Toon Disney
Toon Disney was an American multinational pay television channel owned by Disney Channels Worldwide, a subsidiary of Disney-ABC Television Group. The channel's target audience was children ages 2–11, and children ages 6–13 during the Jetix programming block. A spin-off of Disney Channel, the channel's programming mostly included animated series, shorts and features from Disney, as well as acquired programs. History. Toon Disney was launched on April 18, 1998 at 3:00 p.m. Eastern Time, in honor of Disney Channel's 15th anniversary by Disney/ABC Networks on digital tiers of DirecTV, Marcus Cable and EchoStar . The first program to air on the network was "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" (1940). At 7:00 p.m. ET that day, Toon Disney launched a block called "The Magical World of Toons". The block originally featured Disney animated features, specials and shorts. Over 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 Disney Channel. The channel had no advertising until its viewership reached a set number. On January 31, 1999, the first annual Pumbaa Bowl marathon 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 June 2001, Toon Disney 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 the "Toon Disney's Magical Adventure Sweepstakes" in which three winners along with 3 family members would win 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", and "Buzz Lightyear of Star Command" aired under both the Toon Disney and Jetix  monikers. The Toon Disney/Big Movie Show premiere of "The Polar Express" on December 22, 2006, was the channel's highest primetime 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 its broadcast on February 12, 2009, and was replaced by Disney XD. The final program to air on the channel was "The  Incredible Hulk" episode "Doomed" at 11:30 p.m. ET, as part of Jetix. The first program to air on Disney XD was the "Phineas and Ferb" episode "Dude, We're Getting the Band Back Together" on Friday, February 13, 2009 at 12:00 a.m. ET. International versions. In the Fall of 2000, Disney launched its first overseas Toon Disney channel in the United Kingdom. The UK channel was later replaced by 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). 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. After the shutdown of the US 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, with the last Toon Disney-branded channels to close being the 2 Italy channels  on October 1, 2011.