Disney Channel (European, Middle Eastern, and African TV channel)

Disney Channel is an Arabian and African pay television channel owned by The Walt Disney Company EMEA (Disney Co. Ltd.). And part of Disney Branded Television, a unit of the Disney International Operations division of The Walt Disney Company. It currently broadcasts in the Arab world, some Sub-Saharan African countries, Greece, Cyprus, Malta, and Ex-Yugoslavian countries.

This article is about Disney Channel in EMEA. For the original U.S. version, see Disney Channel. For other international versions, see Disney Branded Television.
Disney Channel
TypePay television channel
Country
Broadcast area
NetworkDisney Branded Television
Headquarters
Programming
Language(s)
Picture format
Ownership
OwnerThe Walt Disney Company EMEA
Sister channels
History
Launched
  • 2 April 1997 (1997-04-02)
Links
Website

It originally launched on 2 April 1997 as a channel in the Arab World, which is exclusively to Orbit TV subscribers,[1][2] until began to roll out in other countries in Africa & Southeast Europe beginning in 2005. It previously used to cover Poland and Turkey with their respective audio tracks until 2010[3] and 2012[4] respectively, when two fully-localized feeds were launched for those countries. In Albania, the EMEA feed was previously available between 2012 and 2018, with Albanian subtitles available for programs.[5]

History

The Disney Channel began broadcasting for the Middle East was launched on 2 April 1997 on satellite provider Orbit in the MENA region.[1][2]

At first, it was available only in English, but on 1 April 1998, a separate Arabic sub-feed was added. Animated films and series were dubbed in Arabic,[6] while live-action films and series were subtitled. Disney Channel Middle East was then picked up by satellite provider Showtime in fall 2001. The channel featured the logos (resembling Mickey Mouse head) in two versions (the one with the channel's name written in English and the other in Arabic for each feed), until June 2003 when it adopted the 2002 US Disney Channel logo.

Somewhere at that time, both the Arabic and the English feed of the channel were merged. In consequence, on 3 January 2005 Disney Channel Middle East started to simulcast Disney Channel Scandinavia, including its schedule and the prints of the series and movies for this feed (modified to feature also Arabic dub credits). Then on November/December 2005 Disney Channel Scandinavia and Middle East started to add dub credits to the series and movies through subtitles.

Disney Channel Scandinavia and Middle East started gradually becoming individual feeds in 2006 starting with different rotation of films (that gets more different as the time goes by), though this did not stop Arab satellite provider Orbit, from adding a Swedish audio track to the Middle Eastern feed on 16 April 2007 (which was subsequently removed years later). The Middle Eastern feed became a pan-European network, as the channel was launched in Sub-Saharan Africa on 25 September 2006,[7] in Poland on 2 December 2006,[8] in Turkey on 29 April 2007, and in ex-Yugoslav countries, Greece and Cyprus on 7 November 2009.

In fall 2009, when the feed separation from Disney Channel Scandinavia was complete, the Middle East feed (now broadcasting in most of the EMEA region) started to share promotions and events with the CEE feed.

On 1 August 2010, the channel were separated in Poland for the launch of a fully localized Polish feed.

On 12 January 2012, Disney Channel EMEA separated in Turkey with the launch of an independent Turkish feed,[4] and became free-to-air. Later that year, Disney Channel EMEA was launched in Albania with Albanian-language subtitles available.[5]

The channel adopted a new logo and underwent a brand design on 21 July 2014.[9] In 2015, Disney Channel EMEA switched its aspect ratio from 4:3 to 16:9, since most of its households switch to their flat screen TVs.

In 2017, a high-definition feed of the channel was launched. It includes Arabic subtitles for live-action films and TV series. Also in that year, Disney Channel EMEA rebranded using the 2017 European branding package.

In 2018, the Albanian sub-feed was closed down.

On 31 December 2020, Disney XD was closed in the region.[10]

Disney Channel programs will also be available on Disney+ when it launches in South Africa on 18 May 2022, in the Arab World countries on 8 June 2022, and in additional European countries such as Greece on 14 June 2022.[11] But it could plan to shut down the channels, as well as they did in Southeast Asia back in 2021.

Programming

Current programming

Former programming

Upcoming programming
  • The Unstoppable Yellow Yeti

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020

2021

References
  1. Disney Channel - Arabic VHS Trailer, retrieved 2022-05-01
  2. "A Salute to Disney Channel: International: Vive le Mickey". Retrieved 2022-05-01.
  3. Disney Channel - Scandinavia/MENA/Poland - Promos + Idents (2008), retrieved 2022-05-01
  4. "Walt Disney şifresiz yayına başlayacak - CNN TÜRK". web.archive.org. 2015-07-03. Retrieved 2022-05-01.
  5. "Disney Channel në Digitalb - Telekomanda". web.archive.org. 2016-09-15. Retrieved 2022-05-01.
  6. Disney in Arabic! [90's Disney Channel Middle East], retrieved 2022-05-01
  7. "Lots of animation on new channel". TimesLIVE. Retrieved 2022-05-01.
  8. "Disney Channel przyciąga widzów". Media2.pl (in Polish). Retrieved 2022-05-02.
  9. "Disney Channel unveils its new logo and on-air branding across Africa". mediaupdate.co.za. Archived from the original on 2014-08-12. Retrieved July 27, 2014.
  10. Disney XD Arabia | Last Continuity - Channel Shutdown | December 2020, retrieved 2022-05-01
  11. Szalai, Georg; Szalai, Georg (2022-03-29). "Disney+ Sets South Africa, Middle East Launch Dates, Prices". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2022-05-01.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.