Jetix Play (formerly Fox Kids Play) was a preschool entertainment brand, owned by

Jetix Europe Jetix Europe N.V. (formerly known as Fox Kids Europe N.V.) was a European television broadcasting company that owned children's television channels and programming blocks across the Europe and Middle East, such as Jetix and Jetix Play. History F ...

. The Jetix Play name was primarily used as a sister channel to

Jetix Jetix (stylized as JETIX) was a children's entertainment brand owned by The Walt Disney Company. The brand was for a slate of action/adventure-related programming blocks and television channels. Jetix programming mainly originated from the S ...

in a small number of regions, such as

Central and Eastern Europe Central and Eastern Europe is a term encompassing the countries in the Baltics, Central Europe, Eastern Europe and Southeast Europe (mostly the Balkans), usually meaning former communist states from the Eastern Bloc and Warsaw Pact in Europe. ...

, and

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...

History

The channel originally launched as Fox Kids Play in January 2003 in Poland, and later launched in October 2003 in CEE (Including Russia) and MENA regions (including Turkey). Fox Kids Play was aimed at a younger audience than the main Jetix channel and primarily showed archived programming from BVS Entertainment and Fox Kids Europe's catalogues. The channel was available for 12 hours per day, from 6 A.M. to 6 P.M. On 1 January 2005, Fox Kids Play was rebranded as Jetix Play. On November 1, 2008, Jetix Play increased its broadcast period from 12 to almost 17 hours per day, from 6 A.M. to 10:45 P.M. After

The Walt Disney Company 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 ...

increased their ownership in

, they planned to rebrand the channels after Jetix's rebranding into

Disney XD Disney XD is an American pay television channel owned by the Disney Branded Television and Disney Media and Entertainment Distribution units of The Walt Disney Company. The channel is aimed primarily at older children ages six to eleven years ...

Disney Channel Disney Channel, sometimes known as simply Disney, is an American pay television channel that serves as the flagship property of Disney Branded Television, a unit of the Disney General Entertainment Content division of The Walt Disney Compan ...

. The channel closed on 1 August 2010,Wkrótce nowy kanał Disneya w Polsc
''New Channel by Disney Soon in Poland'' in Poland and in Middle East on 1 September 2010. The channel was replaced with

Playhouse Disney Playhouse Disney was a brand of programming blocks and international cable and satellite television channels that were owned by the Disney Channels Worldwide unit (now Disney Branded Television) of The Walt Disney Company's Disney–ABC Televis ...

Disney Junior Disney Junior is an American pay television network owned by the Walt Disney Television (part of Disney General Entertainment Content) unit of The Walt Disney Company through Disney Branded Television. Aimed mainly at children two to seven yea ...

in most regions.

Programming

Programming on Jetix Play consisted of archive programming of animated cartoons and television series from

BVS Entertainment 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 S ...

's catalogue, which included shows from

Saban Entertainment 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 S ...

and the pre-1990 catalogue of

DIC Entertainment DIC Entertainment Corporation (; also known as DIC Audiovisuel, DIC Enterprises, DIC Animation City, DIC Entertainment, L.P., and DIC Productions), branded as The Incredible World of DIC, was an international film and television production comp ...

, which BVS/Fox Kids Europe owned international rights to at the time.

Other uses

In the United Kingdom, Fox Kids Europe launched Fox Kids Play as an interactive VOD channel on

Telewest Telewest (previously Telewest Broadband and Telewest Communications) was a cable internet, broadband internet, telephone supplier and cable television provider in the United Kingdom. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange, and was also o ...

in July 2003. The service consisted of various television games based on Fox Kids programmes and third-party properties. The service extended to Sky Digital in March 2004. In the Netherlands, a Jetix Play branded block was featured on

. Unlike the channel, this block was strictly pre-school-focused and aired acquired shows aimed towards younger children, including ''

The Koala Brothers ''The Koala Brothers'' is a British stop-motion animated children's television show that features the adventures of 2 koala brothers named Frank and Buster, as they seek to help their friends in a sleepy town in the Australian outback. Seventy-n ...

'', ''

Bob the Builder ''Bob the Builder'' is a British animated children's television series created by Keith Chapman for HIT Entertainment and Hot Animation. The series follows the adventures of Bob, a building contractor, specialising in masonry, along with hi ...

'' and ''

Strawberry Shortcake Strawberry shortcake may refer to: * Strawberry shortcake (dessert), a shortcake served with strawberries * "Strawberry Shortcake, Huckleberry Pie," a song published in 1956; a version by The Brother Sisters was released by Mercury Records in 196 ...

''. In September 2009, the block began airing '' In the Night Garden...'' Between 2006 and 2007, in

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

and other CEE countries, a Jetix Play programming block was broadcast on Jetix, which similarity to the named channel aired archived programming from BVS's catalogue.

References

{{Reflist

Play Play most commonly refers to: * Play (activity), an activity done for enjoyment * Play (theatre), a work of drama Play may refer also to: Computers and technology * Google Play, a digital content service * Play Framework, a Java framework * Pla ...

Disney television networks Television channels and stations established in 2003 Television channels and stations disestablished in 2010 Children's television networks Defunct television channels in Poland Polish-language television stations Defunct television channels in Romania Defunct television channels in Russia Russian-language television stations Defunct television channels in Turkey Turkish-language television stations Television stations in the Czech Republic Television channels in Slovakia Defunct television channels in Slovenia 2003 establishments in Russia 2003 establishments in the Czech Republic English-language television stations Romanian-language television stations