
Launched	Walt Disney April 18, 1983
Owned by	Disney-ABC Television Group (The Walt Disney Company)
Picture format	480i (SDTV) 720p/1080i (HDTV)

Headquarters	Burbank, California
Sister channel(s)	Disney XD, ABC Family, ABC,ESPN, SOAPnet
Website	Disney.com
Availability
Satellite
DirecTV	Channel 290 (East, SD/HD) Channel 291 (West)
Dish Network	Channel 172 (East) Channel 173 (West)
Cable
Available on most cable systems	Check your local listings
IPTV
Verizon FiOS	Channel 250 (SD) Channel 780 (HD)
AT&T U-verse	Channel 302 (East) Channel 303 (West) Channel 1302 (HD)

The channel specializes in programming for children through original series and movies, as well as third-party programming. It is marketed to mostly children ages 6–14, with the exception of their weekend primetime block that is aimed at pre-teens and teenagers ages 9–15, and the Playhouse Disney programming block that is aimed at children ages 2–5; however, in recent years the diversity of viewers has increased with an older audience, typically teenagers and young families.

See also: Walt Disney

History

Disney Channel: The Beginning (1983–1997)

In 1983, The Walt Disney Company announced that it would be launching a cable channel that would entertain families with the magic of Disney throughout the years. The Disney Channel was formed in late 1982 under the leadership of its first president Alan Wagner. The channel launched nationally on April 18, 1983 at 7 a.m. ET with the Disney Channel-produced series Good Morning, Mickey! At the time of its launch, Disney Channel was a premium channel that aired for 16 hours a day, from 7 a.m.-11 p.m. ET/PT (6 a.m.-10 p.m. CT, 8 a.m.-midnight MT). In April 1984, the channel extended its programming day to 18 hours a day by adding two hours to its late night schedule (7 a.m.-1 a.m. ET/PT, 6 a.m.-midnight CT, 8 a.m.-2 a.m. MT).

Shows airing during its broadcast day during this time included Welcome to Pooh Corner and You and Me Kid along with several foreign animated series and movies including Asterix, The Raccoons, Paddington Bear, and the Australian western Five Mile Creek; the original late night schedule featured reruns of The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet. Subscribers initially received a monthly program guide/magazine, but years later it was phased out. Disney Channel received a special citation from the United States president Ronald Reagan in 1984. On December 1, 1986, Disney Channel began broadcasting on a 24-hour-a-day schedule.

Disney Channel headquarters in Burbank, California.

Early in 1986, the musical sitcom Kids Incorporated, about a pre-teen (and later teen-to-young adult) gang of friends who formed a pop group, mixing their everyday situations with variety-show and music video style performances, became a hit for the channel; and during its 9-year run, spawned many future stars in both music and acting, including Martika (who went by her real name of Marta Marrero in the show's first season), eventual Party of Five co-stars Scott Wolf and Jennifer Love Hewitt (billed as Love Hewitt), and Stacy Ferguson (now known as Fergie of The Black Eyed Peas).

In early 1989, the channel revived one of the company's early TV staples with The All-New Mickey Mouse Club, which was an immediate hit and proved the basic Disney variety show formula could still work, unlike in the short-lived 1970s revival. The latest version contained many of the classic elements from "theme days" to updated mouseketeer jackets, but the scripted and musical segments were more contemporary. MMC had a stellar young cast, launching the careers of future stars Christina Aguilera, JC Chasez, Ryan Gosling, Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake, Keri Russell and others. By 1995, Disney Channel was seen in more than 8 million homes across the United States.

Zoog & Vault Disney (1997–2002)

In 1997 (but in some markets starting as early as 1994), Disney Channel began transitioning from a premium cable channel to being offered via expanded basic cable, officially doing so by 2000 (or as late as 2004 in some markets).[citation needed] It was at this time that Disney Channel started to gain viewers. Prior to 1997, Disney Channel would air week-long previews four times a year, as well as two free preview weekends periodically (with ads targeted to non-subscribers), in the same manner that HBO, Cinemax, Showtime and Starz have. Even though Disney Channel is no longer considered a premium channel, the National Cable & Telecommunications Association has long continued to rank the channel's subscriber base among all U.S. premium channels in its cable subscription total rankings rather than among basic cable networks.

In 1997, Disney Channel took on a revamped look and dropped the word "The" in the network's name (however, promos often referred to the channel as simply "Disney" and the logo often omitted the "Channel" in the network's name), and split the network into three programming blocks: Playhouse Disney, comprising of shows aimed at preschoolers; Vault Disney, featuring classic Disney material such as Zorro, The Mickey Mouse Club, the Walt Disney anthology television series, older television specials and features such as The Love Bug; and the most distinct one, running from afternoon to late evening for teenagers, called Zoog Disney, which used anthropomorphic characters called "Zoogs", who resembled robots (but the Zoog characters were given human voices) as its hosts. The Zoog Disney block was introduced in 1998, shortly after the Toon Disney cable channel was launched. From September 2001 to August 2002, the entire weekend lineup (except for the Vault Disney and Playhouse Disney lineups) was branded as "Zoog Weekendz".

The Zoogs original look was two-dimensional, however, the Zoogs were redesigned in 2001, with a more three-dimensional design and mature voices, but were phased out after less than a year. A new channel logo (which featured a 1930s-era Mickey Mouse on a black Mickey ear-shaped TV), was also introduced in 1997. The channel also began to carry break interruptions (not featuring commercial advertisements, but promos for network programming and eventually promotions for Disney-produced feature film and home video releases). Disney Channel's original programming during this period began with Flash Forward in 1997 and continued with shows like The Famous Jett Jackson, So Weird, Lizzie McGuire, Even Stevens, and Kim Possible, among others.

Disney Channel: Relaunched (2002–2007)

In September 2002, Disney Channel was gradually remodeled once more. First, the "Zoog" brand name was phased out from on-air usage; the "Zoog" name continued under a separate website until 2003, when it was merged with Disney Channel's main website. Then on September 9, 2002, the Vault Disney block was discontinued (primarily to contribute to the network's new "hip" image) in favor of same-day repeats of the channel's original programming and off-network series. Primetime movies were also cut to one each night (from two). The channel also ceased producing drama and reality series, shifting focus to live-action comedies and animated series; the logo on the right was implemented a month later. As a result of these changes, of the three blocks introduced in 1997, only Playhouse Disney continues to this day (but it will soon rebranded itself as Disney Junior as of sometime in January 2012). Around the same time, Disney Channel partnered with corporate sister ABC to run the channel's programming on ABC's Saturday morning block.

Anne Sweeney, a veteran cable executive, took control of Disney-ABC Television Group in 2004 and successfully remade Disney Channel into "the major profit driver in the company." By 2008, Condé Nast Portfolio was able to note that the Channel "has been adding a million viewers a month—every month—for the last five years," and also called the Channel "the greatest teen-star incubator since the NBA stopped drafting high schoolers."[6] Sweeney's successful strategy was to discover, nurture, and aggressively cross-promote teen music stars whose style and image were carefully targeted to pre-teens and teenagers.

Beginning around that time while Disney Channel's intended target audience are preschoolers, pre-teens and young adolescents, the channel began to quickly gain in popularity and created increased competition with Viacom-owned Nickelodeon and the channel began to add viewers outside the main target audience and make teen idols out of some of the channel's stars. Though Disney Channel has increased its viewership to rival that of Nickelodeon, Disney Channel has yet to unseat Nickelodeon in the Nielsen ratings as the highest-rated basic cable channel among total viewers (ages 2+) and all kid demos.

In 2003, Disney Channel released its first ever musical made-for-cable movie called The Cheetah Girls; it received 84 million viewers worldwide. The success of The Cheetah Girls led to the creation of other music-themed original programming such as the original movie High School Musical and the original sitcom Hannah Montana. In 2005, That's So Raven became the network's highest-rated series since the network's move to basic cable; as well as being the first Disney Channel Original Series to beat the 65-episode limit, a feat which the popular Warner Bros. cartoon Animaniacs completed in 1995 after premiering on Kids' WB!, though had one episode short of having 100 episodes, (a highly controversial programming rule imposed by the channel in 1998, guaranteeing that any original series would end after 65 episodes as a move to prevent production cost increases); the series eventually hit 100 episodes, becoming the channel's longest-running original series and became the first to spawn a spin-off (Cory in the House, which was cancelled midway through its second season). 2006 saw the debut of the hit original movie High School Musical; that year also saw the debut of Hannah Montana, which launched the career of its star Miley Cyrus, herself the daughter of popular 1990s country singer Billy Ray Cyrus, who co-stars in the series. Also the premiere of That's So Suite Life of Hannah Montana was on July 28, 2006. This show was a special crossover of three popular shows.

Disney Channel Today (2007-present)

In 2007, Disney Channel cut down on the number of original movie and series premieres over the course of the calendar year, limiting to four Disney Channel Original Movies and two Disney Channel Original Series premiering each year. The most successful DCOM was High School Musical 2 with 17.2 million viewers. The channel abandoned its uniform schedules for weekday and weekend afternoons (with the exception of the 7-8 p.m. ET time period), to run a five-hour (later six hours, now five hours again) schedule featuring hour-long blocks of various original series (and the off-network programming that remained on the channel) with the schedule changing each day.

That year, Disney Channel remodeled its on-air presentation; the Disney Channel logo, instead of bouncing around the screen, turned into a ribbon, swirling around the screen until forming the Disney Channel logo. Promo cards and bumpers were changed to an abstract atmosphere with ribbon theming and themed to the programs, as opposed to abstract objects bouncing and moving in the screen. Also, the font was changed from Digital to Placard MT Bold. Bumpers were updated as well; instead of the Disney Channel logo popping up and delivering a message, the ribbon swirled up, formed the Disney Channel logo, and another ribbon swirled out with the message. In 2010, the ribbon is still in use even though there is a new logo for Disney Channel.

Promos for the next program began to only advertise the program airing afterwards and were moved from between shows to near the end of the final promo break of an episode, while a ribbon banner promoting the current program and the two programs afterwards now appeared on the bottom of the screen after the end of each promo break from 11 a.m.-8 p.m. ET. Slightly modified versions of these graphics fit for high definition were introduced in September 2008. The channel also moved its original series (mostly the live-action shows) from late afternoon to primetime on weekends from 8-9 p.m. ET (The Friday block is preempted when a Disney Channel Original Movie is scheduled to premiere that night; the Saturday block has aired on a periodic basis since the change and now serves as a block repeating the previous week's new episodes; and the Sunday block was added in January 2008). In July 2009, Disney Channel extended its Friday lineup to two hours in primetime from 8-10 p.m. ET, dropping the primetime movie and a double movie feature which was added on Saturday nights, which was mostly dropped in March 2010.

2007 saw the debut of two new original series, the That's So Raven spinoff Cory in the House which ended after two seasons (a possible casualty of the 2007 Writer's Guild strike, which caused freshman or sophomore series whose production was interrupted midway through the season to eventually be cancelled), and the popular Wizards of Waverly Place, starring Selena Gomez, David Henrie and Jake T. Austin. 2008 saw the premieres of Phineas and Ferb (the first original series shot in high definition) and The Suite Life of Zack & Cody spin-off, The Suite Life on Deck, along with Disney Channel Original Movies such as Camp Rock, Minutemen and The Cheetah Girls: One World. The Suite Life on Deck became the number one series in the respective categories in kids ages 6–12 and teens ages 9–14 in 2008.

In 2009, Disney Channel launched two new series: Sonny with a Chance starring Demi Lovato in February, and JONAS starring the Jonas Brothers in May. New movies in 2009 included: Dadnapped, Hatching Pete, Princess Protection Program, and Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie. The four original movies for 2009 each featured at least two stars from Disney Channel's original series. Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie also became the highest-rated cable program of 2009 (excluding sporting events) with 11.4 million viewers, becoming the second highest-rated DCOM in history. The premiere of the crossover special Wizards on Deck with Hannah Montana (involving Wizards of Waverly Place, The Suite Life on Deck and Hannah Montana) also beat out its competition (both cable and broadcast network programming) on the night of its premiere with 9.1 million viewers (making it the highest-rated episodes of Wizards and On Deck to date). In late October 2009, Disney Channel premiered a new short series called: "Have a Laugh!"These 4 to 5 minute segments would include re-dubbed versions of classic Disney Cartoons. The first of which premiered on October 26, 2009: "Lonesome Ghosts".

A new alternate logo featuring the current logo within a box resembling that of a "smart-phone" application icon came into use on May 7, 2010 (though the logo was first seen in March 2010, and at the time was exclusively used on the weekend evening lineup), with a slow roll-out of a new imaging campaign that was completed in that month's Memorial Day weekend. Disney also started their campaign "It's On!" in June as part of their Summer 2010 lineup.

In 2010 the channel launched its first original sitcom intentionally targeted at family audiences: Good Luck Charlie, starring Bridgit Mendler and Jason Dolley, a series some have compared to the shows on sister network ABC's former TGIF comedy lineup of the 1990s; as well as the premiere of the final season of Hannah Montana (officially renamed Hannah Montana Forever for the final season's episodes) and the return of Jonas as the retooled Jonas L.A.. Disney Channel also planned four original movies, three have premiered as of September 2010: Starstruck starring Sterling Knight, Danielle Campbell and Brandon Mychal Smith, Den Brother starring Hutch Dano and G. Hannelius, Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam starring Joe Jonas, Nick Jonas, Kevin Jonas, and Demi Lovato. The last original movie to air in 2010 is Avalon High (which will premiere in late fall); two other made-for-TV movies produced for Disney Channel in association with Canadian cable channels debuted as well: Harriet the Spy: Blog Wars (produced in association with pay services Movie Central and The Movie Network) starring Jennifer Stone and 16 Wishes (produced in association with Family Channel) starring Debby Ryan.

In fall 2010, two new series are expected. The channel premiered a new animated series, Fish Hooks on September 3, 2010 as a sneak preview. The series' premiere is on September 24, 2010. Upcoming series include Shake It Up! starring Bella Thorne and Roshon Fegan.

Programming

Current programming on Disney Channel includes Hannah Montana, Wizards of Waverly Place, Sonny with a Chance, The Suite Life on Deck, JONAS L.A., Good Luck Charlie and Phineas and Ferb. Reruns of discontinued Disney Channel shows and Disney-produced series also air including The Suite Life of Zack & Cody, Lilo & Stitch: The Series, That's So Raven, The Proud Family and Cory in the House. Disney Channel also airs short-form programs known as "short shows", which air more commonly on the Playhouse Disney block than on other Disney Channel programming; the channel also often airs music videos, mainly featuring Walt Disney Records or Hollywood Records artists as well as songs featured in newer Disney feature films (the original long versions of these music videos typically air only during the video's premiere and as filler between programs, while shorter versions usually air during promo breaks during the current program).

Disney Channel mostly produces and airs its original sitcoms that are geared toward teenage girls and also airs a moderate amount of animated series geared more towards upper-elementary and middle school age children. Series produced by Walt Disney Television or production companies unrelated to the Walt Disney Company used to make up most of the schedule; nowadays, with the explosion of Disney Channel Original Series, these series have almost completely been dropped from the channel.

In the 1980s and 1990s, Disney Channel aired special shows that featured classic Disney cartoons (that were largely made when Walt Disney was still alive). They were for the most part removed from the lineup in 2000, however their presence has returned as of 2009 with the addition of the short series have a laugh!. On December 14, 2008, it was announced that Disney Channel in the U.S. would bring back the animated block, which aired from 12-6 a.m./ET. The animated block was added to Disney Channel during the late night hours after Christmas Day 2008.

Some of Disney Channel's programming seems to appeal to teenage girls with shows like Hannah Montana and Lizzie McGuire. Disney Channel has aired some programming more appealing to teenage boys with Aaron Stone and other such Disney XD shows in 2009. New programs are expected to premiere on Disney Channel in 2010, with the debuts of the family sitcom Good Luck Charlie and the animated series Fish Hooks also shake it up and Disney XD show Pair of Kings.

Disney Channel's live-action series usually have no more than six contract cast members, and have between 6 to 8 credited staff writers (fewer than the typical 8 to 11). Its multi-camera sitcoms, which use the classic studio audience/laugh track format, are shot on videotape (note that these shows have Video Control Operators, Video Tape Operators and Technical Directors listed in the closing credits) and use some type of simulated film look. Former series That's So Raven, Cory in the House, and The Suite Life of Zack & Cody used the FilmLook image processing. Sonny with a Chance, The Suite Life on Deck, Wizards of Waverly Place, Good Luck Charlie and Hannah Montana use a 'filmized' appearance, but are also shot on videotape, which is becoming standard on Disney Channel's multi-camera sitcoms as the channel transitions to producing its original programming in high definition.

Programming blocks

Playhouse Disney

Disney Channel currently programs shows targeted at preschool-age children on Monday through Fridays from 4 a.m.-2 p.m. ET/PT and weekends from 4-11 a.m. ET, called Playhouse Disney. During the summer months, the Playhouse Disney block ended at 9 a.m. ET on weekdays. As of 2010, the only programming featuring classic Disney characters is Mickey Mouse Clubhouse on the Playhouse Disney block.

Programming in this block includes Special Agent Oso, Imagination Movers, Handy Manny, Little Einsteins, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Jungle Junction and My Friends Tigger & Pooh.

On May 26, 2010 it was announced that the Playhouse Disney block will be rebranded under the name Disney Junior which will later become its own digital cable and satellite channel in January 2012, replacing SOAPnet. The Disney Junior channel will be a direct competitor to Nickelodeon's Nick Jr. network and PBS and Comcast's PBS Kids Sprout.

Weekend evening blocks

Disney Channel airs first-run or recent episodes of its original series over the course of three nights, branded as "Disney Channel (Day of week) Night". The Friday night schedule features The Suite Life on Deck, Wizards of Waverly Place and Phineas & Ferb, while programming on the Sunday night schedule as of July 2010 is somewhat fluid, but currently Hannah Montana, Sonny with a Chance, Good Luck Charlie and Jonas L.A. all have a permanent place in the Sunday night schedule, though episode premieres of Hannah Montana, Good Luck Charlie and Sonny with a Chance currently air on a rotating basis. The Saturday night schedule usually features repeats of recent episodes of the channel's original series and occasional airings of movies, after an attempt in early 2009 to use the night to launch a beachhead against Nickelodeon's Saturday night block with the premiere of JONAS and the move of Wizards of Waverly Place from Fridays to Saturdays did not work out. Encores of each night's programs typically air during the midnight-3 a.m. timeslot each night in reverse fashion.

Seasonal programming blocks

Disney Channel Summer Events

Disney Channel's summer programming block for 2010, is "It's On!" It ran from May 28 to September 7, 2010. Previous summer programming blocks have included Summer of Stars (May 29 – September 7, 2009), Totally Rockin' Summer! (May 17 – September 7, 2008), Summer! (May 24 – September 8, 2007) and So Hot Summer! 2006 (June 1 – August 31, 2006), So Hot Summer! 2005 (June 10 – August 31, 2005) and Raven's Psychic Summer (June 21 – August 31, 2004).

Halloween

Disney Channel's Hauntober Fest

Every night during October, Disney Channel has had Halloween Events. There were many new Halloween films introduced in 2006 such as Twitches and The Scream Team and many others and more recently Twitches Too and Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie. Disney Channel also airs a block of Halloween specials in April called Halloween in April, which features Halloween-themed films in primetime during the week, having aired most recently in 2010. In 2008, they changed the name from Hauntober Fest to Wiztober.

New Year's Events

Disney Channel stars host New Year's events every New Year's Eve followed by a marathon of one of the channel's series on New Year's Day. This tradition began in 2000, during the channel's Zoog Disney era, and allows viewers to vote on their favorite moments, programs and original movies from the past year through the channel's website. The latest event called Disney Channel's New Year Star Showdown 2009 began on December 31, 2009 and ended on January 1, 2010. Previous events held were Totally New Year 2008 (December 31, 2008-January 1, 2009), Happy U Year 2007 (December 31, 2007-January 1, 2008), New Year Sing Along Bowl-Athon 2006 (December 31, 2006-January 1, 2007), Totally Suite New Year's Eve 2005 (December 31, 2005-January 1, 2006), and New Year's Eve House Party 2004 (December 31, 2004-January 1, 2005).

Disney Channel Games

Debuting in 2006, the Disney Channel Games includes stars from Disney Channel Original Series and Movies, and were telecast from the Wide World of Sports Complex at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida. After the kick-off Games in 2006, the 2007 and 2008 Games included Disney Channel stars from across the world, making room for the addition of a Yellow Team (Added to Blue, Red and Green) during the 2007 event. In 2008, the games featured four teams: the Cyclones, the Comets, the Lightning and the Inferno. 2008 was the last DC Games to date; the Disney Channel Games were not held in 2009 and no future games have been planned or scheduled for 2010.

Movie library

A film is broadcast every weekday afternoon and most nights during the week, but not necessarily a theatrically released feature film. Disney Channel airs new original films, called Disney Channel Original Movies (or DCOMs), about 4-6 times a year, and those are frequently broadcast during the primetime slot. In 2000, Disney Channel claimed to produce a new movie each month; this only lasted throughout that same year. Disney Channel began producing its Original Movies in 1997 with the premiere of Northern Lights. The amount of DCOMs per year began to increase — from two in 1997 to three in 1998 to a high of twelve in 2000.

High School Musical 2 is the most successful DCOM in popularity and awards, setting a cable record for most viewers of a basic cable program, when its August 2007 debut scored 17.2 million, a record that stood until the December 3, 2007 Monday Night Football matchup between the New England Patriots and Baltimore Ravens on corporate sibling ESPN surpassed it with 17.5 million viewers (it still remains the most watched made-for-TV movie in cable television history). The Cheetah Girls films are also notably successful, with huge merchandise, sold out concert tours and soundtrack sales. The first film was the first TV movie musical in Disney Channel history. It saw over 84 million viewers worldwide. The second movie was the most successful of the series bringing in 8.1 million viewers in the U.S. It scored an 86 date concert tour, and was on the top 10 tours of 2006, the tour broke a record at the Houston Rodeo that was set by Elvis Presley back in 1973. The concert sold out with 73,500 tickets sold in three minutes.

The channel will occasionally secure the rights to air a picture released by a non-Disney studio, most notably Warner Bros.' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (known in the US as Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone) and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, NBC Universal's Beethoven, An American Tail, The Land Before Time, Jetsons: The Movie, and The Little Rascals, The Weinstein Company's Hoodwinked and The Magic Roundabout, Sony Pictures' Stuart Little, Stuart Little 2, Hook, Ghostbusters, and Ghostbusters II, Lionsgate's Happily N'ever After, 20th Century Fox's Ice Age, Home Alone, Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, Home Alone 3, on rare occansions Home Alone 4, The Pagemaster, Catch That Kid Paramount's Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown (and Don't Come Back!!). Also, another non-Disney Christmas themed film, such asThe Polar Express have aired. Other non-Disney films over the years have included Little Secrets, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Another Cinderella Story and Race for Your Life, Charlie Brown just to name a few. Henson films also aired on Disney Channel, even though most of them are not usually owned by Disney, including The Dark Crystal, Labyrinth, The Witches, Buddy, The Muppet Movie, The Great Muppet Caper, The Muppets Take Manhattan, The Muppet Christmas Carol, Muppet Treasure Island, Muppets From Space, The Muppets' Wizard of Oz, Sesame Street Presents Follow That Bird and The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland. and Bagdasarian Productions films also aired on Disney Channel, even though most of them are not usually owned by Disney, including The Chipmunk Adventure, Alvin and the Chipmunks Meet Frankenstein, and Alvin and the Chipmunks Meet the Wolfman and Spirited Away.

Between 1986 and 1998, films made up most Disney Channel's evening and overnight schedule. It now only airs usually each afternoon and in primetime Monday through Thursday nights. Many of the channel's earliest original movies (particularly those made from 1997 to 2002) have seldom been aired by Disney Channel in recent years, except for some holiday-themed movies; in January 2009, the channel began airing these older original movies on Friday and Saturday nights at 3 a.m. ET; since June 2010, movies also air on Sundays in late night and since July 2010, the movies start at 2:30 a.m. ET and some of the late night weekend movies are aired without promo breaks. A Disney Channel Original Movie used to air twice in a row on the night of its premiere; this tradition ended with the January 2006 premiere of High School Musical. Encore presentations of Disney Channel Original Movies however, still sometimes air on the channel in primetime on the Saturday and Sunday after its original Friday night debut (Camp Rock, Dadnapped, StarStruck, and Harriet the Spy: Blog Wars are the only exceptions to this rule). Camp Rock and Wendy Wu: Homecoming Warrior are currently the only DCOMs to air on a non-Disney Channel branded network domestically as they have both aired on sister channel ABC Family, and Camp Rock has also aired on ABC as part of The Wonderful World of Disney.

Disney Channel occasionally airs "special edition" airings of its high-profile original movie premieres: sing-along versions of The Cheetah Girls trilogy, High School Musical, High School Musical 2 and Camp Rock have aired in which lyrics are displayed onscreen for viewers to sing with the songs in the films; the channel also airs "What's What" editions of its high-profile original movies using a format that mimicks the former VH1 series Pop Up Video in which facts about the movie and its stars pop up on screen at various points during the film.

In part because of the network does not air commercials and advertises only network programming, films typically run short of their alotted time slot and interstitial programming airs to fill an entire two-hour slot, usually an episode of a Disney Channel original series for a film running about 90 to 100 minutes, an 11-minute long episode of an original animated series for a film running 105 minutes, and any film longer than 105 minutes has the remaining time filled with a music video, promotions, and/or shorts such as Shaun the Sheep, As the Bell Rings or Brian O' Brian.

Ratings

In the May 2010 Nielsen ratings, Disney Channel ranked #1 for the 63rd consecutive month in the Kids 6-11 demographic and for the 62nd straight month among Tweens 9-14. Disney Channel is ranked as the second most watched cable channel among total viewers during primetime, behind USA Network in first place with an average of 2.8 million people.

According to Nielsen Media Research, the month of May 2010 had finished as Disney Channel’s most-watched May sweeps period in Total Day ratings in the network's history ever, earning an average of 1.5 million viewers among Total Viewers, along with 525,000 viewers with a 2.1 rating share among Kids 6-11 and 459,000 viewers with a 1.9 rating share among Tweens 9-14; among the first two demos, the channel posted its 14th consecutive month of year-to-year gains in both demos. First-run episodes of The Suite Life on Deck, Wizards of Waverly Place and Good Luck Charlie earned six of television’s top 10 telecasts that month in key child demographics, with Phineas and Ferb ranked as the #1 animated series on TV among Kids 6-11 and Tweens 9-14 for that month and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse ranked among TV’s top 10 programs for that month in Playhoue Disney's Kids 2-5 target demographic.

Sister networks

Current networks

Disney XD (United States)

This television channel in the United States is aimed at males ages 7–14. The channel was launched on February 13, 2009, replacing predecessor Toon Disney, carrying action and comedy programming from Disney Channel and the former Jetix block from Toon Disney along with some first-run original programming and off-network syndicated shows. The channel carries the same name as an unrelated mini-site and media player on Disney.com, which stood for Disney Xtreme Digital, though the "XD" in the channel's name is said to not have an actual meaning.

Future networks

Disney Junior

On May 26, 2010 Disney-ABC Television Group announced the launch of a new 24-hour preschool-targeted digital cable and satellite channel called Disney Junior, which is set to premiere in early 2011; the commercial-free channel will compete with other preschooler-skewing cable channels such as Nick Jr. and PBS Kids Sprout.[ The channel will feature programs from Disney Channel's existing library of preschool programs and movies from the Walt Disney Pictures film library. Disney Junior's launch will mean that SOAPnet (which is also owned by Disney-ABC Television Group) will be discontinued as a result, citing the continued fading popularity of soap operas on broadcast networks and the growth of video on demand and digital video recorders negating the need for a linear channel devoted to the genre. The current Playhouse Disney block on Disney Channel, as well as the 22 existing cable channels and program blocks bearing the Playhouse Disney name outside of the United States will also be rebranded under the Disney Junior name starting in 2011.

Former networks

Toon Disney

This television channel, that launched on April 18, 1998, was aimed at children ages 6–12. The channel carried a format of reruns of Walt Disney Television Animation and Disney Channel-produced animated programming, along with some third-party programming, animated films and original programming. In 2002, the channel debuted a nighttime program block aimed at children ages 7–14 called Jetix, which featured action-oriented animated and live-action series. During Toon Disney's first year on the air, Disney Channel ran a sampler block of Toon Disney programming on Sunday nights for interested subscribers. The network ceased operations and was relaunched as the preteen male-oriented Disney XD, featuring a broader array of programming, on February 13, 2009.

Other services

Disney Channel HD is a 720p high definition simulcast of Disney Channel, and broadcasts episodes of Disney Channel and Playhouse Disney original series made after 2009, original made-for-TV movies made after 2008 and most feature films in high definition. It began broadcasting on March 19, 2008. It is offered to cable providers such as Time Warner Cable, Xfinity (by Comcast), Cox Communications and other systems, as well as DirecTV and telco IPTV providers AT&T U-verse and Verizon FiOS. Since June 22, 2010. Dish Network currently doesn't carry Disney Channel HD due to a lawsuit.

Disney Channel On Demand is the VOD counterpart to Disney Channel that is available on most major digital cable and satellite providers, the service offers select episodes of the channel's original series and Playhouse Disney programming, along with select original movies and behind-the-scenes features.

International

Disney Channel (international)

Criticism

Disney Channel has received some criticism for their current programming direction. Experts criticize the company for programming that has pulled away from the characters that the network's parent company, The Walt Disney Company was based on: Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck and Goofy. Other critics disapprove of the marketing strategy made by Anne Sweeney, the President of ABC-Disney Television Group, which makes the programs on Disney Channel geared mainly toward pre-teen girls and teenage girls. Sweeney had also said that the main goal of the programming on Disney Channel was not to entertain, but to make money, officially stating that Disney Channel would be "the major profit driver for the (Walt Disney) Company."

Network slogans

Everything You Ever Imagined and More (April 18, 1983–1986)

Disney's Our Channel (1986–1988)

America's Family Network (1988–1997)

Our Stars, Your Place. Everyday. (1997–2002)

Express Yourself (2001–December 31, 2007)

Made Just for You (2002–2009)

Dreams Come True (2009)

Believe in Yourself (January 1, 2010-February 2, 2010)

Follow Your Dreams (February 2, 2010–May 28, 2010)

It's On! (May 28, 2010-September 7, 2010)

The Best Place To Be. (September 7, 2010–present)

Profile Facts

Saturday, September 18

Disney Channel

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