| Disney Channel | |
| Launch Date: | 10 August 2010 (pay TV broadcast) 31 December 2011 (free-to-air TV broadcast) |
| Closed Date: | [1] |
| Replaced: | Jetix (cable and satellite broadcasting) Seven TV (on-air broadcasting) |
| Replaced By: | Solntse |
| Picture Format: | 576i (SDTV) |
| Owner: |
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| Country: | Russia |
| Area: | Russia Belarus[4] [5] |
| Headquarters: |
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| Language: | Russian English (2010—2011) |
| Key People: |
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Disney Channel (Russian: '''Канал Disney''') was a Russian free-to-air family federal channel, which was the local version of the American Disney Channel.
The cable Disney Channel was launched on August 10, 2010 on the frequency «Jetix». The on-air Disney Channel was launched on December 31, 2011 on the frequencies of the «Seven TV» and the cable version Disney. On 14 December 2022, the channel stopped broadcasting due to problems with content licensing.[6] [7] [8] [9]
The channel was aimed at an audience between the ages of 10 and 45. In 2021, the coverage of the Disney Channel amounted to 26 million people. On average, 1.3 million people watched the channel daily.[10]
The broadcast schedule included popular animated series and series such as: «Gravity Falls», «Phineas and Ferb», «Wander Over Yonder», «Star vs. the Forces of Evil», «Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir», «Hannah Montana», «The Suite Life of Zack & Cody» and many others. In addition, there were feature and animated films, classic Disney animations, original Disney Channel movies, anime, a music block, as well as Russian-made programs and series. For the youngest viewers, a special block was provided on the air called «Dobroe ytro s Mickey» (previously— «Uznavaika»). It included such animated series as: «Mickey Mouse Clubhouse», «Puppy Dog Pals», «Handy Manny» and many others.
Prior to the creation of a separate TV channel in Russia, premieres of animated series, TV series and films produced by Disney were released as part of television blocks on the «first TV button» (Programme One CT, 1st Ostankino Channel, ORT/Channel One) — "Walt Disney Presents" (1991-1992), "Disney Club" (1998-2014), "Walt Disney Classics" (2004-2007) and "The Magical World of Disney" (2007-2013), as well as on other channels RTR (1992-1998), STS (1997-2015),[11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [21] REN TV (2003-2006), TV-3 (2005-2008) and Jetix (2010). Some time after the launch of the Disney channel, these blocks were closed due to the lack of need for their broadcast.
Despite the presence of its own TV channel, the All-Russian TV premieres of motion picture cartoons and Disney films are still broadcast on larger federal channels. So, in 2013-2015, the right to premiere screenings still remained with Channel One (until January 2017, the films were shown in reruns), subsequently, the STS channel became Disney's main partner in this regard. Since the fall of 2016, some action and horror films owned by Disney have been released on REN TV[22]
In January 2007, the idea of launching the Disney channel in Russia was hatched. It was planned to launch it in the autumn of the same year, but the launch did not take place. The second launch attempt was scheduled for early 2009,[23] but a month later, the Federal Antimonopoly Service rejected the Walt Disney company's request to acquire 49% of the Mo-Tv enterprise[24] from the Russian media group Media-1, created to launch the Disney Channel in the Russia.[25]
In mid-February 1999, News Corporation and Saban Entertainment, through a joint company Fox Kids Europe, began test broadcasting of a pan-European TV channel Fox Kids CEE.[26]
On 1 April 1999, Fox Kids was fully launched in Russia, the CIS and the Baltic states, as well as in Central and Eastern Europe, having audio tracks in several broadcast languages, including Russian-language.[27] [28] [29] [30] The channel broadcast from 7:00 to 20:00 (Moscow time),[31] and later changed the mode of operation - from 8:00 to 21:00[32] The Russian-language dubbing was produced by Intra Communications studio; cassettes with recordings were sent to Russia, after which the material was dubbed, and the cassettes returned back to London, broadcasting was conducted from there.[33] During 6 months, from April to September 1999, programs were gradually translated into Russian and in a very short time, during this period some programs were released in English.[34] Fox Kids mainly broadcast animated series, series and films from Saban Entertainment and DIC Entertainment, as well as animated series from Marvel. Until September 2009, advertisements from all countries were mixed, with a certain sound track selected, the sound of foreign advertising was played without the voice of the announcer or replaced with a melody.[35] The channel hosted the Fox Kids Cup and Fox Kids Planet Live events (after the rebranding, they were called Jetix Cup and Jetix Kids Awards, respectively).
On May 5, 2000, Fox Sports International launched the Fox Sports sports channel, distributed by Fox Kids Europe.[36] [37] [38] The channel was broadcast on Fox Kids frequencies during non-working airtime (from 21:00 to 8:00). The programs were not translated into Russian-language.
From 2001 to March 2004[39] there was a joint broadcast between Fox Kids CEE and Fox Kids ME (version for Turkey and the Middle East).[40] [41] During this period, the block «Cinema Fox Kids» (later «Cinema Jetix») appeared, mainly the block included films from Saban Entertainment.[42]
On 23 July 2001, The Walt Disney Company announced the acquisition of Fox Family Worldwide and Saban Entertainment.[43] [44] [45] The deal was completed in October 2001, and Disney also received a controlling stake in Fox Kids Europe (75%),[46] the remaining 25% were listed on the Amsterdam Euronext stock exchange. The Walt Disney Company planned to rename Fox Kids to Toon Disney, but this idea was abandoned.[47] Later, 20th Century Fox Film Corporation granted an indefinite license to use the Fox Kids title for free.[48] However, Fox Sports International was not included in the deal, but due to contracts, Fox Sports continued broadcasting on the Fox Kids frequency until March 2004.
In May 2002, Buena Vista International Television took over the television service of the program catalogs of Fox Family Worldwide and Saban Entertainment,[49] as well as their distribution to third-party broadcasters.[50] In the same year, Telco Media began distributing Fox Kids in Russia and the CIS. Also, programs for Fox Kids were simultaneously dubbed at the Cypress Studio.[51]
Since March 2004, the Disney-owned ESPN Classic Sports sports channel has replaced Fox Sports.[52] ESPN continued broadcasting until 2006, including when the main broadcaster had already been rebranded and changed its name. Fox Kids has increased the broadcast time to 23:00.
In April 2004, the «Jetix» block appeared, which showed viewers new animated series such as «Sonic X», «Shaman King», «Gadget and the Gadgetinis» and «NASCAR Racers».[53] [54] [55]
In July 2004, Fox Kids Europe was renamed Jetix Europe,[56] earlier, in March of this year, the Fox Kids channel team moved to the office of The Walt Disney Company EMEA.[57]
Initially, the rebranding was planned in the fall of 2004, but the channel's management postponed the plans to January 2005.[58]
On 1 January 2005, the channel was rebranded; Fox Kids was renamed Jetix.[59] [60] There were no radical changes in the broadcast schedule, programs from Fox Kids were still shown along with new ones such as: «Witch», «A.T.O.M.», «Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go», etc.
On 1 January 2006, the «Jetix Max» block appeared, lasting 3 hours. The block was designed for an older audience on the Jetix and offered viewers comedies, anime, and classic Marvel shows. The broadcast time of the channel increased to 2:00, while the rebroadcast of ESPN Classic Sport on the Jetix frequency stopped. [61] In April 2006, the morning archive block «Jetix Play» appeared with animated series from Saban Entertainment and DIC Entertainment.[62]
In 2007, the block «Jetix Ninja» appeared, within the framework of which animated series were broadcast, the heroes of which were ninjas.
On July 1, 2008, the channel switched to 24-hour broadcasting.
On 8 December 2008, Disney entered into an agreement to increase its stake in Jetix Europe to 96% in order to remove the company from the Euronext listing.[63] [64] [65] Since 27 February 2009, Disney has owned 99.8% of the shares of Jetix Europe.[66]
On 19 September 2009, its own version of the channel for Russia and CIS countries appeared, operating exclusively from Moscow — Jetix Russia.[67] [68] [69] The owner of the channel was The Walt Disney Company CIS, technical support was provided by the distributor Telco Media.[70]
10 days before the closure of the channel, the «Disney Channel Hour» block was presented, which showed the original content of The Walt Disney Company.[71] On 10 August 2010, at 18:00, the Jetix was replaced by the «Disney Channel».[72] Website jetix.ru continued to work until April 2016, informing users that popular Jetix programs had been transferred to the «Disney Channel».[73] After that, the website began to redirect to kanal.disney.ru.
On 31 March 2010, the Russian office of Disney officially announced the receipt of a license from Roskomnadzor for the implementation of television cable broadcasting of the Disney channel in Russia (TV series No. 15922 dated 9 March 2010, term — 5 years).[74] [75]
Disney Channel replaced «Jetix» and began broadcasting on 10 August 2010[76] at 18:00 with the showing of the animated film «Finding Nemo». The technical support of the channel was provided by the distributor Telco Media, an English soundtrack was also available.[77] On 20 December 2010, the Disney Channel began broadcasting with a +2 shift. This allowed viewers in Yekaterinburg, Perm, Chelyabinsk, Ufa, Tyumen and other cities of Eastern Russia to watch Disney Channel programs at the same time as in Central Russia.[78]
Initially, the channel broadcast network copied the Eastern European version of the Disney Channel. In addition to the original Disney products and several TV series left over from Jetix («Kid vs Kat», «Jimmy Cool», «H2O: Just Add Water» and others), the channel also broadcast programs of domestic production (The Walt Disney Company CIS), which lasted 3–4 minutes and represented news about recent Disney projects, mostly released in film distribution: «Disney 365», «Film Travelers», «In touch!», «Little super Show», «Little super News». In 2010-2012, a Russian mini-series was broadcast on the channel, created with the support of Disney and also launched on Jetix — «As the Bell Rings».[79] Until June 2014, marathons of series and films on a certain theme were practiced on weekends or holidays, including on non—governmental holidays - Valentine's Day and Halloween.[80] [81]
The channel used outdated ribbon design for program promo, which disappeared from TV screens in the United States and European countries since 2010-2011. Although some promo used a new design.
From the first days of broadcasting until 2020, the channel had a block «Uznavaika» for preschool children. It represented the Russian version of «Playhouse Disney», and the same font and even letter colors were selected for the logo of the word «Uznavaika» as for the logo — the words «Playhouse» in the original version (later — for Disney Junior).
On 27 October 2011, following a meeting between Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and the management of The Walt Disney Company and the UTV media group (joint venture of Media-1 and AF Media);[82] [83] [84] Disney bought a 49% stake in the channel «Seven TV» in order to launch a public federal channel of the same name. On November 30, the first meeting of the board of directors of the new Disney channel took place, which included three representatives of Disney and four representatives of UTV Holding. The date and time of the launch of the updated channel were determined at the meeting.[85]
The on-air version of the Disney Channel began broadcasting on the frequencies of «Seven TV» and the cable version of Disney on 31 December 2011 at 12:00 with the showing of the cartoon «Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas». In the logo with Mickey Mouse ears, the word «Channel» has been replaced with «Канал». All operations of the channel were carried out through the legal entity LLC «7TV», the founders of which were The Walt Disney Company and UTV Holding. The team of the updated channel was formed from employees of the Seven TV and cable Disney. The Walt Disney Company edited the channel, and UTV Holding provided technical support. By the existing shift of +2, shifts of +4 and +7 have appeared.
During 2012, ABC—produced television series were broadcast on the channel - «No Ordinary Family», «Melissa & Joey», «8 Simple Rules», «Switched at Birth»[86] and others.
Since mid-2013, the channel's network has undergone a number of changes. Timeslots were allocated on the air for showing cartoons produced by the Soyuzmultfilm film studio (at one time, Soviet fairy tale films)[87] and Russian animated series and cartoons (examples are «Innovators»,[88] «Jingles»). Animated feature filmsbegan to be released in prime time in the block: in 2012-2014 — «The Golden Disney Collection», since 2014 — «Big Animation» (previously — «Big Animated Story»), there were also animated series from Pixar, 20th Century Fox, Blue Sky Studios, Universal, Studio Ghibli and DreamWorks Animation.[89]
Also on the air from the same time, children's programs from independent Russian producers appeared: the TV game «Through the Mouth of a Baby» (2013-2014), resumed after a 13-year break,[90] previously broadcast on STS in the show «This is my Child!» (2013-2016).,[91] «Mom for 5+» (2013-2016), «Style Rules» (2013-2019), «This is my Room!» (2015-2017), «Games for a big Family» (2015-2016) and «Best Friends» (2018). At the end of all the listed programs, with the exception of the «Rules of Style», the second legal entity of the channel was indicated from 31 December 2011 — LLC «7TV».
The time for feature films and TV series on the channel began to decrease significantly from the beginning of 2014, and eventually they began to be released only at night. The reasons for this, according to the management of the Walt Disney Company CIS, are their common themes, which the channel's audience may not understand, low ratings and the deteriorating economic situation in Russia.[92] From March 2019 to January 2020, game series were completely absent from the channel's schedule, as a result of which almost the entire airwaves were now occupied by animated series from the Disney Junior and Disney XD channels.
On 1 August 2014, as part of the worldwide rebranding of the Disney Channel, the Disney channel updated the logo and design of the program announcements, similar to the foreign versions.[93] Showing of the "Big Animation" began to take place daily, and the «Uznavaika» block was increased to 7 hours. The Walt Disney Company CIS inter-program projects were closed, but later the program «Everything Interesting: Cinema» was presented.[94] [95]
Since January 2016, after the entry into force of amendments to the law on mass media, according to which the participation of foreign capital in domestic media is limited to 20%; UTV Holding became the owner of 80% of the channel, and The Walt Disney Company remained 20%,[96] but at the same time Disney's economic share in the business remained 49% remained the same.[97] The compilation of the broadcast grid, the purchase of content for the show, the management of program rights, as well as dubbing, production, marketing and on-air promo was on the part of The Walt Disney Company,[98] [99] and UTV Holding continued to provide technical support and distribution for the channel.[100]
In 2017, AF Media sold its stake and withdrew from the joint venture UTV Holding, later, in 2019, all assets of UTV Holding, including the Disney Channel, were transferred to Media-1.[101] [102] The Walt Disney Company and Media-1 became the sole founders of the 7TV LLC legal entity.
In the fall of 2018, the Disney channel changed the design again, as well as the animation of the logo. This time, we used our own design, which was used only on the Russian channel. The channel's logo has remained the same, although it has become a little lighter. Also, the logo has moved from the lower left to the lower right corner of the screen.
At the end of January 2020, the game series returned to the night air, and the program «Rules of Style» was removed from the air. Starting on 29 June of the same year, game series for the first time in 6 years began to be broadcast in the daytime,[103] from Monday to Thursday. However, their schedule was periodically changed. Since 23 August 2021, the series have been completely removed from the air again.
On 1 May 2020, the «Uznavaika» block was reformatted into «Dobroe ytro s Mickey»,[104] and its time was reduced to a timeslot from 9:00 to 11:00 (from 1 January to 8 February 2021, the broadcasting time of the block was temporarily increased to a timeslot from 8:00 to 11:00).
On 19 July 2021, the channel switched to a 16:9 widescreen format.
On 11 March 2022, Disney announced the suspension of work in Russia due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.[105] In the summer of 2022, Disney finally stopped dubbing films, TV series, animated films and animated series in Russian for the Disney Channel. On 30 September of the same year, the TV channel's website ceased operations - kanal.disney.ru (redirects to the site disney.com), the channel's pages in all social networks were also deleted.[106]
On 14 December 2022, the channel stopped broadcasting due to problems with content licensing.[6] [7] [8] [9] Also, The Walt Disney Company withdrew from the founders of the legal entity LLC «7TV».[107] [108] [109] A new TV channel Solntse from Media-1 was launched on the frequencies of the Disney Channel.[110] The Walt Disney Company has nothing to do with the new channel, and has also ceased cooperation with Media-1.
Unlike other regional versions, Disney Channel Russia broadcast kids-targeted content for younger audiences. Since 2014 it primarily broadcast Disney XD and Disney Junior animated series, with some rare exceptions. Starting from 12 August 2010, Disney Channel broadcast Playhouse programming. When the block used the said brand (using the localized version of the Playhouse Disney logo), it was starting early in the morning and it was staying on air until 12:00 p.m. This also applied to the block when it used the Russian localized version of the Disney Junior logo. Every year the block was airing less time than before until it ceased using said branding on 1 May 2020.
In the past it used to copy Eastern European Disney Channel feed, with the inclusion of former Jetix programming. This means there were primarily Disney Channel and Disney XD original live action series (Jessie, Austin & Ally, Good Luck Charlie, Lab Rats, Mighty Med, etc.) and rare animation from Disney Channel and Jetix (Phineas and Ferb, Kid vs. Kat, etc.).
This, however, changed with the 2014 rebranding, when the channel slowly switched to kids television animation, including Disney XD and Disney Junior animated series, like Gravity Falls, Star vs. the Forces of Evil, DuckTales, Amphibia, as live action series were faded away to the point there were no any old or new shows presented on the channel due to different family and cultural values in Russia and financial problems.[111]
Playhouse Disney was rebranded to use Disney Junior-like logo and identity. Also, starting that year, Disney Channel Russia introduced a new evening prime time block called "Большая Анимация" ("Full-length animation", literally Great/Big Animation). It consisted of Disney's theatrical movies. The block aired every day and started in 7:30 pm daily. It was intended to be a replacement to the earlier block "Your Bright Night!" (Russian: Твой Яркий Вечер!), which broadcast Disney Channel Original Movies and was shortly removed off the air after the 2014 rebranding.
During the COVID-19 lockdown, live-action series returned to the network's schedule, along with Gabby Duran & the Unsittables during summer 2020.[112]