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Disney Channel

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Disney Channel
CountryUnited States
HeadquartersBurbank, California
Programming
Language(s)English
Ownership
OwnerThe Walt Disney Company
Disney Channel headquarters in Burbank

Disney Channel is a cable television channel specializing in television programming for children through original series and movies as well as third party programming. It is marketed to mostly children; however, in recent years the diversity of viewers has increased with an older audience, typically teenagers and young families. Presently available on basic cable and satellite television, the network is part of Disney-ABC Cable Networks Group, a division of The Walt Disney Company. The network is based in Burbank, California, U.S.A, and also runs a website called DisneyChannel.com.

History

Disney Channel: The Beginning (1983-1997)

The Disney Channel was formed in 1983 under the leadership of its first president Alan Wagner. The channel's first broadcasting day aired on April 18, 1983. At this time, Disney Channel was a premium channel and only aired 18 hours a day, from 6:00AM to 12:00AM EST. The program that kicked off the channel's first day on the air was an episode of the 1950s-era The Mickey Mouse Club. The first Disney Channel-produced series were Good Morning, Mickey!, Welcome to Pooh Corner and You and Me Kid.

The original late night schedule featured reruns of the classic The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet; more of them are included in Disney Channel Original Series. Disney Channel received a special citation from the United States president Ronald Reagan in 1984. In December 1986, Disney Channel commenced full-time broadcasting 24 hours everyday. During the early years, Disney Channel aired several foreign animated series and movies including Asterix, The Raccoons, and Paddington Bear. The Australian western, Five Mile Creek, was shown during this time period also.

During the 1980s, the channel debuted a few programs that later became part of the cultural lexicon of sorts. Early on, in 1986, the musically-oriented sitcom Kids Incorporated became a hit, 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. During its nine year run, the series spawned many future stars in both music and acting, the most notable being 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, not to mention, Stacy Ferguson (Fergie).

One of the channel's signature programs of the 1980s was D-TV, which featured clips from classic Disney animated movies, set to classic hit songs from the 1930s through the 1950s. D-TV continued to air on Disney Channel until 2002, when the Vault Disney block was dropped from the schedule.

In early 1989, The Disney 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 more careers of today's big stars than the shows previously mentioned; Christina Aguilera, JC Chasez, Ryan Gosling, Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake, are just a few of the many "mice that soared". By 1995, Disney Channel was seen in more than 8 million homes across the United States.[1]

The Zoog/Vault Disney Era (1997–2002)

In 1997 (but in some makets, starting around 1994), Disney Channel began transitioning from a premium cable channel to being offered via expanded basic cable, officially doing so by 2000.[2] It was at this time that Disney Channel started to gain viewers. Prior to 1997, Disney Channel would air a free preview weekend periodically two times a year (with ads targeted to non-subscribers), in the same manner that HBO, Cinemax, Showtime and Starz have.

That year, 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 also), 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 feature films such as The Love Bug; and the most distinct one, running from afternoon to late evening on weekends for teenagers, called Zoog Disney, and the block featured anthropomorphic characters called "Zoogs", who resembled robots (but the Zoog characters were given human voices). By 2001, the Zoog Disney block was expanded from a three-hour weekend afternoon block, to taking up the entire weekend afternoon and evening schedule, becoming known as "Zoog Weekendz" until August 2002. Of the three blocks introduced in 1997, only Playhouse Disney continues to air on the channel to this day.

The Zoogs original look was one-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 advertising commercials, but promos for network programming).

Disney Channel's original programming during this period began to skyrocket. First, with the channel's first original program Flash Forward (which was co-produced with Family Channel in Canada) in 1997 and then continuing with shows like The Famous Jett Jackson and So Weird in 1999, The Jersey and Even Stevens in 2000, Lizzie McGuire in 2001, and Kim Possible in 2002, among others. Lizzie McGuire was the most popular of the early original series, launching the acting and singing career of star Hilary Duff (the first Disney Channel star to be a music artist on Disney-owned Hollywood Records, which has become more common in recent years), and spawning a feature film that was released by Walt Disney Pictures in 2003.

Music videos featuring more recent artists began being incorporated onto Disney Channel's schedule also with the introduction of Zoog Disney, first featuring artists like Britney Spears and N*Sync; later transitioning to featuring videos for songs from recent Disney films and soundtracks, and increasingly in more recent years, songs performed by Disney Channel stars.

Disney Channel: Relaunched (2002–2006)

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 vintage material aired under the Vault Disney banner 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. As a result, primetime movies were also cut to one a night (from two). The channel also ceased producing drama and reality series, shifting focus to live-action comedies and animated series, and Disney Channel usually premieres about two or three new original series a year (typically two animated series and one live-action series). The current logo 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.

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."[3] Disney Channel has had a significant effect on tween pop culture as of recent, that many in the entertainment industry have noticed and are quick to point out about the cable channel. 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."[3] 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.

Disney Consumer Products has also mass-marketed product lines, many of them successful, based on the channel's original programming. Lizzie McGuire, That's So Raven, Hannah Montana, The Suite Life of Zack and Cody and most recently Wizards of Waverly Place have launched extensive product lines, ranging from clothing to video games to tote bags, backpacks, etc. High School Musical, Camp Rock, The Cheetah Girls and Princess Protection Program are the only DCOMs thus far to do the same.

While Disney Channel's intended target audience are preschoolers, pre-teens and young adolescents, the channel has gained popularity and also has viewers outside the main target audience and has even made teen idols out of some of the channel's stars. The channel has become well known in recent years for its Disney Channel Original Series, and because of them, Disney Channel is one of the most-watched cable channels in the United States, with some series averaging around four to six million viewers (which is considered impressive for cable television).

In 2005, That's So Raven, which premiered in 2003, 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 (eventually hitting 100 episodes) and to be the first to spawn a spin-off (Cory in the House, which aired from 2007 until its 2008 cancellation).

2006 saw the premieres of the channel's most popular original movie and series franchises of all time. In January, the channel premiered the original movie High School Musical, which has been watched by an estimated 180 million viewers worldwide (and skyrocketed the careers of its stars Zac Efron, Vanessa Hudgens and Ashley Tisdale, who was already starring in the original series The Suite Life of Zack and Cody), and launched two sequels, with a fourth to air on Disney Channel in 2010 featuring an entirely new cast. Then in March came the debut of Hannah Montana, starring a then-unknown Miley Cyrus as a teenager leading a double life as a teen pop superstar, launching Miley's career (and revitalizing the career of her father Billy Ray Cyrus, who also stars in the series), and also making co-stars Mitchel Musso and Emily Osment, and recurring guest star Cody Linley also popular with tween audiences).

Disney Channel: Today (2007–present)

In 2007, Disney Channel remodeled its look; not as extensive as the change from 2003. As part of the change, instead of the logo bouncing around the screen, turned into a ribbon and swirled around the screen until forming the logo. The background for promo cards and bumpers turned into an abstract atmosphere, as opposed to abstract objects bouncing and moving in the screen. Also, the font was updated from Digital to bold. Bumpers were updated as well. Instead of the logo popping up and delivering a message, the ribbon swirled up, formed the logo, and another ribbon swirled out with the message and were themed to the programs. In addition, the female announcer was dropped, leaving Buzz Brainard (who has been the announcer for the channel since 2000) as the primary announcer for the channel.

Disney Channel also 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 new Disney Channel Original Series per year. The most successful DCOM was High School Musical 2 which debuted in August 2007 with 17.2 million viewers, ranking as the highest-rated made-for-TV movie in cable television history.

In January 2008, the channel made another overhaul of its on-air look and programming. The channel abandoned its uniform schedules for weekday and weekend afternoons (with the exception of the 7-8PM hour), to run a five-hour (later six-hour, now back to five-hour) 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.

Promos for the next program now only displayed the program airing next and were moved from immediately after the conclusion of a program to near the end of the last promo break, while a ribbon banner now appears on the bottom of the screen during programming (those airing from 11AM-8PM/ET and airing immediately following the end of each promo break) telling viewers the current program and the two programs airing afterwards. 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 series) to primetime on weekends with new episodes airing in those timeslots, after having aired new episodes of its series on Fridays between 6-8PM/ET for the previous few years. The series began airing from 8-9PM/ET on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays (The Friday 8-9PM block will be preempted if a Disney Channel Original Movie is scheduled to premiere on that night; the Saturday 8-9PM block has aired on a periodic basis since the change; and the Sunday 8-9PM block was added in January 2008).

In the spring of 2007, Disney Channel also started running "Short Shows", five-minute interstitials airing in-between programs, with As the Bell Rings being the first to debut (as of 2009, the channel has scaled back its "Short Shows" to music videos and Movie Surfers segments). Disney Channel also 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 new Disney Channel Original Series per year. The most successful DCOM was High School Musical 2 which debuted in August 2007 with 17.2 million viewers, ranking as the highest-rated made-for-TV movie in cable television history. October of that year saw the debut of Wizards of Waverly Place, about three teen wizards-in-training (led by Alex Russo, played by Selena Gomez, who has also become popular with tween and teen viewers).

2008 is recognized for its new series such as Phineas and Ferb, Brian O'Brian, and The Suite Life on Deck, the spin-off to The Suite Life of Zack and Cody, plus new Disney Channel Original Movies such as Minutemen and The Cheetah Girls: One World. Phineas and Ferb and The Suite Life on Deck each were the number one series in their respective categories in kids ages 6–11 and tweens ages 9–14 in 2008. [4] 2008 also saw the premieres of Camp Rock (starring The Jonas Brothers and Demi Lovato) and The Cheetah Girls: One World, the third film in the Cheetah Girls movie franchise.

In 2009, Disney Channel launched Sonny With a Chance (the channel's first original series to be shot in high definition) starring Demi Lovato, and in May launched JONAS starring the Jonas Brothers. Movies in 2009 included: Dadnapped starring Emily Osment, David Henrie, Moises Arias, Jason Earles, and Phill Lewis; Hatching Pete starring: Jason Dolley, Mitchel Musso, Tiffany Thornton and Brian Stepanek; and Princess Protection Program starring Demi Lovato and Selena Gomez; Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie starring David Henrie and Selena Gomez premieres August 28, 2009.

Beginning in late August, Disney Channel began showing new icon promos to show a preview of the upcoming fall season.

Programming

Disney Channel mostly airs original sitcoms that are geared toward teenagers and sometimes airs its original cartoons geared more towards upper-elementary and middle school-age children. However, as of 2008 the only original cartoons it airs are The Replacements and Phineas and Ferb. Disney Channel also has a programming block that airs in the morning hours geared toward pre-schoolers called Playhouse Disney, which airs daily from 6:00 AM until noon (ET). During the summer, the Playhouse Disney lineup ends at 11:00 AM/ET and Disney Channel's daily summer schedule begins. Despite these other programming, a great majority of the channel's time-slot is taken up by other teen sitcoms.

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, fewer of these series have aired on the channel. As of January 2008, the only non-original productions airing on Disney (not including the Playhouse Disney lineup, movies, and short series Minuscule and Shaun the Sheep) are Life With Derek, The Little Mermaid and Recess. As of February 2008, the only programming featuring classic Disney characters is Mickey Mouse Clubhouse on Playhouse Disney. In the 1980s and 1990s, Disney Channel aired classic Disney cartoons (that were usually made in the original Golden Age of Disney). They were for the most part taken off the lineup in 2000.

Much of Disney Channel's programming seems to appeal to teenage girls with shows like Hannah Montana. Disney Channel has aired programming more appealing to teenage boys with Aaron Stone and other original series from Disney XD in 2009. New programs are expected to premiere on Disney Channel in 2010, beginning with the original sitcom Good Luck Charlie.

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, and current series Hannah Montana use the FilmLook image processing (Wizards of Waverly Place does not use this due to FilmLook's incompatibility with the visual effects used in the show); while Sonny with a Chance and The Suite Life on Deck use a 'filmized' appearance, but are shot on videotape, that will become standard on other Disney Channel multi-camera sitcoms as they transition to high definition.

Programming Blocks

Summer

Disney Channel's current summer programming block, Summer of Stars, began on May 30, 2009 and will last until the end of August 2009. Previous blocks have been Totally Rockin' Summer! (May 17, 2008-September 7, 2008),Summer! (May 24, 2007-September 8, 2007) and So Hot Summer! (June 1, 2006-August 31, 2006) and Summer 2005! (June 10, 2005-August 28, 2005).

Disney Channel Games

Debuting in 2006, the Disney Channel Games includes stars from Disney Channel original series and movies. After the kick-off Games in 2006, the 2007 and 2008 Games included 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: Cyclones, Comets, Lightning and the Inferno. No Disney Channel Games were held in 2009, citing the schedules of the Disney Channel stars' might make it hard to hold the games. It is unknown if the DC Games will be held in the near future.

Halloween

Every night during the month of October, Disney Channel has aired Halloween-themed months of programming. There were many new Halloween films introduced in 2006 such as Twitches and many others and more recently Twitches Too in 2007.

New Year

Disney Channel stars host New Year events every New Year's Eve followed by a series marathon on New Year's Day. This tradition began with the annual Zoogin' New Years' Eve events in 1998, which continued until the dissolving of the Zoog Disney block in 2002. The next New Year Block will be titled New Year of Stars.

Movies

A film is broadcast almost every night, but not necessarily a theatrically released feature film. Disney Channel airs new original made-for-cable films, called Disney Channel Original Movies (or DCOMs), about four to six times a year, and those are frequently broadcast during that timeslot. The Disney Channel Original Movies began in 1997 with 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. In 2000, Disney Channel claimed to produce a new movie each month; this only lasted throughout that same year.

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 channel will occasionally secure the rights to air a picture released by a non-Disney studio, most notably Warner Bros.' Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Universal Pictures' Beethoven, The Weinstein Company's Hoodwinked and Doogal, Sony Pictures' Stuart Little and Stuart Little 2, Lionsgate's Happily N'ever After, 20th Century Fox's Catch That Kid and Paramount's Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown. Also, another non-Disney Christmas themed film, such asThe Polar Express have aired. Other non-Disney films may include Little Secrets, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Race for Your Life, Charlie Brown, Her Best Move, Another Cinderella Story and Sesame Street Presents Follow That Bird just to name a few.

Between 1986 and 1998, films made up most Disney Channel's evening and overnight schedule. It now only airs usually around 12 hours of movies per week, occasionally 14 or 15. 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. This changed in January 2009 when the channel began airing these early original movies in late night on Fridays and Saturdays. A Disney Channel Original Movie used to air twice in a row on the night of its Friday night premiere; this tradition ended with the January 2006 premiere of High School Musical. Encore presentations of Disney Channel Original Movies however, still air on the channel in primetime on the Saturday and Sunday after its original Friday night debut (Camp Rock is the only exception to this rule as that movie debuted on Disney Channel on June 19, 2008, then re-aired on ABC's Wonderful World of Disney the following night, and then aired on ABC Family the night after that; that movie is currently the only DCOM to air on a non-Disney Channel branded network domestically).

Because of this, Disney airs programming following the film:

  • If it lasts 1:25 to 1:35, an Original Series will air (Disney used to air syndicated series that aired on the channel). In primetime, various original series will air and in daytime, The Suite Life of Zack and Cody will air, followed by another episode airing at its regularly scheduled time.
  • If it lasts 1:40 to 1:45, a miniature episode of an Original Animated Series will air (most likely an 11-minute episode of an Animated Original Series).
  • If it lasts 1:50 to 1:55, either a music video will air (e.g. Disney Channel Circle of Stars) along with a Disney Channel promos music video, or an episode of a Disney Channel Short Series such as Shaun the Sheep, The Road to The Cheetah Girls 3: One World, As the Bell Rings, Jonas Brothers: Living the Dream, or Brian O' Brian.

2009's slate of Disney Channel Original Movies features several stars of several Disney Channel series appearing in each of these films. In February 2009, Disney Channel aired its first new DCOM of the year (Dadnapped) on a Monday evening, on President's Day, February 16. This movie starred Emily Osment, Jason Earles and Moises Arias of Hannah Montana; David Henrie of Wizards of Waverly Place and Phill Lewis of The Suite Life on Deck. Hatching Pete, which aired in April, stars Mitchel Musso, of Hannah Montana; Jason Dolley, formerly of Cory in the House; Tiffany Thornton of Sonny with a Chance and Brian Stepanek of the short series Brian O'Brian and formerly of The Suite Life of Zack and Cody. The third original movie of the year, Princess Protection Program aired in June 2009, and starring Wizards of Waverly Place star Selena Gomez, and Sonny With A Chance star Demi Lovato. The next movie, which will debut in late August 2009, will be Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie, and will star the entire main cast of that show.

Disney Channel HD

Like most other Disney-owned cable channels, starting on March 19, 2008, Disney Channel began broadcasting in High Definition[5][6] (the only Disney/ABC-owned cable networks which did not add an HD feed were ESPN Classic and SOAPnet). The channel broadcasts a limited schedule of programming in the Disney/ABC networks' preferred format of 720p high definition, which is offered on some cable providers, as well as both satellite providers and telco IPTV providers on a simulcast schedule which programs on separate East Coast and West Coast feeds. Original movies were produced (but not broadcast) in the format as early as 2006, but its series did not begin being produced in the format until February 2009 with the debut of Sonny with a Chance.

See also

References

  1. ^ Bryant, J. Alison (November 7, 2006 (2006-11-07)). The Children's Television Community. Lawrence Erlbaum. p. 149. ISBN 0-805-84996-3. {{cite book}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); Check date values in: |date= (help)
  2. ^ Cable TV Arlington's Archived Lineup. Disney is channel 21 under the basic lineup.
  3. ^ a b Karl Taro Greenfeld, "How Mickey Got His Groove Back," Condé Nast Portfolio, May 2008, 126-131 & 150.
  4. ^ "Disney Channel/DisneyChannel.com Highlights For 2008". Retrieved 2009-01-19.
  5. ^ "DirecTV to Add Disney, ESPN HD Services". MulitChannel News. March 13, 2007. Retrieved 2009-01-09.
  6. ^ "Toon Disney available in HD". DirecTV. Retrieved 2009-01-09.

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