Disney Channel (British and Irish TV channel)

For the Disney Channel in other countries, see Disney Channel International Networks. For the original Disney Channel, see Disney Channel.

Disney Channel

Country	United Kingdom Ireland
Headquarters	Chiswick, London
Ownership
Owner	Disney-ABC Television Group

Disney Channel is a children's entertainment channel available in the United Kingdom and Ireland since 1 October 1995. A one hour timeshift service called Disney Channel +1 is available on Sky and Virgin Media. Disney Channel currently has three sister channels; Disney Cinemagic, Disney Junior and Disney XD.

Overview

Disney Channel had an interactive television service on Sky. Viewers who press the red button on their Sky remote control are able to access information about shows, character profiles, detailed TV listings, quizzes, and hundreds of messages submitted by viewers.The interactive service also includes links to a small selection of games. Some can be played as 'overlay' games, with the channel video continuing in the background; others are accessible via a link to a Disney-branded section of BSkyB's Sky Games interactive service. The overlay games are developed by Pushbutton and French game developers Visiware. The interactive service was designed and built by Pushbutton, and went live in September 2007 replacing the old service created by Tamblin. Previously, Disney Channel also had a Teletext service, consisting of about 200 pages, known as Disney Text.

Disney Channel used to carry the British version of sign language on its late evening programming. All of Disney Channel's shows are now Audio Described on Sky.

History and availability

1989-1999: Early years

Disney Channel was originally planned to launch in 1989 on the newly launched Sky satellite service. It was featured in much of the promotional material surrounding the launch of Sky Television and the Astra satellite. Due to an apparent dispute, the launch was cancelled. Sky Television filed a lawsuit against the Walt Disney Company for not launching the channel.The lawsuit was closed later.

Super RTL launched in April 1995, as a joint venture between RTL Group predecessor company Compagnie Luxembourgeoise de Télédiffusion and The Walt Disney Company. Seven months later, the channel appeared on 1 October 1995. At first the channel's broadcasting hours were 06:00 to 22:00 with Sky Movies Gold airing during the station's downtime.

1999-2003: Circles Era

On May 1, 1999, Disney Channel UK received a brand overhaul as the channel adopts a new Circles logo, with three symmetrical circles forming the familiar Mickey Mouse head shape. Along with the logo change, a new ident set, created by French design company GÉDÉON, was introduced on the same day. The branding was carried over to other Disney Channel international networks starting on June 1999.

On 29 September 2000, Disney Channel launched two sister channels, a pre-school oriented Disney Junior (formerly known as Playhouse Disney) and the now-defunct 24-hour cartoon channel Toon Disney. A one hour timeshift of Disney Channel also launched on the same day. All 3 were only available to Sky subscribers. NTL and Telewest customers could only receive the main Disney Channel. On all platforms, the Disney Channel package was a premium offering, requiring an additional subscription fee in order to view, though Sky subscribers could receive the channels for free if they also subscribed to the full Sky Movies package (aka Sky Movies World, with contained 4 Sky Premier channels, 5 Sky MovieMax channels and 2 Sky Cinema channels). Despite the launch of Playhouse Disney, Disney Channel continue to air a block of Playhouse Disney-branded preschool programmes during school mornings, although has in recent years been greatly reduced.

2003-2007: The Bounce Era

On 15 March 2003, Disney Channel UK adopted Disney Channel US's new logo (designed by CA Square), along with new graphics.

In early 2006, Sky and Disney were locked in ongoing negotiations over a new contract for carriage on the former's digital satellite television service. The previous, ten-year deal, which was inked while Sky floated on the stock exchange in 1994, was temporarily extended whilst both sides attempted to reach an agreement. Sky was understood to have been seeking a substantially reduced payment towards the kids broadcaster. A new agreement, reported to be worth £130 million a year, was reached on 27 February 2007. As a result, on 16 March, changes were made to the Disney services in the UK. Disney Channel and Playhouse Disney ceased to be premium add-on channels and instead operated as part of basic-level subscription packages (such as Sky's "Kids Mix".) A new premium service, subscription channel Disney Cinemagic, was launched to take the Disney slot in the Sky Movies premium bundle; Toon Disney was taken off the air to free up a broadcast slot for the Cinemagic channel, and has never returned; Disney Channel's main one-hour timeshift, Disney Channel +1 was initially taken off the air to free up a slot for the premium Disney Cinemagic +1. However, Disney Channel +1 subsequently returned on 26 June 2006.

On 27 October 2006, Disney Channel was added to Top Up TV Anytime, a new service that downloads programming from 19 channels to a special digital video recorder. In 2007 Disney have added more VoD content to Virgin Media's Service. On 22 November 2007 it was announced Disney Channel joined the lineup for Picnic, BSkyB's proposed new pay-TV service for DTT.

2007-2011: The Ribbon Era

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 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 & Cody, plus new Disney Channel Original Movies such as Camp Rock, Minutemen and The Cheetah Girls: One World. The Suite Life on Deck was the number one series in the respective categories in kids ages 6–12 and tweens ages 9–14 in 2008.

In 2009, Disney Channel launched two new series: Sonny with a Chance (the first original series shot in high definition) 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 had the widest range of Disney Channel Stars in the networks history.

First time ever since Starstruck the Disney Channel original movie premiered in May 2010 had been displayed in a widescreen aspect ratio (16:9). A new set of programme mini-idents were launched on Saturday 11 September 2010. The theme for each ident is made for the programme. The idents previously had a polkadot background.

This time Disney Channel chose to broadcast most of their shows in a 4:3 aspect ratio, despite much of their newer programming being produced in a 16:9 widescreen aspect ratio.

During Spring 2011, Disney Channel Premiered the final episode of the 5 year long running of Hannah Montana, and the final episode Wherever I Go premiered with 621,000 views becoming the most watch episode watch in Disney Channel in the United Kingdom.

2011-present: The Smartphone Logo Era

On 1 September 2011, Disney Channel adopted the current US logo which launched in early 2010 as well as using the widescreen (16:9) format in all programming that has been produced in this format. (Another version of the reface will be later be carried out in the U.S around Fall 2012.) Disney Channel HD, a simulcast of the Disney Channel in high-definition, launched on 15 September 2011 on Sky. The launch was accompanied by a handful of new series including A.N.T. Farm, Friends for Change Games, So Random! and PrankStars, the UK TV premiere of Lemonade Mouth and brand new episodes of shows such as Wizards of Waverly Place, Fish Hooks and Good Luck Charlie as part of the "New Season".

In 2012, Disney channel launched two new series: Jessie starring Debby Ryan in February and Disney Channel's newest show Austin & Ally starring Ross Lynch and Laura Marano in April. Three Disney Channel Original Movies premiered during the Q1 of 2012 including Geek Charming, The Suite Life Movie and Frenemies staring Bella Thorne and Zendaya. The Suite Life on Deck ended it's Suite Life franchise during Ferbruary 2012 and Wizards of Waverly Place, Disney Channel's longest-running original series with 106 episodes, ended its run on the channel in March 2012. On June 1, 2012, Disney Channel updated their television format to the format used for Disney Channel's USA network, with the premiere of the Disney Channel Original Movie, Radio Rebel. The new format included a refreshed logo and new bumpers and promo layouts.

Live presentation

Main article: Studio Disney UK

Until recently, live presentation was an important feature of Disney Channel. The best known example of this launched in September 1997 as Disney Channel UK Live, and relaunched as Studio Disney on 1 May 1999. Presenters included: Nigel Mitchell, Emma Lee, Leah Charles, Jean Anderson, Mark Rumble, Amy Garcia, Ollie from Freefaller, James McCourt, Jemma James (now Jemma Forte). Studio Disney ran on weekdays, usually from 16:00 to 19:00, in direct competition with similar services offered by CBBC, CITV and Nickelodeon. The show featured a team of between two and six presenters who came on air between programmes, giving viewers the opportunity to call in, interact and win prizes. Studio Disney also produced many of its own short programmes, including Wish Upon a Star and Junior Journo, which were aired during the block itself and between programmes at other times. Studio Disney bowed out on 1 July 2005, in line with the disappearance of afternoon in-vision presentation on CITV and Nickelodeon the previous year and leaving the channel with a format similar to that of its American counterpart.

The live presentation of the show, would also run competitions in which viewers could win holidays, and other prizes. Special holiday competitions would be run, New Year, Easter, Mother's Day, Father's Day, Chinese New Year, Christmas, etc. For instance, a Mother's Day Competition of 2003 involved Emma Lee surprising four entrants and their mothers to a special get-away. Meanwhile, a Father's Day - Competition of 2004 involved James McCourt and Nigel Mitchell treating one lucky dad to a day at Silverstone Grand Prix track.

At other times of day, pre-recorded presentation was used, typically recorded in such a manner that viewers would believe that it was live. An example of this was breakfast segment Up (and later called Zoom!), which was hosted out-of-vision by Capital Disney presenter, and managing director Will Chambers. Another example originated from the Monster March event that ran throughout March 2002, during which the schedule featured many monster-themed shows and movies. Pre-recorded sketches featuring a Mexican dinosaur puppet named Raoul were inserted between programmes, and as this proved popular, Raoul was given a number of his own segments on the channel over the next few years, including The Raoul Show, Good Morning Raoul and The Raoul Summer. The best sketches from The Raoul Show were made into a series of short programmes entitled The Best of Raoul. Raoul was even the subject of a question on the 20th Anniversary edition of Trivial Pursuit.

Disney Channel also held an annual awards ceremony called the Disney Channel Kids Awards. The categories were centred around music, sport, television and film. The winners in each category were voted for by viewers online. The ceremonies, hosted by Studio Disney presenters, were held at The Royal Albert Hall and London Arena. These were broadcast on Disney Channel and Channel 5 and featured performances from popular music artists such as Girls Aloud.

Website

Disney Channel's website features information, games, interactive features and contact details and submission forms. The site has been made entirely in Adobe Flash since 1 May 1999, the same day as the 1999 re-brand. In May 2003, it was completely redesigned to fit with the other Disney Channel's worldwide after the global rebrand. In 2007 it was added to disneychannel.co.uk, when the website's homepage was revamped to fit the look of the American site. In 2011, along with the other Disney sites, it was revamped. in September 2011, it was revamped once again, due to the new logo.

Sister networks

Disney XD

Main article: Disney XD (UK & Ireland)

Disney XD is a British television channel owned by The Walt Disney Company. Primarily aimed at boys aged 6 to 14, the channel features live-action films, animated shows as well as sports coverage which is developed in collaboration with ESPN. The channel was formerly known as Fox Kids until 1 January 2005 and Jetix until 31 August 2009. The channel carries two counterparts, a timeshift channel and a HD channel.

Disney Cinemagic

Main article: Disney Cinemagic (UK & Ireland)

This television channel in the United Kingdom is the premium subscription movie service available on most major platforms. The channel was launched on 16 March 2006, and carries programmes such as Lilo and Stich and Recess which were shown on its predecessor Toon Disney (UK & Ireland) The channel carries two counterparts, a timeshift channel and a HD channel.

Disney Junior

Main article: Disney Junior (UK & Ireland)

This television channel in the United Kingdom is aimed at preschool children. The channel was launched on 29 September 2000 as Playhouse Disney and carried programming such as Winnie the Pooh. The channel was rebranded as Disney Junior on 7 May 2011. The channel carries a single counterpart, a timeshift channel.

Disney Channel services

• iTunes

The channel regularly updates its iTunes library with the latest episodes. Some of these are available in HD.

• Disney Channel On Demand is the channel's video-on-demand service, offering select episodes of the channel's original series. It is available from On Demand), Virgin Media and BT Vision.

Disney Channel programmes

Main article: List of programmes broadcast by Disney Channel in the UK & Ireland

Most watched programmes

The following is a list of the ten most watched shows on Disney Channel UK, based on Live +7 data supplied by BARB up to 22 October 2012. The number of viewers does not include repeats.

Rank	Series title	Episode title	No. of Viewers	Date
1	Hannah Montana	Wherever I Go	621,000	27 May 2011
2	Good Luck Charlie	Special Delivery	602,000	12 October 2012
3	The Suite Life on Deck	Break Up in Paris	543,000	9 January 2011
4	Wizards of Waverly Place	Wizards Exposed	535,000	18 February 2011
5	The Suite Life of Zack & Cody	Summer of Our Discontent	531,000	21 September 2007
6	Wizards of Waverly Place	Wizards Unleashed/Puppy Love (UK)	521,000	29 October 2010
7	The Suite Life of Zack & Cody	Graduation	513,000	21 September 2007
8	The Suite Life on Deck	Lost at Sea	513,000	21 February 2010
9	The Suite Life of Zack & Cody	Sink or Swim	488,000	21 September 2007
10	The Suite Life on Deck	Twister: Parts 1, 2 & 3	488,000	24 July 2011

Top 5 Most Watched DCOM

The following is a list of the five most watched Disney Channel Original Movies on Disney Channel UK, based on Live +7 data supplied by BARB up to 1 March 2012. The number of viewers does not include repeats.

Rank	Movie title	No. of Viewers	Date
1	High School Musical 2	1,336,000	21 September 2007
2	Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie	1,044,000	21 October 2009
3	High School Musical	835,000	22 September 2006
4	The Suite Life Movie	780,000	17 February 2012
5	Starstruck	683,000	14 May 2010

Films

Main article: List of Disney Channel Original Movies

Disney Channel traditionally broadcast most of its movies, including Walt Disney Studios movies and Disney Channel Original Movies, on the main channel. These were usually shown daily at 7pm under The Wonderful World of Disney (earlier The Magical World of Disney) brand. On weekends, the channel would show at least three movies per a day. The Saturday Movie Showdown took place every Saturday morning, wherein viewers were invited to vote for one of a selection of three movies on the channel's website, the winner being aired in the 11am slot. Starting in 2003, Latterly, a movie was transmitted in widescreen with Dolby Digital Surround Sound on Sundays at 4pm - much of the channel's other content was in 4:3 at this time.

However, when Disney Cinemagic launched in March 2006, The Wonderful World of Disney and the Sunday widescreen movie were axed, and all Walt Disney Studios movies were moved over to the new channel, such that they can remain as a premium add-on. However, Disney Channel Original Movies are still broadcast regularly on Disney Channel, with premieres of new ones shown on Friday evenings a short while after their premiere in the US (usually a few weeks, though in some cases, such as Full Court Miracle and Tiger Cruise, the delay can be up to several years - the latter, which had its US premiere in 2004, has [as of 2012] never been aired in the UK). As a result of these changes, movies are now shown more frequently across Disney's channels overall, and non-Cinemagic subscribers can now see Disney Channel Original Movies. In December 2009 it was announced the Disney Channel UK was going to premiere two movies in that month; Den Brother and 16 Wishes, which is very rare for Disney Channel. This happened again in September 2011, with the premieres of Lemonade Mouth and Phineas and Ferb The Movie: Across the 2nd Dimension. The most recent movie to premiere was Girl vs. Monster on Friday 26 October 2012. Below is a list of upcoming movie premieres:

• Justin Bieber: All Around the World (Friday 9 November 2012 at 6.00pm)

Seasonal programming blocks

• Summer - The network runs summer programming blocks every year with differing themes titled "Disney Channel Summer". Generally most of the network's series airs re-run episodes chosen by the viewers through the summer and original movies premiere in these months to take advantage of the largest possible children's audience, as do most children's networks. There are also new episode premieres sometimes.
• New Season Every September after Summer and part of the new school term, Disney Channel UK airs a special Night of Premieres, which showcases a brand new Disney Channel Original Movie and add adverts of new series and events occurring in the coming months.
• Halloween - In October (Also know as Monstober), Disney Channel airs Halloween programming in an annual event, Halloween films such as the Halloweentown series have premiered in this month, along with Twitches, Twitches Too,Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie and Girl vs. Monster, along with Halloween episodes of the network's original series. There are also premieres of brand new Halloween-themed episodes of Disney series.
• Christmas - The network's December schedule usually focuses on Christmas programming, with the title of the branding changing every year. Christmas films and specials such as Good Luck Charlie, It's Christmas! have premiered in this month, along with Christmas episodes of the network's original series such as Phineas and Ferb Christmas Vacation, and several So Random! Christmas Specials.
• New Year's - On New Year's Eve, Disney Channel UK airs the most popular shows which have aired throughout the year, then the network airs a marathon on the day of the New Year. From 2009, Disney Channel UK airs a marathon of The Suite Life on Deck. In 2012, they will start changing their New Year schedule to the same as the USA, with a special event.

Presentation

In October 1995, The Disney Channel UK's logo was a simple Mickey Mouse head, with 'The Disney Channel' text on the bottom. Six idents for the 1995 logo were created by Lambie-Nairn.

On 28 February 1997, the channel dropped 'The' from its name, with a new splat logo, for the launch of Disney Channel France. On 22 March 1997, Disney Channel France adopted the same logo and idents.

On 1 May 1999, to prepare for the new millennium, Disney Channel refreshed its identity as it launched its new Circles logo, with simple circles forming the logo itself. The new ident set was created in CGI animation, with various objects forming the Disney Channel logo. The new identity package was created by French graphic design company, GÉDÉON. Other design agencies, such as Gamma Studios, Estructura7, Velvet, and Pedall, collaborated with the project.

List of Disney Channel UK's "Circles" idents (1999–2003)
Name	Description
Discoball	Seven disco lights move to the rhythm of the music, which then transitions to a discoball with two disco lights at the top.
Raindrops	The logo is formed from three raindrops in a glass window.
Pumpkins	Two pumpkins ride a roller coaster, then they bounce to another pumpkin in the end.
Chrome Blob	A silver blob moves around a metal surface until a blue metallic blob lands on it, splitting it into two blobs. The blobs join together to form spheres to form the logo.
Laboratory (Glass Charger)	A laboratory is seen where two green blobs are carried to a plasma glass sphere, forming the logo. This ident was created by Marc du Pontavice, who is the producer of Oggy and the Cockroaches, with animation by GÉDÉON. Also, this ident won an award (and shown as an example) in Disney Channel France's Les Grands Prix De L'imagination.
Soap Bubbles	The camera zooms in on bathroom tiles until a big dark blue bubble rises up on the screen and then two light blue bubbles appear, then they align to form the logo. It is one of the first 9 idents produced by GÉDÉON (along with Discoball, Raindrops, Pumpkins, Computer, Laboratory, Spotlights, Clouds, and Chrome Blob), and they are known as "the first 9".
Peacock	A peacock shows off its feathers, which contains the Disney Channel logo formed by two yellow circles and a blue circle. A night version of this ident was also created.
Computer Mouse	The logo is formed from two @ symbols and a computer mouse.
Moon	A moon is seen in a night forest as comets strike the clouds, forming the logo.
Video Game	Two red spheres race in a video-game style, then when the spheres finish the race, the Disney Channel logo appears, which is formed by the spheres and a gold medal.
Computer	A computer uses a few programs until two orange mini-discs and a blue optical disc appears on the disc drive. A snippet of the 'Video Game' ident also appears here.
Grapes	A picnic table is seen with a plate with two green olives and a purple grape.
Planet	Two stars burst into sparkles over a blue planet, forming the logo. Also used during the Long Nights programming block on Disney Channel Germany.
Chameleon	A chameleon chases a blue bug, which then the bug sticks to the tongue and lands on the chameleon's eyes, forming the logo. This ident was originally used by Disney Channel Latin America.
Chess	All the chess pieces on a chess board battle each other, until two black pawns and a white king form the logo.
Picnic	Yellow plates arrange on a picnic blanket, and an apple falls over the plates and another apple falls over the first apple and a plate, forming the Disney Channel logo.
Spinning Top	A blue multicolor top spins on a purple gradient background, then two yellow-green yoyo's spin above the top and their ropes are tangled on the top, forming the logo. This was the last of the idents to be aired on Disney Channel France.
Sun Cooler	The sun heats the nearby planets, then two fans blow the sun's rays, and then the fans position over the sun. This ident is stop-animated.
Bubble Paper (Soda)	A white paper sphere submerges in a pool of multicolor water, then in the end, two green bubbles and the sphere float over the water.
Dog Food	Two red dog bowls and a green one form the logo. Introduced during the "Massive Movie Weekend" in 2001.
Lawn	A series of lawns is seen, until three piles of rocks form the logo on a green lawn. First used before Home Improvement in February 2000.
Grapevines	Three bunches of grapes form the logo in a vineyard. Often used before A Bug's Life.
Underground Turnips	Two red turnips and a yellow round mass of roots grow to form the logo in an underground soil background.
Soccerball	A soccer ball is bouncing on a soccer stadium, which then crashes into a scoreboard with two circles. Although this ident is originally created for sport-related programs, this ident joined the regular line-up along with the Basketball ident on July 1999.
Spotlights	An orange spotlight circles around the red curtain background, and two yellow spotlights also appear, then all spotlights align to form the Disney Channel logo. Also used throughout Disney Channel Germany's first birthday on October 2000.
Temple	A pedestal opens up, revealing a puzzle, then the puzzle is arranged, causing the gate to open. When the camera moves towards the boulder, it drops, rolls, and stops on the puzzle where two snakes coil above it, forming the logo. Originally planned to be used for Misterios y Leyendas on Disney Channel Latin America in February 2001, but instead first appeared in the UK in December 2000. The original "Misterios y Leyendas" version used the full sequence, but the UK version cuts to the puzzle instead of starting at the pedestal. The ident is created by Tr!ck, a design agency in Madrid, Spain. Also, this ident also won the "Best On-air Ident" award at the PromaxBDA Awards in 2001.
Swimming Pool	Two yellow beach balls and a red swim tube form the logo on a swimming pool. First used in summer 2000.
Clouds	A blue balloon passes through a wormhole in a digital sky background, then it flies over to two clouds on a blue gradient background, forming the logo.
Basketball	Four stopwatches play with a basketball on a court, then one of the stopwatches shoot the ball onto two silver stopwatches. This ident is originally used for special programs, then it joins the line-up along with Soccerball on July 1999.
Snowy Window	A shape of the logo is made on a snowy window, which shows a winter forest with Santa flying above. The completed logo is the two small circles on a black sky color and the bigger circle on a blue gradient color with a cottage seen in the circle. First used during the Christmas season of 1999.
Wreath	A wreath falls off a door and it rolls and turns into a snowball (knocking a snowman on the way) and then it crashes on a Christmas tree, causing two red baubles and a green wreath to fall on the ground, forming the logo. Originally used during the Christmas season of 1999, it became a regular ident on February 2000.
Popcorn	Popcorn move around a film projector with countdown frames before the logo is formed from two film reels and a popcorn bucket on a blue background. Frequently used before movies, then used on regular programming on January 2000. There's also an alternate version of this ident, this time with the frames of the 1997 Wonderful World of Disney intro instead of countdown frames, the orange background and an abridged version of the 1997 Wonderful World of Disney music.
UFO	A silver space station drops two UFO's and they fly smoothly through space until they land on a green planet. First seen during 'Lion King Sunday' on November 1999.
Paint Palette	Two red paint pots and a blue palette form the logo on a yellow background.
Flowers	A garden is seen where two pink flowers and a sunflower form the logo. First used in spring 2000.
Butterfly	A butterfly flies into a field where it lands on a flower, until the wind blows the flowers and the leaves and petals make the circles form the logo. The butterfly then lands on the floral logo. Only used on Disney Channel Latin America since spring 2001.
Greek Pot	A Greek pot is seen where the Disney Channel logo is engraved. First used before Hercules on March 2000.
Sunset	Two black clouds and a setting sun form the logo on an empty plain. First used before Lion King 2 on Disney Channel Germany in April 2000.
Liquid Lightbulb	Two light bulbs and a blue liquid sphere form the logo on a galaxy background. Used for Disney Channel France's Les Grands Prix De L'imagination on March 2000, then appeared as a regular ident in the UK on August 2000. Also used as a generic logo of Disney Channel France.
Map	A shape of the Disney Channel logo is seen on a map and is represented by two green islands and a compass rose. First aired during Peter Pan on November 1999.
Space Bubbles	Three blue bubbles float in a space background as a satellite pass through one of the bubbles, then the two other bubbles pass through the first one, and the big bubble burst into two light blue bubbles and a dark blue one, forming the logo. Used before Buzz Lightyear of Star Command in June 1999, then became a regular ident on July 1999.
Paint Blob	A red blob and a yellow blob separate to form the Disney Channel logo.
Green Paint	A yellow circle and a blue circle move around a big red circle, and when the yellow and blue circles cross each other, they turn green and form the Disney Channel logo. First used during a Paulina Rubio concert that aired in Disney Channel Latin America in 2001.
Cake	Two red and green cupcakes and a pink cake form the logo.
Purple Blob	A purple splat expands and causes two yellow blobs to appear. Used for Art Attack, then used as a regular ident on March 2000.
Paint Splat	Some paint blobs burst into splats on a yellow background, until two red blobs and a blue one clear the other blobs and splats as the three blobs burst into splats, forming the logo. Used as a generic logo and as a Red and Blue ident since 1997, then as a Circles ident since 1999. There is also an alternate version of this ident introduced in February 2000, in which two red circles and a blue one simply circle around until they form the logo on the same yellow background.
Bumper Cars	Two multicolored bumpers bump each other around until a big bumper appears and they align slowly to form the logo.
Amoeba	Two green blobs get carried by a yellow amoeba until the amoeba flings the two blobs into the air and they land on the amoeba, forming the logo.
Figure Skating	Two blue spotlights on an ice rink draw two blue scribbles until a pink spotlight draws a spiral trail, forming the logo while the crowd applause.
Spiral	A yellow and blue spiral appears on a green background, and the spiral transforms into two yellow circles and a blue one, forming the logo on a pink spiral background. First used on September 1999.
2D Circles	Two orange circles inflate a blue circle and the orange circles jump over it, forming the logo.
Band	A corral of circles expand with band music, and a blue circle play the bass drum and two yellow circles appear as cymbals, forming the logo.
Squeeze	A purple circle drops over a blue circle, and another blue circle tries to get the other circle out of the purple one, then the circle jumps and squeezes the other two, and all three circles form the logo as the background changes to yellow.
Sun	Two blue yarn circles travel around a blue background, as one of them has a cold, and as they reach a yellow sun, the blue circle was relieved from the cold, and both blue circles position over the sun.
Frogs	Three green round frogs position on a yellow background, as two of them manage to catch flies with their tongues, but the other one gets angry, but it got a big fly, turning it purple and big, forming the logo.
Jump	Two purple yarn balls jump continuously as they get bigger, and a blue ball jumps from the right, and flies on top of the two balls, triggering the 3-note Disney Channel jingle and the text. Used between a switchover of Disney Channel France to Playhouse Disney.
Car	Two yellow round pencil shapes and a purple one appear on an orange background, then the circles imitate a car, before going fast and losing control, and they spin around and form the logo.
Balloon	Two orange balloons position over a blue circle, then one of the balloons jump from the circle and the other balloon follows, and when they bump each other, their strings disappear, and they fall back on the blue circle.
Triplets	Two yellow circles and an orange one appear on a pink background, then a yellow circle plays the flute, the other plays the cello, and the orange one plays the violin, but it became off-tune, and the yellow circles fix the orange one, and all of them play a finale before forming the logo and triggering a violin version of the Disney Channel jingle. First used in Disney Channel France and Playhouse Disney.
Nest	A tree opens up to reveal a bird-like brown circle and two yellow circles appear and they chirp loudly that the brown circle hid them and when it turns upside down, the two yellow circles pop out to form the logo. Also used on Playhouse Disney and their UK website.
Dance	Two blue circles and a red circle dance around on an orange background and then do tap dancing until they form the logo.
Tug of War	Two black circles pull a red circle out of the way, but one of the black circles get angry and pulled the red circle in the other direction, and the black circles start a tug-of-war, until both circles release the red one and jump over it, forming the logo. This ident was also used for Toon Disney UK.
Kicking Circles	Two yellow circles kick a blue circle to the air until it lands on the yellow circles, then the blue circle jumps and smashes to the ground, causing the yellow circles to bounce over the blue one and form the logo. Also used on Toon Disney UK.
Smash	Two purple circles smash each other, causing a blue circle to expand between them, forming the logo. This ident is also used in Toon Disney UK.
Spring	A yellow ring saw a loop of red string, which the ring turns it into a spring, then another yellow ring jumps over the spring and bounces all over the background, until the ring bounces into the spring and the first ring follows, forming the logo.

In March 2000, Disney Channel France, who had adapted the same idents, "ran out of logos", and did a contest called Les Grands Prix De L'imagination, in which animators from all around France had to make new idents for Disney Channel International Networks, and two winners would have their idents shown on the French channel. The winners were Marc du Pontavice, the producer of Oggy and the Cockroaches (who did the "Glass Charger/Laboratory" ID with GEDEON for the 1999 line-up), and Eric Berthier (who did the "Alien" ID for the 1997 package).

On April 2001, for a week, the Disney Channel logo bug and the idents went missing as Disney Channel Germany promotes "Mystery Week", in which Disney Channel viewers will have to guess who stole the logo. At the end of the week, it was revealed that Donald Duck was the culprit, and after that, the logo bug and idents return to normal.

On the morning of 15 March 2003, Disney Channel adopted the same new logo as Disney Channel in US. The idents and bumpers were created by CA Square.

On 1 September 2011, when Disney Channel HD launched in the UK, Disney Channel adapted the new European smartphone app logo.

On 1 June 2012, Disney Channel adapted the new smartphone app logo from the US.

External links

• DisneyChannel.co.uk
• Disney Channel at TV Ark
• Disney Channel UK's's YouTube Page