Disney Channel
CountryUnited Kingdom
Broadcast areaBritish Isles
HeadquartersChiswick, England[1]
Programming
Language(s)English
Picture format
Timeshift serviceDisney Channel +1
Ownership
OwnerThe Walt Disney Company (UK) Ltd.
Disney Channels Worldwide (Walt Disney Direct-to-Consumer & International)
Sister channelsDisney Junior
Disney XD
History
LaunchedOctober 1, 1995 (1995-10-01) (UK and Ireland)
ClosedSeptember 30, 2020 (2020-09-30)[2]
Replaced bySky Kids (Sky)
Former namesThe Disney Channel (1995–1997)

The Disney Channel was a British and Irish children's pay television channel owned and operated by The Walt Disney Company (UK) Ltd.

The channel was broadcast from 1 October 1995 to 1 October 2020. A one-hour timeshift channel called Disney Channel +1 was available on Sky and Virgin Media. At the time of closure, the channel had two sister channels, Disney Junior and Disney XD.

History

Pre-launch

In 1989, Disney Channel UK would have been the first international Disney Channel to launch with the help of Sky Television, and the channel featured much of the promotional material surrounding the launch of Sky Television and the Astra satellite. However, the partnership and a proposed joint venture between The Walt Disney Company and Sky Television went into a lawsuit after the discussion regarding the joint venture took place in November 1988, but The Walt Disney Company felt that it was no longer on equal footing on "decision-making responsibility" in a 50-50 partnership. The Walt Disney Company was supposed to launch two new channels in the UK, but when the talks broke down, Sky filed a lawsuit against The Walt Disney Company, claiming ₤1.5 billion in damages. The Walt Disney Company claimed that it wanted to get more influence over decision-making in the partnership and change the terms of the partnership. The Walt Disney Company was also reluctant to provide its share of funding for The Disney Channel.[3]

The lawsuit was later settled, and then The Walt Disney Company sold its joint-venture interest to Sky Television, and Sky went on to access the Walt Disney Pictures' movie library for 5 years.[4][5] However, with these 5 years having expired, The Walt Disney Company went on to launch The Disney Channel in the United Kingdom without any interest in Sky, but formed a distribution deal with Sky, offering The Disney Channel for free to cable and satellite subscribers if they had subscribed to Sky's movie package. The Disney Channel was also available as a standalone package without having to subscribe to Sky's movie package.

Post-launch

On 7 December 1994, The Walt Disney Company announced that it had reached an agreement with the British Sky Broadcasting to launch The Disney Channel in the United Kingdom as a subscription service in the autumn of 1995. It was also announced that the channel would be accessible on Sky, and cable operators have already subscribed to the Sky Movies package. The Disney Channel UK will be the first brand with that name. Back in January 1994, The Walt Disney Company also announced its joint venture with CLT Multi Media to launch Super RTL in Germany.[6] The new 50-50 partnership went well in Germany, and Super RTL was launched in April 1995, broadcasting throughout Germany and portions of Austria and Luxembourg.

On 25 August 1995, it was announced that The Disney Channel was set to launch in the United Kingdom and Ireland on 1 October 1995, broadcasting every day from 6 am to 10 pm on channel 26, timesharing with Sky Movies Gold on the Astra 1B satellite service. It was also announced that the channel would be subscription-only and not carry advertising. The track will deliver family entertainment, with all programming aimed at being suitable for all family members. The programming schedule features dramas, comedies, cartoons, documentaries, and feature films from the Disney archives, including the TV premieres of The Jungle Book and Cool Runnings. The advertising agency will be Mellors Reay & Partners during the channel's launch. At the same time, media services will be handled by BBJ Media Services Ltd.[7] The Disney Channel eventually launched in the UK on Sky on 1 October 1995, becoming the second Disney Channel to be found outside the United States,[8] next to Taiwan, which began on 29 March 1995. Its first broadcast was the UKTV premier of the 1967 film The Jungle Book.[9]

Disney Channel UK's studios and broadcast playout facilities were mainly in Teddington Studios (where the defunct ITV franchisee Thames Television was based, which ended its broadcast in 1992, losing their franchise to Carlton), for its first year of broadcasting. Then, in late 1996, they were moved to Stephen Street (where Thames Television had its original headquarters).[10] In 1994, the year before Disney Channel UK launched, Pearson acquired Thames Television's business. In the early years, Pearson also offered playout and transmission services for the Disney Channel.[11]

Within two weeks after the launch of the channel, The Disney Channel had talks with the ITC (Independent Television Commission, now Ofcom) on how Disney's products, attractions, and services are promoted on the channel. The channel said it did not carry advertising at the time, but the ITC has talked about establishing clearly defined breaks for self-promoting its products and services. However, as Disney and ITC agreed, the breaks were signified by the appearance of the on-screen Disney Consumer Arcade motif.[12]

In July 1997, the ITC revealed that Disney Channel's marketing methods were improper because the channel was supplied 'free' to cable customers who were already paying for a minimum of two premium film channels, including Sky Movies and The Movie Channel. Cable companies wanted to be able to supply the channel to subscribers as a standalone channel and as a bonus promotional channel for premium channel subscribers.[13] In September 1997, Disney Channel decided to make more continuity links between programs. However, Corinthian Television permitted Disney Channel to make them at St. John's Wood Studios. After each run of interstitials, this resulted in the creation of the new live block, Disney Channel UK Live.[10] During the same month, Disney Channel began to air more programs than movies, although the latter was still the main focus. Around this time, a preschool block called the "Under-Fives block" began airing, featuring mainly acquired preschool programming.

Following the ITC investigation, Disney Channel became available on Sky and cable operators as a separate premium channel on 2 March 1998. To promote the channel's new availability to cable operators, Disney Channel offered three days of unencrypted programming from 21 to 23 March 1998 as part of its 'Big Free For All' campaign.[14] On 6 December 1998, Disney Channel UK announced that it had appointed Paul Robinson, the former managing director of Talk Radio, as its new managing director and vice president. He was responsible for the channel's day-to-day operations, including all programming and marketing. Paul Robinson took over Tom Wszalek's place, later becoming the senior vice president for Walt Disney Television International's digital TV development.[15]

On 15 February 1999, Disney Channel introduced an evening movie slot that airs different family movies every night at 7 pm. The first movie to air on this new movie slot was The Sword in the Stone.[16] To promote the slot, Disney Channel hired Creative Forager to set up a particular build site at London's Cromwell Road, featuring a lounge set that includes a sofa with Mickey Mouse head-shaped pillows, a lamp, and a TV. At 7 pm every weeknight, a real family would sit on the sofa together to watch the movie. This resulted in a 300% increase in viewing figures for the Disney Channel's new movie slot.[17] On 1 September 1999, Disney Channel was relaunched and rolled out a daily schedule structure that includes the preschool zone (also known as Playhouse Disney) from 9 am to 2 pm, the Children's Zone from 2 pm to 7 pm, and the Family Zone (also known as The Wonderful World of Disney) from 7 pm to 12 am the next day.[18] With the changes, the Playhouse Disney-branded programming block in the UK was the first Playhouse Disney to launch outside the United States.

The lineup for the preschool zone between 9 am to 2 pm will include Winnie the Pooh, and a cookery series Bite Size, which Walt Disney Television International UK produced. The lineup for the Children's Zone consists of an animated adaption of the 1996 TV sitcom Sabrina the Teenage Witch, which was entitled Sabrina: The Animated Series. Buena Vista Productions continued to supply more shows on the Disney Channel UK Live block, such as Microsoap and Crash Zone, which was also being produced by the BBC and the Australian Children's Television Foundation (which in-credit was the Seven Network) respectively. The lineup for the Family Zone will also include the evening movie slot, which already premiered on 15 February of that year at 7 pm [18]

In 2000, Corinthian became part of Thomson Multimedia and was known as Corthinian Television Facilities. However, Corthinian quickly noticed that their company would make a lot more money if they had to look after all the channel requirements, including its post-production and playout, and not just the live studio links.[10] In September 2000, Disney Channel UK launched three additional sister channels on the BSkyB Digital satellite TV service. The three new channels were an separate Playhouse Disney channel, which broadcast 15 hours of preschool content from the 5-hour preschool block of the same name; Toon Disney, which focused on cartoons and behind-the-scenes documentaries; and Disney Channel +1, which was the one-hour timeshift of Disney Channel.[19][20] Until 2002 and 2003, respectively, these networks were not available on NTL or Telewest, both of which at the time could still only receive Disney Channel. Likely due to this, the Playhouse Disney block remained on the air until July 2004.

Paul Robinson also stated that the new structure helps Disney address the problem of having "different channels in one." A channel consisting of cartoons, preschool programs, and family entertainment in one schedule meant "someone was always upset." With the launch of these two dedicated channels, Disney should throw its whole weight behind each segment while simultaneously meeting the needs of different age groups. Toon Disney was also crucial for Disney's marketing strategy, as it was known for providing a dedicated outlet for the world's best-known animation factory. Before Toon Disney UK's launch in September 2000, Paul Robinson stated that only a third of Disney Channel's broadcast time was spent on cartoons. However, a 24-hour cartoon channel was an obvious decision. While there was much more time to play with the schedule, Disney had to fit in original animations over the cartoon classics it is best known for. Before these two sister channels were launched in September, Disney Channel had 4 million subscribers, a million more than in 1998. However, Disney Channel UK's rivals at the time, Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon, had around 7 million subscribers. Still, these channels were in basic cable or satellite packages, while Disney Channel was a premium channel.[20]

In May 2001, Disney Channel UK introduced a new live block slot entitled Studio Disney UK, airing from 3 pm to 7 pm on weekdays. The programming block featured live links between cartoons, dramas, and comedies. Disney Channel UK had a live block before the launch of the Studio Disney brand, but they decided to rebrand it into "a proper name and identity" and make the show feel "more pacey and quirky." Static Design, the production design arm of Static 2358 (now defunct), had designed the identity of Disney Channel UK's new live block, in addition to an on-screen package including ten idents, stings, on-screen bugs, program menus, and a style guide.[21] Studio Disney UK also featured a team of two to six presenters who did the live links in between programs and also allowed viewers to phone in and win prizes or appear as part of the small studio audience.[10] On 30 June 2001, Disney Channel ceased broadcasting on Sky's analog satellite service. At the time, Disney Channel stated that only 99% of its viewers were digital customers. Switching their services to digital meant more money for their customers to receive new channels, such as Disney's new sister channels and Disney Channel's +1 timeshift service, and viewers who already received Disney Channel got their new additional Sky Movie channels through Sky Digital.[22]

In 2002, Disney Channel's operations were significantly expanded because of an insufficient room at St. John's Wood Studios, so they should have a contract to fulfill; Corinthian took out a lease on a £15m purpose-built facility at West London's Chiswick Park (which was 85,000  ft in size), and the Disney Channel relocated their European operations hub there, with Corinthian responsible for everything in terms of providing broadcasting facilities for the Disney Channel.[10]

Disney Channel's new studio facilities in Chiswick featured two new studios (with control rooms), ten non-linear editing suites, two 3D graphic origination suites, and a multi-control transmission and playout facility (which has six transmission master control facilities and four multi-language audio dubbing suites). The operation was one of the first-ever fully file-based automated environments involving a digital robotic archive storage, digital asset management services, and a server-based automated transmission playout.[23] Two studios, which were not particularly large, were fully utilized, with one being the base for Studio Disney and the other one used regularly for kids gameshows and other shows. This included the talent show Star Ticket.[1]

On 17 August 2004, BSkyB announced its deal with The Walt Disney Company to launch a Disney Channel-branded games service on Sky Gamestar, which is in the Games section of Sky's interactive services on its digital platform. The new service, Disney Channel Play, was available to Sky Digital's 7 million customers. It was also available through all four Disney channels (including Disney Channel, Disney Channel +1, Playhouse Disney, and Toon Disney). All games had free demos, which viewers must pay to extend their playing for longer or on a per-play or per-day basis.[24] On 1 September 2004, Disney Channel expanded its hours to be airing overnight temporary.[25] However, the channel returned to being a 24-hour service permanently on 11 September 2017 until the closure, with the night schedule airing reruns of the German children's TV series Binny and the Ghost (known as Billie and the Ghost in the United Kingdom), the Argentine soap opera Violetta, and their in-house production The Evermoor Chronicles. In November 2004, Corinthian's parent company, Thomson Multimedia, was rebranded as Technicolor after purchasing the American film technology company of the same name. However, Corinthian became part of Technicolor Network Services.[26] However, Technicolor continued to provide playout services for the Disney Channel until its contract expired in 2012.[27]

On 1 July 2005, Studio Disney and other associated spin-off shows, also produced by the studio and co-produced with other studios, ended. However, with the changes, the studios (the home of the finished shows) were mothballed, the production crews working for these shows were made redundant, and the cameras at these studios were removed. Still, some equipment from these same studios was moved into various post-production suites around the building.[1] However, while Disney Channel was the final British children's TV channel to stop operating live studio links during after-school hours, the free-to-air children's TV channel CBBC continued to produce these live-studio links; Disney Channel's rival pay-TV channel Nickelodeon had already stopped doing these; and the children's block on ITV1 and CITV also ended live-studio links a year ago.

On 16 March 2006, changes were made to Disney services in the UK. Disney Channel and Playhouse Disney in the UK stopped being premium add-on channels and operated as part of basic-level subscription packages, joining Jetix.[28] However, this resulted in the "premium" aspect of Disney Channel (which includes Walt Disney Pictures' movies and a selection of Disney-branded animation) being merged with Toon Disney to launch a new channel, Disney Cinemagic, which was a premium channel included as a standalone channel and as a bonus channel as part of Sky's movie packages. Toon Disney was replaced with Disney Cinemagic; Toon Disney closed at 6 am, and Disney Cinemagic launched at 10 am. Disney Channel +1 closed and was replaced with Disney Cinemagic +1. However, Disney Channel +1 subsequently returned in June 2006.[29] During the same month, Disney Channel changed its focus to air more original sitcoms, changing its demographic mostly towards girls. However, these changes did not affect Playhouse Disney and continued its usual preschool programming formula. However, an archive sports channel, ESPN Classic, was also launched on 13 March, which was three days before the launch of Disney Cinemagic in the UK. In October 2006, Disney Channel was added to Top Up TV Anytime, which downloads programming overnight from various channels to a Thomson DTI 6300-16. In 2007, Disney added more On Demand content to Virgin Media's service.

In late 2007, BSkyB announced their plans to launch their pay-TV service on DTT, as well as Freeview's offering, entitled Picnic. However, the purpose of Picnic was to offer a cheaper but limited offering compared to the Sky Digital satellite package for those without a satellite dish. Disney Channel became part of the service, and the channel was supposed to air from 6 am to 6 pm only on the new service. After Disney Channel joined Sky's proposed service, Picnic, Rob Gilby, the managing director of Disney Channel UK, stated, "Our strategy is to make Disney channels available via as many potential platforms as possible. Pay DTT is a natural next step for us, as Disney Channel is an advertising-free, subscription-only service."[30] However, Picnic was cleared by Ofcom for its proposed launch in 2008, but Sky already put Picnic on hold in 2008 due to indecisiveness on Ofcom's part.[31] Picnic became Now TV, an OTT internet streaming service that was launched in July 2012. Before 2016, Disney Channel, Disney Junior, and Disney XD were also part of the service.

In January 2009, Disney Channel UK announced that it would launch an in-house sales team to forge commercial deals for the channel, both online (disney.co.uk) and on-air. It was opened up to allow brands to associate themselves with popular Disney Channel properties, including Hannah Montana and High School Musical, for the first time. This also includes sponsorship around popular Disney Channel shows and movies, support for special events, and integrated campaigns across online and mobile platforms. Despite this change to have sponsorship, Disney Channel UK remained advertising-free.[32]

The channel began broadcasting in 16:9 widescreen in May 2010. A new set of program mini-idents that would play before the program would start were launched in September 2010. In September 2011, a new logo was adopted. The same month, an HD version launched on Sky.[33]

In 2012, Technicolor's playout contract for the Disney Channel across the United Kingdom and Ireland expired, and Encompass became the new playout provider and continued to provide playout services for the Disney Channel until the channel's closure. During the channel's history, Disney has always outsourced its playout operations; thus, it never had an internal in-house process. However, over time, it brought some media functions in-house, such as production.[27]

On 1 July 2013, Disney Channel and Disney Junior (formerly Playhouse Disney) began to carry advertising.[34] During the same month, a new website was launched with On Demand services. However, on 28 March 2013, Disney UK fully exited the premium TV market (except ESPN) with the closure of Disney Cinemagic in the country. Despite the changes, Disney has signed up with Sky for its movie content deal to launch Sky Movies Disney.[35][36] However, the deal led to Disney's premium offering becoming part of Sky's movie channels and Sky's on-demand service, allowing viewers to access and watch movies from Disney in the same place as other movies from other movie studios. Disney would no longer have the option to launch another premium movie channel and would focus on the essential pay-TV market. Sadly, this resulted in the loss of the children's TV animation programming Disney Cinemagic aired, which would mean Disney might be relinquishing control to Sky (under strict branding rules as part of the licensing agreement) and the loss of the subscription standalone option. Although it is not confirmed, it was likely that Disney's exit from the British premium pay-TV market (with revenue from Disney Cinemagic subscriptions, possibly subsidizing both Disney Channel and Disney Junior) was connected to Disney's plan to introduce advertising on Disney Channel and its sister channel Disney Junior in July 2013.

Disney Channel left the Now TV streaming service in 2016, a few months after the launch of DisneyLife (now Disney+) in the United Kingdom and Ireland.[37][38] Nat Geo Wild was launched on the Disney Channel's original slot. At the time, the channel was not owned by Disney; it was acquired during the 21st Century Fox acquisition.[38]

Before the relaunch of DisneyLife to Disney+ in March 2020, DisneyLife also offered internet streams of Disney Channel, Disney XD, and Disney Junior, in addition to showing programming on-demand as part of the service.[39] However, DisneyLife's replacement, Disney+, didn't include these streams; it might have been a sign that linear TV channels have such a future.

Closure

On 3 June 2020, it was announced that David Levine, Disney's vice president of kids programming for the British, European, and African channels, and the general manager for Disney Channel UK, would leave the company on 30 June 2020.[40][41] On 25 June 2020, it was announced that Disney Channel UK would leave the airwaves in favour of Disney+.[42] Disney Channel, along with its sister channels Disney Junior and Disney XD, closed at midnight BST on 1 October 2020. The closure occurred exactly 25 years after the channel launched in 1995. The YouTube channel of the network however, continues to remain active after the closure.[43]

The channels were removed from Virgin Media and Sky, and their content was moved exclusively to Disney+. The final programme to be broadcast before its closure was the 2019 film Descendants 3. It then showed adverts and "I Want This" from Raven's Home, followed by an ident that froze for a few seconds and then cut to an image slide featuring the channel's logo, signalling the channel's closure.[44]

The channels were removed from Virgin Media on September 29, the day before the shutdown,[45] with CBBC and CBeebies taking the network's former Sky EPG slots on 1 October. In November 2020, the broadcast licences of Disney Channel UK, Disney XD UK, and Disney Junior UK were handed back to Ofcom, along with other Disney-branded European children's TV channels' broadcasting licences. Due to Brexit, a lot of these European feeds now have broadcast licences handled in Spain, authorised by the Comisión Nacional de los Mercados y la Competencia (also known as CMNC).[46][47] Sky Cinema Disney closed two months later, on 30 December 2020, which meant that Disney+ became the home of Disney movies in the UK and Ireland.[48] However, Fox UK closed down on 30 June 2021, leaving only National Geographic and BabyTV as the only Disney-owned pay TV channels in the UK.[49]

After the shutdown of Disney Channel UK, Disney vacated the building at Chiswick Park, and the building was handed back to the property's landlord in June 2021.[50] Even at the end of Disney's occupancy, the building still had two attached studios that were installed when Disney moved there. However, the facility was no longer needed due to the move to digital streaming distribution via Disney's streaming platform, Disney+. Disney still has its EMEA headquarters in Queen Caroline Street in Hammersmith, London (which is 3 miles away from their original headquarters).

Programming

The majority of the channel's programming schedule was formed from the syndication of television series from its American counterpart. However, the channel did occasionally act as host for homegrown UK and Irish series, including The Evermoor Chronicles,[51] The Lodge,[52] 101 Dalmatian Street,[53] and Sadie Sparks.[54] Disney Channel UK also produced more shows and many interstitials, including Life Bites (a localised version of Life Bites – Pillole di vita),[55] As the Bell Rings (a localised version of Quelli dell'intervallo), Hannah-Oke (a karaoke series with songs from the hit TV series Hannah Montana), Get the Look, First Class Chefs, Access All Areas, and Royal Ranch.

In March 2014, Disney Channel announced a multi-part movie entitled Evermoor (now a TV series entitled The Evermoor Chronicles) to be filmed in the UK. The mystery adventure film was shot on location in England and became the first long-form British series to be aired on the American version of the Disney Channel. Lime Pictures (known for the British TV series Hollyoaks and The Only Way Is Essex) produced Evermoor along with Disney's EMEA television studio.[56]

On 18 March 2019, Disney Channel UK premiered the new locally produced animated TV series 101 Dalmatian Street. The show was based on a pitch by Finland's Gigglebug Entertainment (owned by Anttu Harlin and Joonas Utti) to Disney's original animation team in London. Both of the Disney's 101 Dalmatians movies (including the animated and live-action versions), both of which were in turn based on Dodie Smith's original 1956 novel of the same name, were referenced as inspirations behind 101 Dalmatian Street. Disney's production team developed the plot, along with Passion Animation Studios for the plot and Atomic Cartoons for the external animation services.[57][53]

Interactivity

Disney Channel formerly had an interactive television service on Sky, in which viewers were able to press the red button on their Sky remote to access information about their series, character profiles, detailed television listings, quizzes, and messages submitted by viewers.

Website

Disney Channel's website featured information, games, interactive features, contact details, and submission forms. The site had been made entirely in Adobe Flash since 1 May 1999, the same day as the 1999 rebrand. In May 2003, it was redesigned to fit with the other Disney Channels 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.

Presentation

During the channel's launch, The Production Design Company (then part of Pearson Television, now defunct) did title sequences, channel promotions, and channel campaigns for The Disney Channel.[58][59] The Disney Channel's first international (including the United Kingdom) branding was designed by Lambie-Nairn (founded by Martin Lambie-Nairn, now a part of Superunion).[60] Lambie-Nairn designed the identity, resembling various playful animations that would end up with the iconic simplified Mickey Mouse head silhouette alone on-screen and 'The Disney Channel' text on the bottom. When the Disney Channel expanded to other markets, it also brought its identity with it.[61]

Regarding his first branding work on The Disney Channel, Martin Lambie-Nairn himself stated: "Disney was one of the world's biggest and most powerful brands. When Disney decided to extend their Disney Channel franchise to the UK, they recognised the need to take cultural differences outside the United States into account. The task was to customise the well-known brand for television viewers in the UK and elsewhere. Their solution was simple yet devastatingly effective. Following the success of their branding identity in the UK, Disney proceeded with their plan to use it in other TV territories around the globe."[62]

However, similar to how Lambie-Nairn designed the branding package for Carlton, the third ITV London weekday franchise that debuted in 1993, The Disney Channel UK's launch branding package also made use of the Gill Sans typeface, 2 years before their usage in Lambie-Nairn's new branding package for the BBC, where the font came to be used on-air, including their logos and presentation (up until 2021/2022, when they began to use the in-house Reith typeface).

In July 1997, Disney Channel UK was relaunched following the launch of Disney Channel France. Since then, the splat logo has been used as one of the original launch idents made by Lambie-Nairn. With the new branding made by a French production design company, Jus De Prod,[63] the new idents feature any red and blue objects form the Mickey Mouse head logo. Before the relaunch, the channel was branded "The Disney Channel", but during the rebrand, the name was shortened to "Disney Channel".

On 1 September 1999, Disney Channel UK was relaunched by a French production company, GÉDÉON; the new branding was also applied to almost all of Disney Channel's worldwide networks, except for the United States.[18] The branding was entitled the "Circles" era. The new branding package also focused on the Mickey Mouse head and ears symbol; all the self-promotion kits and idents for the channel start and end with it. According to GÉDÉON, the new logo was described as an "experimental field for animation". More than 30 illustrators, animators, graphic designers, and directors, including Gamma Studios and Velvet mediendesign worked on the project.[64] When the new look was first launched, nine identifications aired on the same day. In addition, when Toon Disney and Playhouse Disney launched in the UK, these channels also followed the same branding scheme "Circles", from the international versions of Disney Channel at the time.

In 2003, Disney Channel UK was rebranded using the American version branding package made by American production company Razorfish (which then became CA Square, now part of Realistic Studio). However, the new branding was also a global rollout, and this was the first time they put the worldwide versions of the channel's presentation in line with the American channel. However, the branding took 12 months to complete, and it was the first time that the international versions had been rebranded its logo for more than 5 years. The new branding also involves a "contemporary combination" of the Walt Disney signature and a three-circle shape symbolising the Mickey Mouse head and ears, with the logo being on the corner commonly seen in bumpers and as an on-screen bug. As stated by Disney, this new branding package also has the flexibility for markets to incorporate local references.[65] It was entitled the "Bounce" era, as the Disney Channel logo mainly bounces during bumpers.

In 2007, Disney Channel UK was rebranded, keeping the Bounce era with a slight refresh. However, the era was entitled the "Ribbon" era. Despite the name, it was often referred to as a ribbon twirling around 3D elements of the idents and bumpers. The branding package was made by New Wave Entertainment, which also developed more than 400 elements for the relaunch. The rebranding project was led by Mary Snyder.[66][67]

In September 2011, Disney Channel UK was rebranded using the American version branding package that features the smartphone-like version of the Disney Channel logo. The branding package was produced by Pembrook Creative, which also designed Radio Disney's final logo.[68] Pembrook Creative also created the graphics for the Digital Signage to promote the launch of Disney XD in the United States in 2009. At the time, the graphics could be seen at ABC's headquarters in Times Square in New York.[69]

During the "Smartphone App logo" era, Beautiful Creative also designed a movie bumper for the Disney Channel.[70] In addition, Beautiful Creative also provided the branding for the Disney Channel Top 10. The show features the top 10 countdowns of Disney moments, such as the top 10 Disney movies.[71]

During Disney Channel UK's final decade, the branding also had a more seasonal approach, with various studios providing the branding packages for the Disney Channel, including Mainframe for the Summer 2012 branding package,[72] and Modus Operandi (also shortened as Modus) for the Summer 2013 promo branding package.[73][74]

In 2014, Disney Channel UK was rebranded using a branding package made by BDA Creative. Back in summer 2013, BDA Creative won a contract to produce a branding package for the Disney Channel, which was set to roll out worldwide.[75][76]

BDA Creative also produced various idents, a generic package, a primetime package, and seasonal packages such as Summer, Autumn and Winter, plus two specials for Monstober and Falalali Days. The rebrand didn't have an official name, so the rebrand also features several curves in its presentation. However, the branding won a Promax North America 2015 Gold award in the Program Informational category.[77]

In February 2017, Disney Channel UK had its final rebrand. Unlike the other branding packages (which were designed by others), the rebrand package was designed in-house at Disney EMEA, led by Paul Noddings (also known as NoddyDog).[78] The branding package was different from the United States, Latin America, and Asia-Pacific branding packages (which were made by MakinÉ Studios and came almost a year after the EMEA branding package),[79] and it was rolled out across websites, social media, advertising, the new Disney Channel app, and also the TV channel. The rebranding package also featured vibrancy and playfulness by using strong, bold colors, eye-popping patterns, and whimsical doodles, which brought out the individual personalities of each Disney Channel show and its stars. A style guide was also produced, providing instructions to each Disney Channel feed in the EMEA on how the rebrand should be implemented.

During Summer 2020, Disney Channel UK had their own final summer look (or a sub-rebrand); the branding package was developed by Philip Knock and Jadane Carey at The Strand Creative Studio (now Level UK) in Derby, England. The summer package also had an 80s-like vaporwave look.

References

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