014.
Canada 	Yes 	Yes 	Yes 	HD, some shows move to TeleToon 	Corus Kids 	
Taiwan 	Yes (defunct) 	No 	Yes (As a block of Disney Channel)	HD 	 	
UK & Ireland 	Yes (defunct) 	Yes (defunct)	Yes (defunct) 	HD, +1, Sky Movies Disney 	Disney Co. Ltd. (UK/Europe) 	
Australia & New Zealand 	Yes (defunct) 	Yes (defunct)	Yes (defunct) 	Foxtel Movies Disney (Australia; now Foxtel Movies Kids; defunct)
Sky Movies Disney (New Zealand; defunct)	 	
France, Belgium & Switzerland 	Yes 	Yes (defunct)	Yes 	HD, +1, Disney Cinemagic, Disney Nature TV 	Disney Co. France 	
Arab World/Middle East 	Yes 	Yes (defunct)	Yes 	HD, OSN Movies Disney 	Disney Co. Ltd. 	
Spain 	Yes* 	Yes (defunct)	Yes 	+1, HD, Cinemagic, Cinemagic HD, Intereconomía TV	Management Company TelevisionNet TV SA†	
Italy 	Yes (defunct) 	Yes (defunct)	Yes (defunct) 	HD, +1, +2, Mobile, Disney in English 	Disney Co. Italy 	
Germany, Austria & Switzerland	Yes* 	Yes (defunct)	Yes (defunct) 	HD, +1, Cinemagic 	Disney Co. (Germany) 	
Latin America 	Yes 	Yes (defunct)	Yes (except in Brazil) 	HD 	 	
Southeast Asia 	Yes (defunct) 	Yes (defunct)	Yes (defunct) 	HD 	 	
Japan 	Yes 	Yes (defunct)	Yes 	Dlife 	 	Corporate information. Broadcast Satellite Disney Co., Ltd. Accessed on December 19, 2013.
Scandinavia 	Yes 	Yes (defunct)	Yes 	HD 	Disney Co. Ltd. 	
Bulgaria 	Yes 	No 	Yes 	 	Disney Co. Ltd. 	
Romania & Moldova 	Yes 	No 	Yes 	 	Disney Co. Ltd. 	
Netherlands & Flanders 	Yes 	Yes* 	Yes (defunct) 	 	Jetix Europe Channels B.V. 	
Czech Republic & Slovakia 	Yes 	No 	Yes 	 	Disney 	
Hungary 	Yes 	No 	Yes (defunct) 	 	Disney Co. Ltd. 	
Poland 	Yes 	Yes 	Yes 	 	Disney Co. Ltd. 	
Turkey 	Yes* (defunct)	Yes (defunct)	Yes 	 	Disney Co. Ltd. 	
Russia and CIS 	Yes* (defunct)	No 	Yes (As a block of Disney Channel)	 	Media-1 (80%)
The Walt Disney Company CIS (20%)	
Greece & Cyprus 	Yes 	Yes (defunct)	Yes 	 	Disney 	
Portugal 	Yes 	No 	Yes 	HD, Disney Cinemagic, Cinemagic HD 	Disney Co. - Portugal 	
India 	Yes 	Yes (defunct)	Yes 	Hungama TV, Disney International, Super Hungama 	Disney TV India 	
Africa 	Yes 	Yes (defunct)	Yes 	 	 	
South Korea 	Yes (defunct) 	No 	Yes (defunct) 	HD 	Television Media Korea 	http://disneyabctv.com/web/NewsRelease/DispDNR.aspx?id=051110_08 - THE WALT DISNEY COMPANY AND SK TELECOM ANNOUNCE INTENT TO FORM A JOINT VENTURE TO LAUNCH KOREAN-LANGUAGE DISNEY CHANNELS IN SOUTH KOREA, Disney-ABC Television Group, retr. 2010-05-13
*These channels are free-to-air, and are not paid TV services.
† Management Company Television Net TV S.A. is owned by Vocento SA, The Walt Disney Company Iberia S.L. (20%), and Intereconomía Corporation SA. Which in addition to the Disney channels owns Intereconomia TV, a generalist channel.
===Southeast Asia===
Disney Channel Asia was launched in January 2000 with a multi-language feed with an English main feed and dubbing and subtitling Mandarin. The channel became available in Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, and the Philippines. On June 1, 2002, the channel was launched in the South Korea market with a Korea language feed. Over the first six months of 2005, Disney Channel Asia along with sister channel Playhouse Disney launched in Vietnam, Palau, and Thailand and finishing off with a launch of both in Cambodia, its 11th market, with Cambodia Entertainment Production Co. Ltd. as distributor.
This feed was discontinued on October 1, 2021, except in Taiwan where it was only discontiued on January 1, 2022.
===China===
Disney Channel was recently launched a channel in mainland China. However, many of its live-action and animated series are still syndicated on regional channels through ABC owned Dragon Club since 1994 to 2010. It also has a new website for China.
===India===
Previously, Disney programming was available through programming blocks starting as early as 1994 with Doordarshan then moving to Zee TV until the early 2001s. Disney moved its block to Sony Television for three years. Star TV pick up Disney TV blocks on Star One, Disney Time, and on Star Utsav.
In December 2004, Walt Disney Television International India launched a Toon Disney channel with three language feeds (English, Tamil, and Telugu) at the same time as the Disney Channel with Star TV network distributing the channels. Disney reached an agreement with Doordarshan (DD) in November 2005 for DD to carry a half hour block called Disney Jadoo. Thus Disney was up to four branded blocks in India.
==Other services==
===Dlife===
In April 2009, the Walt Disney Co., Ltd. Japan started Broadcast Satellite Disney Co., Ltd. to broadcast a women and family targeted channel, Dlife, with licensed received in October 2010 and debuted on March 17, 2012. In December 2013, Dlife launched a children's programming block called Disney Time. The channel was officially shut down on March 31, 2020.
===Disney Time===
Disney Time is a TV programming block in Japan. In 2005, Disney Time was airing from 6 to 7 PM on Star Plus in India. In December 2013, Dlife launched a children's programming block called Disney Time. The programming block in Japan, alongside Dlife, were shutdown on March 31, 2020.
==References==
==External links==
*Disney Branded Television website
Category:Television companies
Category:Broadcasting companies
Category:Disney Branded Television
Category:The Walt Disney Company subsidiaries
Category:Disney Channel
Category:Disney XD
Category:Disney Junior