Disney Channel is a defunct television channel that was broadcast in Australia and New Zealand. It was mainly aimed at children and their families. It does occasionally broadcast commercial advertisements and programming is broken up by a number of breaks, during which trailers for Disney's programming are usually shown. On 1 September 2009, Disney Channel started broadcasting in 16:9 widescreen.
History[]
The Disney Channel has been broadcast by Optus since 8 June 1996. It became available though Austar on 1 April 2001, Foxtel on 1 December 2001, TransTV on 21 January 2002, and is also available on Neighbourhood Cable. It was formerly available on SelecTV from September 2008 until the closure of its English service in late 2010.
It has been broadcast on New Zealand's pay television network (SKY Network Television) since December 2003. On 5 December 2005, Disney Channel launched Playhouse Disney Channel in Australia on the Foxtel, Austar and Optus Television digital services and in New Zealand on the SKY Network Television digital service. On 1 September 2009 the channel started 16:9 widescreen broadcasting. On 6 February 2012 a new logo was adopted.
On November 30, 2019, Disney Channel in New Zealand was shut down after the launch of Disney+. On April 30, 2020, Disney Channel in Australia was shut, marking this the first time that a vanilla Disney Channel worldwide was declared as defunct, not counting the very short lived Disney Channel in Ukraine.
Presentation[]
When Disney Channel's Australian service commenced operations, it aired the same Disney Channel programs from America, but utilised the same Disney Channel idents from the UK. In 1997, to prepare for the launch of Disney Channel France, the network dropped "The" from its name and introduced a new logo with two red splats and a blue splat and also adopted idents with the logo formed by red and blue objects. In August 1999, the channel changed its presentation again and introduced a top Circles logo (with three circles forming Mickey's head) and adopted new idents with the logo being formed by various circular objects. The "Splat" logo from 1997 was still in use, but it adapted the new Circles style. The Circles logo and idents were first used on Disney Channel UK on 1 May 1999.
In July 2003, Disney Channel adopted the new logo designed by CA Square. Presentation changed again in 2007, with the logo being formed by a ribbon. The new logo came into use on 6 February 2012, when the music video "Turn It Up" aired showing brand new shows coming and featuring the new logo. The logo was first used on an episode of Shake It Up after "Turn It Up" premiered. All promos that featured the old logo have all been re-branded to the new logo adopted from the US The new logo came into use on Disney Channel's website.
Videos[]
