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Toon Disney

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Toon Disney was an American cable television channel owned by Disney Branded Television, focused exclusively on animated programming targeting children and family audiences. It featured a mix of Disney's classic and contemporary animated series, as well as acquired cartoon content.

Key moments

  • April 18, 1998Launched as a 24-hour animated channel, initially available in select U.S. markets
  • 2002Introduced 'Toon Disney Jetix' block, action-oriented programming for older kids
  • February 13, 2009Ceased operations and was replaced by Disney XD, a channel combining animation and live-action content for young males

Cultural Role

Toon Disney filled a niche for dedicated animated content, providing a platform for Disney's vast library of cartoons—from vintage Mickey Mouse shorts to modern series like Kim Possible. It also helped popularize international animated shows in the U.S. market.

Legacy in Disney's Channel Evolution

The channel's Jetix block laid groundwork for Disney XD, which retained the action-focused content while expanding to live-action. Toon Disney's closure reflected a shift in Disney's strategy to target more specific demographics, balancing animation with broader family entertainment.

Toon Disney was an American multinational pay television channel owned by Disney Branded Television, a subsidiary of Disney-ABC Television Group. The channel's target audience was children aged 7–11,[1] and older children and adolescents aged 8–15 during the Jetix programming block.

A spin-off of Disney Channel, the channel's programming mostly included animated series, shorts, and features from Disney, as well as acquired programs.

History

Toon Disney was launched on April 18, 1998, at 3:00 p.m. Eastern Time, in honor of Disney Channel's 15th anniversary by Disney Channel, Inc. on digital tiers of DirecTV, Marcus Cable, and EchoStar. The first program to air on the network was The Sorcerer's Apprentice from Fantasia (1940). At 7:00 p.m. ET that day, Toon Disney launched a block called "The Magical World of Toons". The block originally featured Disney animated features, specials, and shorts. Over the next five months, Toon Disney furthered its programming to cable subscribers such as Americast. At its launch, the channel shared half of its assigned series with Disney Channel.[2] The channel had no advertising until its viewership reached a set number.[1] On January 31, 1999, the channel aired the "Pumbaa Bowl" marathon as Super Bowl XXXIII counterprogramming.[3]

By September 2000, the channel was expected to reach 20 million subscribers and would start showing advertising. Ad sales were provided by Disney Kids Network.[4]

In June 2001, Toon Disney launched the "Most Animated Kid Search". In September 2002, eight new shows joined the line-up as part of Toon Disney's fall schedule.[3][5] In commemoration of the network's fifth anniversary in April 2003, the channel held the "Toon Disney's Magical Adventure Sweepstakes" in which three winners along with three family members would win a trip to Disneyland Resort to see Disney's Aladdin: A Musical Spectacular.[3]

On February 14, 2004, the Jetix programming block began on Toon Disney and ABC Family as a part of the Jetix programming alliance of ABC Networks Group, Fox Kids Europe, and Fox Kids Latin America.[6][7] The block consisted of the entire acquired Fox Kids/Saban Entertainment action library as the result of an acquisition by The Walt Disney Company in the summer of 2001, as well as some original programming. Some shows, including The Legend of Tarzan, and Buzz Lightyear of Star Command aired under both the Toon Disney and Jetix monikers.

The Toon Disney/Big Movie Show premiere of the 2004 film The Polar Express on December 22, 2006, was the channel's highest primetime rating with 1.35 million viewers. On January 27, 2007, Toon Disney launched its weekend afternoon programming block, "The Great Toon Weekend".[8]

On August 6, 2008, Disney-ABC Television Group announced they would rebrand Toon Disney in early 2009 as Disney XD, which would be aimed at children, mostly boys, from ages 6 and up. The final pre-Disney XD program to air on the channel was The Incredible Hulk episode "Doomed" at 11:30 p.m. ET on February 12, 2009, as part of Jetix, while the first Disney XD program was the Phineas and Ferb episode "Dude, We're Getting the Band Back Together" on February 13, 2009, at 12:00 midnight ET.[9][10]

Programming

Blocks

  • Toon Disney's Big Movie Show was an evening movie block that started in 2004 and lasted until 2009.[11]
  • Double Feature Friday was a block that featured two different movies back-to-back every Friday night. The block started in 2001, and lasted until 2004.
  • Jetix was a block using programming from the Saban/Marvel library held by ABC Family Worldwide and additional original programming launched on February 14, 2004, with the block originally having 12 hours of weekly prime-time programming to start.[6][7][12] By the time of Toon Disney's closure in February 2009, Jetix had taken up more than half of the network's programming schedule, airing for 12 hours on weekdays and 19 hours on weekends.
  • The Magical World of Toons was Toon Disney's prime time block which was launched on April 18, 1998, and lasted until April 6, 2003. During the week, the block would showcase shorts and series featuring Disney characters such as Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Timon & Pumbaa, Hercules, Aladdin, Doug, and Pepper Ann. During the weekend, the block would present animated features, most of those created for the home video market, including The Return of Jafar and The Brave Little Toaster Goes to Mars, as well as some theatrical releases including A Goofy Movie, Alice in Wonderland, and The Brave Little Toaster.[2][13]
  • Princess Power Hour was a block featuring Disney Princesses Jasmine and Ariel through episodes of Aladdin and The Little Mermaid. (2000–2007[13])
  • Chillin' With the Villains was a block that aired on Sundays. The block consists of a series of mini-marathon with a notable villain. (2000–2004[13])
  • The Great Toon Weekend (GTW) was a weekend afternoon programming block that aired every Saturday and Sunday starting at noon for 7 hours beginning on January 27, 2007. The Great Toon Weekend started with a two-hour movie under the banner of "Big Movie Show" followed by five hours of back-to-back episodes of the following shows: Aladdin, Timon & Pumbaa, Buzz Lightyear of Star Command, The Emperor's New School and Lilo & Stitch.[8]
  • Hangin' with the Heroes was a weekend block consisting of two hours of Aladdin, Gargoyles, and Hercules. Later, the block began airing every weeknight starting at 11:00 pm.[3] It lasted from January 2002 to 2004.

International versions

In the fall of 2000, Disney launched its first overseas Toon Disney channel in the United Kingdom.[14] The UK channel was later replaced by Disney Cinemagic in March 2006.[15] In 2004, four new markets added a Toon Disney channel with three in Europe with Germany also adding a time shift channel.[16] In December, Walt Disney Television International India launched a Toon Disney channel with three language audio tracks (English, Hindi, Tamil, and Telugu).[17][18] In 2005, a Toon Disney channel was launched for the Nordic countries,[16] and another one for Japan.[19] A Hindi-language audio track was introduced on Toon Disney in India on September 1, 2005.[20] After the shutdown of the US channel, the remaining channels and blocks with the Toon Disney name outside the US were relaunched as either Disney Cinemagic (in European countries only), Disney Channel, or Disney XD, with the last Toon Disney-branded channels to close being the two Italian channels on October 1, 2011.

See also

External links

  • - includes the Launch program for Toon Disney which has the first week's programming guide

References

  1. Ed Kirchdoerffer. A Salute to Disney Channel: Drawing up Toon Disney Kid Screen.com, April 1, 1998, retrieved March 4, 2014^
  2. Toon Disney Launch. Animation World Magazine, May 1998, retrieved February 26, 2014^
  3. Toon Disney Timeline 1998-2003 Toon Disney^
  4. Scott Hettrick. Stay Toon-ed For Ads On Disney Spinoff Channel All Business, February 25, 2000, retrieved April 12, 2014^
  5. Toon Disney Premieres Eight New Series In Fall 2002 Animation World Network, retrieved September 26, 2018^
  6. James Welsh. Fox Kids to be rebranded as Jetix Digital Spy, January 9, 2004, retrieved February 24, 2014^
  7. Ryan Ball. Toon Disney Launches Jetix, Live Card Game Animation Magazine, February 13, 2004, retrieved March 3, 2014^
  8. Ryan Ball. Toon Disney has 'Great Toon Weekend' Animation Magazine, January 12, 2007, retrieved April 4, 2014^
  9. End of Toon Disney us/jetix usa Start Of Disney XD usa YouTube, November 18, 2010, retrieved March 11, 2011^
  10. TV Listings for - February 13, 2009 - TV Tango tvtango.com, retrieved 2023-03-11^
  11. Christian Lewis. Toon Disney Spruces Up Big Movie Show Multi-Channel, November 12, 2006, retrieved April 9, 2014^
  12. R. Thomas Umstead. Disney Nets Bolster 'Jetix' Block Multichannel News, March 19, 2004, retrieved March 5, 2014^
  13. ABC Cable Network Group. Disney's Pepper Ann Takes Her Quest for Coolness to Toon Disney Beginning September 2001; All-Toon Channel Debuts New Schedule Sept. 3. Business Wire, July 10, 2001, retrieved March 6, 2014^
  14. Iain Chapman. Toon Disney Digital Spy, April 29, 2000, retrieved March 4, 2014^
  15. ITV enters full U.K. kids mkt. Video Age International, March 1, 2006, retrieved March 5, 2014^
  16. Channel listing: Toon Disney MAVISE, European Audiovisual Observatory, retrieved April 25, 2014^
  17. After Tamil & Telugu, Toon Disney goes Hindi from 1 September Indian Television, August 22, 2005, retrieved February 26, 2014^
  18. Jayshree Bajoria. Disney launches India TV channels BBC, December 17, 2004, retrieved February 26, 2014^
  19. Toon Disney and Jetix head for Japan C21Media, August 31, 2005, retrieved March 12, 2014^
  20. Toon Disney to be launched in Hindi from September 1 Televisionpoint.com, August 23, 2005, retrieved February 26, 2014^
  21. Dawn C. Chmielewski. Enough with the girls, tween boys get their own brand of Disney love Los Angeles Times, August 7, 2008, retrieved February 25, 2014^
  22. Mark Schilling. Disney XD to launch in Japan Variety, June 7, 2009, retrieved April 24, 2014^
  23. Walt Disney channels to be distributed by STAR Economic Times, November 25, 2004, retrieved April 23, 2014^
  24. Jetix rebrands to Disney XD in India Indiantelevision.com, November 12, 2009, retrieved April 9, 2014^
  25. Disney's BVITV-AP brings 'Toon Disney' block to Vietnam Indiantelevision.com, February 1, 2007, retrieved March 10, 2014^
  26. Disney Channel se met en quatre Stratégies, 2002-10-25, retrieved May 28, 2020^
  27. Disney Cinemagic le 4 septembre sur CanalSat Univers Freebox, August 27, 2007, retrieved May 28, 2020^
  28. Ready, willing 'n' cable Variety, October 24, 2004, retrieved July 21, 2014^
  29. TV Channel: Disney XD +1 (Germany) MAVISE, European Audiovisual Observatory, retrieved May 1, 2014^
  30. TV: SU SKY NUOVI CANALI PER BAMBINI, CINEMA E MUSICA adnkrosos, December 22, 2008, retrieved May 28, 2020^
  31. Disney lanza tres nuevos canales infantiles El País, October 30, 2001, retrieved May 28, 2020^