Disney XD

This article is about the American channel. For channels in other countries, see List of Disney XD TV channels.
Disney XD
Launched February 13, 2009 (2009-02-13)
Owned by Disney Channels Worldwide
(Disney–ABC Television Group)
Picture format 720p (HDTV)
(HD feed downgraded to center cut 480i for SDTVs)
Slogan "The Future Is Now!"
Country United States
Language English
Spanish (via SAP audio track)
Broadcast area Nationwide
International
Headquarters Burbank, California
Replaced Toon Disney
Jetix
Sister channel(s) Disney Channel
Disney Junior
Freeform
ESPN
ABC
Website disneyxd.disney.com
Availability
Satellite
DirecTV 292 (HD/SD)
1292 (VOD)
Dish Network 174 (SD)
C band AMC 11 - Channel 45 (4DTV Digital)
AMC 18 - Channel 13 (H2H 4DTV)
Cable
Available on most U.S. cable systems Consult your local cable provider for channel availability
Flow Trinidad Channel 41
IPTV
Verizon FiOS 781 (HD)
251 (SD)
1722 (Spanish feed)
AT&T U-verse 1304 (HD)
304 (SD)
3052 (Spanish feed)
Southern Fibernet 303 (SD)
1303 (HD)
Google Fiber 428 (HD/SD)
Streaming media
Sling TV Internet Protocol television

Disney XD is an American digital cable and satellite television channel that is owned by the Disney Channels Worldwide unit of the Disney–ABC Television Group, itself a unit of the Disney Media Networks division of The Walt Disney Company. Aimed primarily at children, its programming consists of original first-run television series, current and former original series and made-for-cable films from sister network Disney Channel, theatrically-released movies, and some live-action and animated programs from other distributors.

The channel offers an alternate Spanish language audio feed, either via a separate channel as part of a package of Spanish television networks sold by cable and satellite providers or a separate audio track accessible through the SAP option, depending on the provider.

As of February 2015, Disney XD is available to approximately 80,120,000 pay television households (68.8% of households with at least one television set) in the United States.[1]

History

Launching

Logo used from 2009-2015. Still seen after the credits of original programming.
The typeface XDRA that was created for Disney XD in 2014

Disney XD was launched on February 13, 2009 at 12:00 a.m. Eastern Time, with the Phineas and Ferb episode "Dude, We're Getting the Band Back Together!" as its first program. The channel debuted its first original series, Aaron Stone, at 7:00 p.m. Eastern Time that day; the first part of the two-part premiere episode aired simultaneously on Disney XD and Disney Channel. New animated series included in the channel's initial lineup were Kid vs. Kat and Jimmy Two-Shoes.[2]

The network took over the channel space of Toon Disney, an animation-focused channel that debuted on April 18, 1998, which eventually launched a live-action/animation block called Jetix in 2004; Jetix channels outside of the United States were relaunched under the Disney XD brand starting with the France-based service on April 1, 2009.[3] Many of the channel's programs – particularly animated series – previously aired on Toon Disney, mainly as part of the Jetix program block, which ran on Toon Disney until that channel's shutdown. Disney XD carries the same name as an unrelated mini-site and media player on Disney.com, which stood for Disney Xtreme Digital,[4] though it has been stated that the "XD" in the channel's name does not have an actual meaning.

The channel's first original television movie, Skyrunners, premiered on November 27, 2009.[5] On April 1, 2012, Disney XD launched a block called "Marvel Universe", as a result of Disney's 2009 acquisition of Marvel Entertainment.[6] In mid-2012, Disney created Disney Shows, a YouTube channel that hosts episodes of Disney Channel and Disney XD series and shorts (Disney XD series available on the channel include Kick Buttowski: Suburban Daredevil, Kickin' It, Pair of Kings, and Zeke and Luther).[7]

Programming

Disney XD's schedule consists largely of animated and live-action programs aimed at pre-teens. Disney XD content is a mixture original series as well as programs inherited from sister network, The Disney Channel. In addition to full-length live-action and animated original series, the channel also debuts short series similar to those seen on Disney Channel during commercial breaks (such as "Two More Eggs"), which serve as filler for programs scheduled to end during the half-hour and last usually around one to three. The channel also airs a youth-oriented "plays of the week" countdown segment called SportsCenter High-5, which is produced by ESPN's SportsCenter and airs periodically between shows; it also airs a short series featuring edited segments of ABC's Wipeout. Often, these shows are televised in the last two minutes of the program, with the exception of the Disney XD Shortstop, or following the ending of a movie.

A notable aspect of Disney XD's original series is that they tend to feature predominately male casts, and as such, its original programs feature very few females as main characters (with most live-action originals typically featuring only one female in its main cast, an exception to this was the 2012-2014 sitcom Crash & Bernstein, Kirby Buckets, & Lab Rats: Elite Force, which featured a predominately female cast) in comparison to Disney Channel's original programs, which tend to feature female leads in most of their series and generally balanced casts.

New episodes of animated original series are usually aired on Monday nights, while new episodes of live-action original series air on Wednesday nights. In addition, Disney XD airs original made-for-TV movies from Disney Channel and theatrically released feature films, but unlike Disney Channel, Disney XD typically does not air these movies in prime time; instead, films generally air during the late afternoon hours at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time with double features airing a few times a week.

Unlike Disney Channel (and similarly, fellow sister network Disney Junior) – whose advertising comes in the form of program promotions, underwriter sponsorships, and interstitials for Disney films, home video and game releases produced by the channel[8] – Disney XD operates as an advertiser-supported service running traditional television commercials in addition to promotions for the channel's shows.

Programming blocks

Current
MU short series
  • Animation and motion comics
  • Radio Disney personality Morgan Tompkins hosted
    • "Animated Reality", a look the stunt work for the films
    • "What Would It Take?", the science and tech of superheroes
    • "Master Class", with Joe Quesada, Marvel's chief creative officer, shows behind-the-scenes of creating comics[6]

Former

Related services

Service Description
Disney XD HD Disney XD HD is a high definition simulcast of the Disney XD channel that broadcasts in the 720p resolution format (the recommended HD format for the Disney-ABC Television Group's broadcast and cable properties); the HD feed launched with the standard definition feed of the channel on February 13, 2009. Disney XD's original programming is produced and broadcast in HD, along with feature films, Disney Channel original movies made after 2005 and select episodes, films and series produced before 2009. The HD feed is carried regionally on most cable providers (such as Time Warner Cable, Cablevision, Cox Communications and Comcast Xfinity), IPTV providers Verizon FiOS and AT&T U-verse and nationally on satellite provider DirecTV.
Disney XD On Demand Disney XD On Demand is the channel's video-on-demand service, offering select episodes of Disney XD's original series and certain acquired programs to digital cable and IPTV providers.
WATCH Disney XD Offers live and on-demand streaming of Disney XD content online and through mobile apps. The service requires users to authenticate with a login from a participating television service provider.

International channels

Disney XD, similarly born of a merger between Jetix and Toon Disney, is available around the world.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Seidman, Robert (February 22, 2015). "List of how many homes each cable network is in as of February 2015". TV by the Numbers. Zap2it. Retrieved March 14, 2015.
  2. ↑ Haugsted, Linda (January 7, 2009). "Disney XD Unwraps on Friday the 13th (Archive)". MultiChannel News. Archived from the original on June 16, 2011. Retrieved 2013-12-02.
  3. ↑ "French Jetix becomes Disney XD". Broadband TV News. 2009-02-16.
  4. ↑ Disney to offer safe social site for kids, Chicago Tribune (via HighBeam Research), January 17, 2007.
  5. ↑ Moody, Annemarie (April 7, 2009). "Production Begins on Disney XD's Skyrunners, Weta Handles Creatures". Animation World Network. Retrieved November 15, 2014.
  6. 1 2 3 Truitt, Brian (March 7, 2012). "'Ultimate Spider-Man' leads Disney XD's new superhero series". AZ Central (Gannett). USA TODAY. Retrieved November 15, 2014.
  7. ↑ "Disney Shows". YouTube. Retrieved January 19, 2013.
  8. ↑ Now that Duff's had enough...: is it time for Disney Channel to cash in and rethink no-ads strategy?, Daily Variety, June 6, 2003. Retrieved April 15, 2013.
  9. ↑ "Marvel Calls "Avengers Assemble" On DisneyXD". May 23, 2013. Retrieved June 9, 2013.
  10. ↑ White, Peter (June 26, 2012). "Disney XD launches Marvel block across EMEA". TBI Vision (Informa Telecoms & Media). Retrieved August 5, 2014.
  11. ↑ Ng, Philiana (October 10, 2014). "'Guardians of the Galaxy' Animated TV Series Coming in 2015". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on October 10, 2014. Retrieved October 10, 2014.
  12. ↑ Wolfe, Jennifer (July 12, 2013). "Disney XD Kicks Off 'Randomation' Block". Animation World Network. Retrieved August 5, 2014.

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Saturday, April 23, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.