Toon Disney

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Toon Disney
ToonDisney.svg
CountryUnited States
Headquarters
Programming
Language(s)English and Spanish (via SAP audio track) (United States)
Picture format720p (HDTV)
480i (SDTV)
Ownership
OwnerDisney Channels Worldwide (Disney-ABC Television Group)
Sister channelsDisney Channel
Playhouse Disney
History
LaunchedApril 18, 1998 (1998-04-18)
ClosedFebruary 12, 2009 (2009-02-12)
Replaced byDisney XD

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,[1] 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 the 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 the Disney Channel.[2] The channel had no advertising until its viewership reached a set number.[1] On January 31, 1999, the first annual Pumbaa Bowl marathon was broadcast.[3]

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.[4]

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.[3][5] 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.[3]

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.[6][7] 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."[8]

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.

Programming blocks[]

  • Toon Disney's Big Movie Show is an evening movie block started in 2005 and lasted until 2009.[9]
  • Double Feature Friday was a block that featured two different movies back-to-back every Friday night. The block started in 2001 and lasted until 2004.
  • 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 originally having 12 hours of weekly prime time programming to start.[6][7][10] By the time Toon Disney dissolved 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 which was launched on April 18, 1998 and lasted until 2003. During the week, the block would showcase shorts and series featuring Disney characters such as Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Timon & Pumbaa, Hercules, Aladdin, Doug and Pepper Ann. During the weekend, the block would present animated features, most 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.[2][11]
  • Princess Power Hour was a block featuring Disney Princesses Jasmine and Ariel through episodes of Aladdin and The Little Mermaid. (2000–2007[11])
  • Chillin' With the Villains was a block that aired on Sundays. The block consists of a mini-marathon of a series which featured a notable villain. (2000–2004[11])
  • The Great Toon Weekend (GTW) was a weekend afternoon programming block that aired every Saturday and Sunday starting at noon for 7 hours beginning on January 27, 2007. The Great Toon Weekend started 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.[8]
  • Hangin' with the Heroes began in January 2002 as a weekend block consisting of two hours of Aladdin, Gargoyles, and Hercules. Later, the block began airing every weeknight starting at 11:00 pm.[3]

International versions[]

In the Fall of 2000, Disney launched its first overseas Toon Disney channel in the United Kingdom.[12] The UK channel was later replaced by Disney Cinemagic in March 2006.[13] In 2004, 4 new markets added a Toon Disney channel with three in Europe with Germany also adding a time shift channel.[14] In December, Walt Disney Television International India launched a Toon Disney channel with three language audio tracks (English, Tamil and Telugu).[15][16] In 2005, a Toon Disney channel was launched for the Nordic countries, as well as[14] another one for Japan.[17] A Hindi-language audio track was introduced on Toon Disney in India on September 1, 2005.[18] 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.

Market Type Launch date Replaced by Replaced by date
United States channel April 18, 1998[2] Disney XD February 12, 2009[19]
Japan December 1, 2005[17] Disney XD August 9, 2009[20]
United Kingdom and Ireland September 29, 2000[12] Disney Cinemagic March 16, 2006[13]
India December 17, 2004[21][22] Disney XD November 12, 2009[22]
Vietnam block on HTV7 February 2007[23] N/A
France channel November 2, 2002[24] Disney Cinemagic September 4, 2007[25]
Germany November 10, 2004[26] Disney XD in many providers April 18, 2010[14]
+1 timeshift service Disney XD +1 April 18, 2010[27]
Italy channel December 24, 2004 Disney Channel +2 October 1, 2011[citation needed]
+1 timeshift service December 20, 2008[28] Disney XD +2
Scandinavia channel August 1, 2005 Disney XD September 9, 2009[14]
Spain November 16, 2001[29] Disney Cinemagic June 30, 2008[14]

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b Kirchdoerffer, Ed (April 1, 1998). "A Salute to Disney Channel: Drawing up Toon Disney". Kid Screen.com. Retrieved March 4, 2014.
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b c "Toon Disney Launch". Animation World Magazine. May 1998. Retrieved February 26, 2014.
  3. ^ Jump up to: a b c d "Toon Disney Timeline 1998-2003". Toon Disney. Archived from the original on December 10, 2003.
  4. ^ Hettrick, Scott (February 25, 2000). "Stay Toon-ed For Ads On Disney Spinoff Channel". All Business. The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on March 21, 2009. Retrieved April 12, 2014.CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  5. ^ "Toon Disney Premieres Eight New Series In Fall 2002". Animation World Network. Retrieved September 26, 2018.
  6. ^ Jump up to: a b Welsh, James (January 9, 2004). "Fox Kids to be rebranded as Jetix". Digital Spy. Retrieved February 24, 2014.
  7. ^ Jump up to: a b Ball, Ryan (February 13, 2004). "Toon Disney Launches Jetix, Live Card Game". Animation Magazine. Retrieved March 3, 2014.
  8. ^ Jump up to: a b Ball, Ryan (January 12, 2007). "Toon Disney has 'Great Toon Weekend'". Animation Magazine. Retrieved April 4, 2014.
  9. ^ Lewis, Christian (November 12, 2006). "Toon Disney Spruces Up Big Movie Show". Muti-Channel. Retrieved April 9, 2014.
  10. ^ Umstead, R. Thomas (March 19, 2004). "Disney Nets Bolster 'Jetix' Block". Multichannel News. Retrieved March 5, 2014.
  11. ^ Jump up to: a b c ABC Cable Network Group (July 10, 2001). "Disney's Pepper Ann Takes Her Quest for Coolness to Toon Disney Beginning September 2001; All-Toon Channel Debuts New Schedule Sept. 3". Business Wire. Retrieved March 6, 2014.
  12. ^ Jump up to: a b Chapman, Iain (April 29, 2000). "Toon Disney". Digital Spy. Retrieved March 4, 2014.
  13. ^ Jump up to: a b "ITV enters full U.K. kids mkt". Video Age International. March 1, 2006. Retrieved March 5, 2014.
  14. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e "Channel listing: Toon Disney". MAVISE. European Audiovisual Observatory.
  15. ^ "After Tamil & Telegu, Toon Disney goes Hindi from 1 September". Indian Television. August 22, 2005. Retrieved February 26, 2014.
  16. ^ Bajoria, Jayshree (December 17, 2004). "Disney launches India TV channels". BBC. Retrieved February 26, 2014.
  17. ^ Jump up to: a b "Toon Disney and Jetix head for Japan". C21Media. August 31, 2005. Retrieved March 12, 2014.
  18. ^ "Toon Disney to be launched in Hindi from September 1". Televisionpoint.com. August 23, 2005. Archived from the original on September 27, 2011. Retrieved February 26, 2014.
  19. ^ Chmielewski, Dawn C. (August 7, 2008). "Enough with the girls, tween boys get their own brand of Disney love". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on March 31, 2014. Retrieved February 25, 2014.
  20. ^ Schilling, Mark (June 7, 2009). "Disney XD to launch in Japan". Variety. Retrieved April 24, 2014.
  21. ^ "Walt Disney channels to be distributed by STAR". Economic Times. November 25, 2004. Retrieved April 23, 2014.
  22. ^ Jump up to: a b "Jetix rebrands to Disney XD in India". Indiantelevision.com. November 12, 2009. Retrieved April 9, 2014.
  23. ^ "Disney's BVITV-AP brings 'Toon Disney' block to Vietnam". Indiantelevision.com. February 1, 2007. Retrieved March 10, 2014.
  24. ^ "Disney Channel se met en quatre". Stratégies. October 25, 2002.
  25. ^ "Disney Cinemagic le 4 septembre sur CanalSat". Univers Freebox.
  26. ^ "Ready, willing 'n' cable". Variety. October 24, 2004. Retrieved July 21, 2014.
  27. ^ "TV Channel: Disney XD +1 (Germany)". MAVISE. European Audiovisual Observatory. Retrieved May 1, 2014.
  28. ^ "TV: SU SKY NUOVI CANALI PER BAMBINI, CINEMA E MUSICA". adnkrosos. December 22, 2008.
  29. ^ "Disney lanza tres nuevos canales infantiles". El País. October 30, 2001.

External links[]

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