Disney Channel
Disney Channel is an American pay television channel that serves as the flagship property of Disney Branded Television, a unit of the Disney Entertainment division of The Walt Disney Company.[1]
For other uses, see Disney Channel (disambiguation).Country
United States
Nationwide
Burbank, California, U.S.
- English
- Spanish (via SAP audio track)
- 1080p HDTV
(downscaled to letterboxed 480i for the SDTV feed)
April 18, 1983
The Disney Channel (1983–1997)
Launched on April 18, 1983, under the name The Disney Channel as a premium channel on top of basic cable television systems, it originally showcased programming towards families due to availability of home television sets locally at the time. Since 1997, as just Disney Channel, its programming has shifted focus to target mainly children and adolescents between ages 7 and 17. The channel showcases original first-run children's television series, theatrically-released and original television films and other selected third-party programming.
As of September 2022, Disney Channel is available on basic cable and satellite in over 190 million American and global homes. Original programming/content on/from the channel spans television, online, mobile, video on demand and mobile platforms, with the latter dominated by the DisneyNOW website-app hybrid product. There were 46 Disney Channels available in 33 languages worldwide,[2] but some have either shut down or declined in viewership since 2016 in parts of Europe and most of the Asia-Pacific due to the rise of social media and streaming media platforms as well as the successful launch of Disney+ in certain countries/regions/territories from 2020 onward.
Media
Video games
In 2010, Disney Channel All Star Party was released for the Nintendo Wii.[68] The four-player mascot party game, in which the stages resemble board games, features characters from Disney Channel programs such as Sonny with a Chance, Wizards of Waverly Place, and JONAS L.A. Several video games based on the Disney Channel animated series Phineas and Ferb were released by Disney Interactive Studios. The Disney Channel website also featured various Flash games incorporating characters from the channel's various program franchises, including Kim Possible and Hannah Montana.
Marketing programs
In June 2012, The Walt Disney Company announced that it would stop advertising or promoting food or beverage products that do not meet strict nutritional guidelines. Disney Channel purportedly became the first media company to take such a stance on stopping the marketing of junk food products to kids. Due to its commercial-free format, such advertising appears only in the form of underwriter sponsorships during promotional breaks.[69]
On July 1, 2012, Disney Channel began providing Descriptive Video Service audio in compliance with the 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act of 2010, which required network owned-and-operated stations and affiliates in the 25 largest television markets as well as the five highest-rated cable and satellite channels (including Disney Channel) to offer audio descriptions for the blind. This is accompanied by an on-screen mark at the beginning of certain scheduled programming indicating to viewers that the service is available. Some episodes of Gravity Falls, Austin and Ally, Good Luck Charlie, and Phineas and Ferb show the AD))) mark and a 2-tone sound repeated 3 times at the beginning of the episode to give notice of the audio description track available through the SAP feed. Disney Junior displays the AD)) mark and the intended SAP track on newer episodes of Little Einsteins. (ABC positions this mark in the bottom-left corner of the screen.)[70]
Some critics disapprove of the Disney Channel marketing strategy led by Anne Sweeney,[76] president of the Disney Channel from 1996 to 2014.[77] Under Sweeney, the Disney Channel's programming was geared mainly towards preteen and teenage girls, with a decrease in animated programming.[78] Criticism was also aimed at removing almost all Walt-era and pre-1990s material from the channel in 2002 with the removal of the late-night "Vault Disney" block devoted to this material, which used to make up the majority of the channel's programming since its inception in 1983.[79][80] In 2008, Sweeney explained that Disney Channel, resulting from its multi-platform marketing strategy using television and music, would become "the major profit driver for the [Walt Disney] Company."[80]
The channel has also pulled (and sometimes re-shot) episodes that have featured subject matter deemed inappropriate for its target audience, due either to humor or to timing of real-life events.
On June 13, 2023, the opening sequence of the series Primos, which will air on the Disney Channel in 2024, was released by Disney Branded Television,[87][88] with a mixed reception to the sequence on social media, including from Latinos and Mexicans.[89][90][91] Some viewers argued that the sequence had various negative stereotypes, complained about names of some characters, and claimed the Spanish pronunciation of some characters in the sequence was incorrect.[92][93][94]