Disney Channel UK

**Disney Channel** is a 24 hour children's entertainment channel available in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland since 1 October 1995. A 1 hour timeshift service called **Disney Channel +1** is available on Sky Digital and Virgin Media. Disney Channel also has three sister channels; Disney Cinemagic, Playhouse Disney and Disney XD.

## Overview

Disney Channel does not broadcast commercial advertisements, relying instead on revenue from the subscription fees that the viewer must pay in order to view Disney Cinemagic and its timeshift. Despite the lack of commercials, most non-movie programming is broken up by non-commercial breaks, during which trailers for Disney's programming and specially-commissioned short programmes (e.g. *Disney 365*) are usually shown.

Disney Channel also offers an interactive television service on Sky Digital. Viewers who press the red button on their Sky Digital 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 was designed and built by Pushbutton, and went live in September 2007 replacing the old service created by Tamblin. Previously, Disney Channel UK and Ireland also had a Teletext service, consisting of about 200 pages, known as Disney Text.

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.

Disney Channel sometimes carries the British version of sign language on its late evening programming. Many newer series, such as Hannah Montana, are also Audio Described on Sky Digital.

## History and availability

Disney Channel was originally planned to launch in 1989 on the newly launched Sky satellite service, but due to an apparent dispute , the launch was cancelled, and the channel did not appear until 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. The launch of Sky Digital in 1998 saw the channel increase its broadcasting hours for digital satellite viewers.

On 29 September 2000, Disney Channel launched two sister channels, a pre-school orientated 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 Digital 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 Digital 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 continued to air a block of Playhouse Disney-branded preschool programmes during school mornings until relatively recently.

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. As a result, on 16 March, Toon Disney was axed to make room for the premium subscription channel Disney Cinemagic, and Disney Channel +1 was temporarily replaced with Disney Cinemagic +1. Disney Channel +1 relaunched 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 November 22, 2007 it was announced Disney Channel joined the lineup for Picnic‎, BSkyB's proposed new pay-TV service for DTT.

## Live Presentation

*Main article: Studio Disney UK*

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 23 April 2001. 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 4pm to 7pm, 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.

(i.e Mother's Day - Competition of 2003 involved Emma Lee surprising four entrants and their mothers to a special get-away.
(i.e 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[1].

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 Five 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 early 2002. In 2003, it was completely redesigned to fit with the other Disney Channel's worldwide after the global rebrand. In 2007, the service Disney XD (or DXD for short) was added to disneychannel.co.uk, when the website's homepage was revamped to fit the look of the American site. The Disney XD service was given to the United Kingdom because of its popularity. In June 2009, Disney XD was renamed as My Page to avoid getting confused with the Sister Channel Disney XD (UK & Ireland).

## Programming

### Eternal programming

* *Alexei: The Series*
* *As The Bell Rings USA*
* *Brandy and Mr Whiskers* (weekends only)
* *Brian O Brian*
* *Cory in the House*
* *Fillmore* (weekdays only)
* *Famous Five*
* *Hannah Montana*
* *House of Mouse* (Shorts only, on weekdays. Airs during breaks)
* *I Got a Rocket* (Weekdays only)
* *JONAS*
* *Jonas Brothers: Living the Dream*
* *Kim Possible*
* *Life Bites*
* *Lizzie McGuire*
* *Overruled!*
* *Phineas & Ferb*
* *Playhouse Disney Hour* (Weekdays only)
*Handy Manny*
*Mickey Mouse Clubhouse*
*My Friends Tigger & Pooh*
* *Recess*
* *Sonny With a Chance*
* *The Replacements*
* *The Suite Life of Zack & Cody*
* *The Suite Life on Deck*
* *That's So Raven*
* *Undercover Coach* (Weekends only)
* *Wizards of Waverly Place*

### Former programming

* *16 Days of Glory*
* *100 Deeds for Eddie McDowd*
* *101 Dalmatians* \*
* *8 Simple Rules* (Currently showing on TG4 & Five)
* *Adventures of the Gummi Bears*
* *Adventures of the Little Koala*
* *The Adventures of Roco & Abyss*
* *Aladdin* (moved to Disney Cinemagic)
* *Arle* (Now showing on Disney XD)
* *Art Attack* (Now showing on CITV Channel)
* *American Dragon* (Now showing on Disney XD)
* *Baby Backyardigans*
* *Baby Potter: The Series* (Also showing on Jetix, Cartoon Network, Cartoon Network Too, Nickelodeon, CITV and Kix!)
* *The Backyardigans*
* *Beany and Cecil*
* *Bear in the Big Blue House* \*\*
* *Beverly Hills Teens*
* *Bill Nye The Science Guy*
* *Bite Size* \*\*
* *Blossom*
* *Bone Chillers*
* *Bonkers*
* *Bonus Jonas* (A short Series, airs during breaks)
* *The Book of Pooh* \*\*
* *Boy Meets World*
* *Brotherly Love*
* *Bus Life*
* *Buzz Lightyear of Star Command*
* *Caitlin's Way*
* *Cave Party*
* *Channel Umptee-3*
* *Power Rangers: Zeo*
* *Clone High*
* *The Country Mouse and the City Mouse Adventures*
* *Crash Zone*
* *Daddio*
* *Dangerous Minds*
* *Disney's CyberStar*
* *Darkwing Duck*
* *Dave the Barbarian* \*
* *Dinosaurs*
* *Disney Channel DJ*
* *Disney Consumer Arcade*
* *Disney Channel Games*
* *Disney's Classic Toons* \*
* *Donald's Quack Attack*
* *Disney's Doug*
* *Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman*
* *DuckTales* (Coming soon to KidsCo, returns)
* *Dumbo's Circus* (Coming soon to KidsCo)
* *Eyewitness*
* *Extreme Ghostbusters*
* *Flash Forward*
* *Faerie Tale Theatre*
* *Flipper*
* *Flying Rhino Junior High*
* *For All My Family*
* *Gargoyles*
* *The Golden Girls*
* *Good Morning Raoul*
* *Goof Troop*
* *Hammer Austin*
* *Hannah-Oke*
* *The Heart of the Jungle*
* *Hercules* \*
* *Higglytown Heroes* \*\*
* *High School Musical: The Music In You*
* *Hollywood Lives*
* *Horsing Around*
* *Home Improvement* (now showing on Virgin 1)
* *Honey, I Shrunk the Kids: The TV Show*
* *In a Heartbeat*
* *Inside Clyde*
* *The Buzz On Maggie*
* *The Incredible Story Studio*
* *The Jersey*
* *Tarzan* \*
* *The Legend of Zelda*
* *Jett Jackson*
* *JoJo's Circus* \*\*
* *Jungle Cubs*
* *Kidd Video*
* *L.A.7*
* *Landful Cube*
* *The Landry Sisters*
* *Like Family*
* *Lilo & Stitch* \*
* *Little Mermaid* \*
* *Lloyd In Space* \*
* *Marsupilami*
* *Max Steel*
* *Men in Black: The Series*
* *Miami 7*
* *Mickey Mouse Works*
* *Mickey's Mouse Tracks*
* *Mighty Morphin Power Rangers*
* *Micro Soap*
* *Monster by Mistake*
* *Moners Sixton 2590*
* *Muppet Babies*
* *Muppets Tonight*
* *Mutant X*
* *My Best Friend is a Alien*
* *My So Called Life*
* *The New Adventures of Winnie The Pooh* \*\*
* *PB&J Otter* \*\*
* *The Proud Family*
* *Playhouse Disney* (Now received a channel of its own, though a Playhouse Disney Hour currently airs)
* *Pepper Ann*
* *Phil of the Future* (Now showing on Disney XD)
* *Quack Pack*
* *Raffina and Rulue's Adventures* (later aired on Kix! and Pop Girl)
* *Ratz*
* *Raw Toonage*
* *Studio Disney UK*
* *Sabrina, the Animated Series* (Now showing on Pop Girl)
* *Sabrina's Secret Life*
* *Second Noah*
* *Sesame Street*
* *Sherlock Holmes in the 22nd Century*
* *Sing Me A Story With Belle*
* *Sister, Sister*
* *So Weird*
* *Student Bodies*
* *Smart Guy*
* *Stanley* \*\*
* *Super Dave*
* *Sweet Valley High*
* *S Club 7 Go Wild!*
* *Short Cuts*
* *TaleSpin* (reurns)
* *Teacher's Pet*
* *The Sinbad Show*
* *Tall Tale & Legends*
* *The Muppet Show*
* *Teamo Supremo*
* *The Spooky Sisters*
* *Thunder Alley*
* *Teen Angel*
* *The Torkelsons*
* *Timon and Pumbaa* \*
* *Touched by an Angel*
* *Thunderstone*
* *The Raoul Show*
* *Time Flyer*
* *The Monkees*
* *The Bus UK*
* *Two Of A Kind*
* *Thomas and Friends*
* *The Heart of the Jungle*
* *The Weekenders*
* *The Wizard of Oz*
* *The Wonderful World of Disney*
* *The Wonder Years* (Currently showing on ITV3)
* *Untalkative Bunny*
* *Welcome to Pooh Corner*
* *What-a-Mess*
* *What's New, Angels?*
* *World of Plastiniles*
* *Woody Woodpecker: Escape from Buzz Buzzard Park*

## Films

Disney Channel traditionally broadcasted 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* Thunderbirds Are Go (1966) took place every Saturday morning, wherein viewers were invited to vote for one of a selection of Sony Pictures three movies on the channel's website, the winner being *Chitty Chitty Bang Bang* (1968). Starting in 2003, Seeing Double (2003) a movie was transmitted in widescreen with Dolby Digital Surround Sound on Sundays at 4pm.

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. 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, e.g., Full Court Miracle, the delay can be up to several years). As a result of these changes, movies are now shown more frequently across Disney's channels overall, and non-subscribers can now see Disney Channel Original Movies.

## External links

* DisneyChannel.co.uk
* Disney Channel TV Listings
* The section of Disney's website which supports their "Red Button" interactivity
* Disney Channel at TV Ark