Disney Channel is a

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-managed

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kids' channel, owned and operated by The Walt Disney Company Limited. It was launched on 19 September 2009, replacing Jetix Eastern Europe.

History

The channel was launched in April 1999 as Fox Kids Central and Eastern Europe, following the 1996 launch of Fox Kids UK. The network's programming consisted mostly of older shows from Fox Children's Productions, which were aired in the US Fox Kids block, and shows from its co-owners,

Saban International Saban Entertainment, Inc. (along with Saban International; currently operating under the legal name is BVS Entertainment, Inc.) was a worldwide-served independent American-Israeli television production company formed in 1980 by Haim Saban and ...

. Saban also supplied the channel with the series from the Marvel animated universe. Most Bulgarian operators made it available in 1999, often with Russian audio. Later, they mostly switched to the English track. In 2000, Bulgarian free-to-air television channel bTV, then owned by

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, launched a Fox Kids-branded block which aired on weekday afternoons and weekend mornings. In 2004 the Fox Kids block was renamed to Jetix. It was removed in 2008, although bTV still airs shows from Jetix, but not part of any block. In 2001,

The Walt Disney Company The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Disney Stud ...

announced its intention to buy Fox Kids' majority owner,

Fox Family Worldwide ABC Family Worldwide is a subsidiary of Walt Disney Television that is responsible for the operations of the U.S. cable network Freeform. The company was originally formed as International Family Entertainment, a spin-off of the Christian Broad ...

, along with

Haim Saban Haim Saban (; he, חיים סבן; born October 15, 1944) is an Israeli-American media proprietor, investor, and producer of records, film, and television. A businessman with interests in financial services, entertainment, and media, and an e ...

's entertainment companies, which in turn partly owned Fox Family. In 2004, Fox Kids Europe, Fox Kids Latin America and Disney announced to brand all their channels under one brand, titled Jetix. Jetix began as a block on Fox Kids and would eventually rebrand on 1 January 2005. After

Robert Iger Robert Allen Iger (; born February 10, 1951) is an American businessman who is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of The Walt Disney Company. He previously served as the President of ABC Television between 1994 and 1995 and the President and C ...

became Disney's new chief executive officer, the company started to rename some of its properties in order to focus more on its key brands like

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

and ABC. Disney announced in December 2008 to fully purchase Jetix Europe and have it delisted from the Euronext. Most Jetix channels were changed over to Disney XD, but on 26 May 2009, Disney announced that the Jetix channel in certain countries (namely

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, the

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Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...

and

) would be renamed to Disney Channel instead, marking that channel's first introduction in these countries. The channel finally rebranded to Disney Channel on 19 September 2009. On 1 June 2011, the channel was rebranded to the American graphical package, with the app logo. On 21 July 2014 the channel was rebranded with the German graphical package. On 11 August 2015 Disney Channel Eastern Europe changed its aspect ratio from 4:3 to 16:9.

Programming

References

External links

Disney Bulgaria
on ''

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Disney Channel Bulgaria website

TeleManiac Disney Channel forum
(in Bulgarian) {{Bulgarian television

Television networks in Bulgaria Bulgarian-language television stations Children's television networks Television channels and stations established in 1999 1999 establishments in Bulgaria 2009 establishments in Bulgaria ru:Disney Channel Bulgaria

History

Programming

See also

References

External links