Toon Disney

**Toon Disney** is a former American pay television channel which was owned by Disney Channels Worldwide, a subsidiary of Disney-ABC Television Group. A spin-off of the Disney Channel, the channel mostly aired children's animated series and some live action programming.

The channel's target audience was children ages 2-11, and children 6-11 during its nighttime block called Jetix.

## History

Toon Disney was launched at noon Eastern Time on April 18, 1998, in honour of Disney Channel's 15th anniversary by Disney/ABC Networks on digital tiers of DirecTV, Marcus Cable and EchoStar. The first program aired on the network was The Sorcerer's Apprentice (1940) and other Mickey Mouse shorts. At 7:00pm that day, its nighttime block, "The Magical World of Toons", was launched. In the next five months, Toon Disney furthered its programming to cable subscribers such as Americast. At its launch, the channel shared half of its assigned series with the Disney Channel. The channel had no advertising until its viewership reached a set number. On January 31, 1999, the first annual Pumbaa Bowl was broadcast.

By September 2000, the channel was expected to reach 20 million subscribers, and thus, would start showing advertising. Ad sales would be handled by Disney Kids Network. In the Fall of 2000, Disney launched its first overseas Toon Disney channel in the United Kingdom.

In June 2001, Toon Disney U.S. launched its "Most Animated Kid Search". The Santa Claus Brothers had its world premiere on the channel in December. In September 2002, eight new shows joined the line-up as part of Toon Disney's fall schedule. In commemoration of the network's fifth anniversary in April 2003, the channel held a "Toon Disney's Magical Adventure Sweepstakes" in which three winners along with 3 family members each won a trip to Disneyland Resort to see Disney's Aladdin: A Musical Spectacular.

On February 14, 2004, the Jetix programming block began on Toon Disney and ABC Family as a part of the Jetix programming alliance of ABC Networks Group, Fox Kids Europe and Fox Kids Latin America. The block consisted of the entire acquired Fox Kids/Saban Entertainment action library as the result of a bulk buy-out by The Walt Disney Company in summer 2001, as well as some original programming. Some shows, like The Legend of Tarzan, aired under both the Toon Disney and Jetix monikers. The UK channel switched over to Disney Cinemagic in March 2006.

In 2004, 4 new markets added a Toon Disney channel with three in Europe with Germany also adding a time shift channel. In December, Walt Disney Television International India launched a Toon Disney channel with three language audio tracks (English, Tamil and Telugu) at the same time as it debuted along with Disney Channel on Star TV. In 2005, a Toon Disney channel was launched for the Nordic countries, as well as another one for Japan. A Hindi-language audio track was introduced on Toon Disney in India on September 1, 2005.

The Toon Disney/Big Movie Show premiere of The Polar Express on December 22, 2006 was the channel's highest prime time rating with 1.35 million viewers. On January 27, 2007, Toon Disney launched its weekend afternoon programming block called "The Great Toon Weekend."

On August 6, 2008, Disney-ABC Television Group announced they would rebrand Toon Disney in early 2009 as Disney XD, which would be aimed at kids from ages 6 and up. Toon Disney ceased US broadcasting on February 13, 2009 (two months and five days shy of eleven years since it first started broadcasting), and was rebranded as Disney XD. Toon Disney/Jetix ran a preview night starting at 7:00pm on Thursday, February 12, 2009, the day before the network launched, the preview night included more promos about the new Disney XD shows. The final program on the channel was The Incredible Hulk, as part of Jetix. The first program to air on Disney XD was Phineas and Ferb episode ‘Dude, Were Getting The Band Back Together’ on Friday, February 13, 2009 at Midnight. After the shutdown of the U.S. channel, the remaining channels & blocks with the Toon Disney name outside the US were relaunched as either Disney Cinemagic (in European Countries only), Disney Channel, or Disney XD over the next 2 years, 7 months, & 18 days, with the last channels with the Toon Disney name to close being the 2 Italy Channels on Saturday, October 1st, 2011, thus bringing an end to the Toon Disney as a whole after 13 years, 5 months, & 13 days.

## Programming Blocks

* **The Big Movie Show** is an afternoon block of movies started in November 2004.
* **Friday Night Movie** was a block of movies started in 1998 until 2001.
* **Double Feature Friday** was a block that shows 2 movies every time. It started in 2001.
* **Jetix** was a block using programming from the Saban/Marvel library held by ABC Family Worldwide and additional original programming launched on February 14, 2004 with the block having 12 hours of weekly prime time programming to start. In the time of Toon Disney's dissolution in February 2009, Jetix had taken up more than half of the network's programming schedule, airing for 12 hours on weekdays and 19 hours on weekends.
* **The Magical World of Toons** was Toon Disney's prime time block upon the launch of the channel. During the week, shorts and series showcasing Disney characters such as Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Timon & Pumbaa, Hercules, Aladdin, Doug and Pepper Ann. The block's weekend consisted of animated features, mostly of those created for the home video market, like The Return of Jafar and The Brave Little Toaster Goes to Mars, as well as some theatrical releases including A Goofy Movie, Alice in Wonderland and The Brave Little Toaster. (1998-2001)
* **Princess Power Hour** was a block featuring Disney Princesses Jasmine and Ariel in showcasing episodes of Aladdin and The Little Mermaid.
* **Chillin' With The Villains** ran on Sundays with a mini-marathon featuring a villain.
* **The Great Toon Weekend** (GTW) was its weekend afternoon programming block for Saturday and Sunday starting at noon of seven hours of programming a day beginning on January 27, 2007. The Great Toon Weekend started off with a two-hour movie under the banner of "Big Movie Show" followed by five hours of back-to-back episodes of the following shows: Aladdin, Timon & Pumbaa, Buzz Lightyear of Star Command, The Emperor's New School and Lilo & Stitch.
* **Hangin' with the Heroes** began in January 2002 was a weekend block consisting of two hours of Aladdin, Hercules and Gargoyles.