The Rise & Fall of The Disney Channel

when it comes to disney entertainment nostalgia there's quite a few subjects to choose from whether it's the movies you grew up watching the toys you played with or the games you obsessed over disney's influence on fond memories of the past truly has no limits however another form of disney centric nostalgia were their television shows and more specifically the disney channel it first went live almost four decades ago and in that time has gone through a lot of changes and has also hosted some pretty bizarre content so don't touch that dial or play button and let's explore the rise and fall of the original disney channel [Music] [Applause] the story begins on april 18 1983 when the disney channel made its official debut on cable television but to fully understand and appreciate what led to this monumental occasion let's rewind a bit to the very beginning dinosaurs appeared some 220 million years ago and roamed the earth until about 65 million years ago no i meant the beginning of cable tv itself as it's actually a major part of the channel's overall history now when telling the story of how this once revolutionary tv service came to be there's more than one starting place in its history for instance it technically began with the first television transmissions ever in the 1920s which were obviously quite crude and very primitive one could also begin the story of cable tv in the 1930s with the first television broadcast to the public this is also when tv was evolving from an experimental new form of technology into a viable source of entertainment sports and news coverage but as an effort to get to the creation of the disney channel a bit sooner let's jump to 1948 with nbc's texaco star theater how do you like this isn't it wonderful what you got to go through for lousy 15 000 a week isn't it now it doesn't have anything to do with the disney channel itself but it was the first true television hit that led to the innovation of cable tv you see when the show first debuted only two percent of americans even had a television set as by and large they were seen as an expensive fad that would soon fade away but texaco star theater was a huge success and became the first must-see tv show causing televisions to go from a device of luxury to a must-have household item likewise the show also set fire to network television production and within a matter of years the industry was brimming with all kinds of addicting sitcoms variety shows and dramas but with the surge in popularity for this new form of home entertainment there was also a growing problem it was more or less reliant on families living near a tv station to even receive a show signal so if you lived outside of a major city and especially within mountainous regions or places with bad weather you'd often have terrible signal strength or no signal at all enter cable tv in which massive antennas were built to rise above these mountain ranges receive the signals from far away broadcast stations and by way of cables transmit the signal into your home now to be clear cable tv did require a pretty hefty investment for the average american household in fact the initial installation fee was usually around one hundred fifty dollars or just over fifteen hundred dollars today and monthly charges were about five dollars a month or fifty five dollars a month today regardless of the price cable television instantly took off and despite a few rough years in the 60s due to some fcc regulations that were eventually overturned in the 1970s the cable business was once again booming but the benefits of cable tv started to appeal to those in major cities as well so this paid tv service saw a massive expansion beyond its original intention but for some this wasn't a good thing monsters do have their place in the zoo in your nightmares in the deep in your favorite horror movies but not in your living room on your tv pay tv and cable tv companies are seeking the right to charge you for the very programs you now get free if you want to stop pay tv and save free television sign the petition in the lobby of this theater most of the concern with cable tv was a general fear of being forced to pay for television shows that were normally free there was also the fear of paying for televised sports events concerts or even worse the possibility of movie skipping theaters and going straight to this newfangled pay tv service thus putting movie theaters out of business wow talk about the past repeating itself enter a man by the name of charles dolan who in a sense realized these fears with the creation of hbo and was more or less the true beginning of the disney channel you see up until this point cable tv was purchased as a single package in which you'd pay a monthly fee to access a wide variety of channels and networks but his idea was to create a movie in sports premium cable tv channel one that you had to pay for on top of the cost for basic cable it would also be commercial free and unlike television networks there would be no censorship or edits made to its content the cost six dollars and fifty cents a month or just under forty five dollars a month today now initially this was met with a lot of skepticism as the idea of customers paying for a single channel on top of the others they were paying for seemed a bit far-fetched nevertheless despite its availability in just four states hbo was quite the initial success amassing around 100 000 subscribers in just a few short months with the implementation of satellite technology a few years later hbo then became available to the entire country and subscribers increased dramatically of course it wasn't long before other companies took notice and wanted to cash in resulting in a host of new pay tv channels and essentially a brand new industry this is when disney officially enters the story and it all has to do with a guy named james jamiro you see this was walt disney's telecommunications director and he felt it was about time for disney to also join this bustling new market one of the reasons had to do with the company's extensive backlog of literal decades worth of content which at this point was going virtually unused and definitely underutilized going even further he also noticed that family content was largely absent from these new pay tv channels which gave disney a pretty easy in he also felt that disney could be the solution to an ever-growing complaint from parents and religious groups that there was far too much sex and violence on television so in may of 1977 james jamiro pitched the disney channel to company executives but unfortunately the answer was no the reason for this was purely financial as at the time disney was also pouring a ton of resources in epcot center so while they believed it was a good idea it just wasn't good timing to begin a brand new television service besides disney was already struggling with the one television venture they did have the wonderful world of disney on nbc [Music] the wonderful world of disney part of your family for 25 years now it's pretty common knowledge but for a brief recap in summary walt disney's disneyland debuted on network tv in 1954. initially the show was simply a way to finance the park and drum up interest but even after the park opened it remained a huge hit with audiences within a matter of years the show then evolved into walt disney presents and in 1961 walt disney's wonderful world of color for over a decade the show was hosted by walt disney himself and was one of the most valuable ties to the public in terms of promoting the disney brand the series was even able to survive the tragic passing of its beloved host in 1966 although obviously walt disney's presence was sorely missed that's your cue fellows hear me sing a few years later the show underwent some minor rebranding to account for his absence but still thrived in television ratings well into the early 70s however this was far from the case with the mid to late 70s as by 1977 the show had gone from placing within the top 10 consistently across all networks to placing at number 53 most of the blame had to do with a severe lack of new and original content as with the slew of disney's live-action box office duds the budget for this was minimized so the show began to heavily rely on older live-action films reruns of older live-action shows and older compilations of disney cartoons also keep in mind that aside from alice in wonderland and dumbo even at this point the company still refused to wear the other titles from disney's animated feature film canon so with the lackluster ratings for disney's network show combined with the ever ballooning budget for epcot this meant any sort of new disney channel was off the table at least for the time being instead disney made a deal with hbo to license a handful of feature films and animated shorts including snow white and the seven dwarves live on stage and this is dopey he don't talk none oh you mean he can't talk he don't know he never tried for the next five years or so james jamiro was incredibly persistent about his disney channel idea and pitched to executives every chance he could get but his perseverance did eventually pay off as in the early 80s disney finally began to seriously consider turning his idea into a reality part of what turned the tide in his favor was the disney network anthology series as in 1981 it was actually cancelled by nbc due to its poor ratings and viewership the show was then picked up by cbs and given a major overhaul becoming simply walt disney period but despite the fancy new look and home on a different tv network the show continued to struggle in ratings even worse than it did before so this made the prospect of more or less starting from scratch with a whole new tv platform a lot more appealing another factor was the huge success of epcot center as it freed up the company's financial resources for another venture plus there was also the still controversial issue among parents about too much sex and violence on television and disney realized they could offer a solution to the problem and of course profit off it so at long last in 1982 james jamiro was officially given the green light for the disney channel but it wasn't going to be cheap first disney had to acquire transponder space on the hughes communications galaxy 1 satellite which wound up costing 11 million dollars then there were the expenses of developing new and original content which wound up costing a further 20 million dollars so all told just to get the disney channel up and running with enough content the initial investment rose to 45 million dollars or 120 million dollars today as far as what would make up the channel's content it was to be one-third existing disney programming one-third original disney programming and one-third outside programming now most of these creative and financial decisions were pretty routine but there was one aspect of the channel's creation that was incredibly divisive whether or not to officially cancel the walt disney network anthology series it was a notion put forward by then disney executive card walker and president ron miller as given the show's poor ratings and viewership they felt it was a waste of financial resources to keep it up and running the other reason was to avoid unnecessary competition with the disney channel as they both had a fear the series would cannibalize the new disney pay tv service but other executives were strongly against cancelling the show one of which was dick nunes who was in charge of the disney theme parks for one he was against ending the legacy of a show that was brought to life by walt disney himself a show that quite literally funded disneyland and in turn walt disney world it was also the fact that in some ways due to the company's policy about minimal advertising of the disney parks the disney anthology series was one of the company's few connections to the public so the show was basically free publicity nevertheless in 1983 the decision was made to cancel the series once and for all just shy of its 30th year anniversary instead all bets were placed on the disney channel and the anticipation for this squeaky clean family television alternative was immense the excitement is building as the countdown begins on april 18th the name synonymous with animation family films and theme parks will test its philosophy in a new arena cable television the disney channel goes on the air when we go on the air with the disney channel we'll have 13 new series for the channel exclusively that represent a 45 million dollar expenditure that is the highest level of new expenditure of money for a pay television service in history the disney channel officially launched on april 18th 1983 and for the cost of around ten dollars a month kids and adults could enjoy 16 hours a day of family-friendly programming from 7 a.m to 11 p.m but what kind of content did the channel originally offer i hear you asking well let's dive into that a bit on the animated side of things there was good morning mickey which was basically a show consisting of classic disney animated shorts there was also masterpiece theater a show which also featured classic disney animated shorts the difference was a sort of behind-the-scenes commentary before and after each segment and was hosted by journalist and writer george plenton but the channel was much more than a bunch of old disney cartoons as its live action content was also a major selling point one of these was a show called mousercise get into shape with mickey minnie and the whole disney game it's a fun-filled family workout plus timely tips on health and nutrition for everyone don't you know that sugar promotes tooth decay this disney original was a glorious hybrid of classic disney characters and exercise and was basically the epitome of all things good and cringe of the 1980s there was also you and me kid an education program dedicated to the building of interactive skills between parents and their children at least that's the official description another live-action disney program is actually a bit of a mystery a show by the name of dream finders on the sound stages of dream finders imagination is the call to arms fantasy becomes reality as the talented team of artists and technicians eagerly answers the call journey through the world of imagination in dream finders [Music] it was loosely based off the epcot center attraction journey into imagination specifically the characters of dream finder in the figment of his imagination figment but while the show was heavily advertised as part of the disney channel's original lineup and even appeared briefly in promos it was mysteriously cancelled shortly after the channel's launch it's believed one to three episodes were at least partially filmed although rumors persist of a complete episode airing on the channel at least once that said as far as shows that did air for sure there was also the walt disney studio showcase this series gave audiences a glimpse behind the making of disney's upcoming feature films and shorts especially the ones with innovative and experimental film techniques there was also dtv which was essentially a mashup of disney shorts with a wide variety of past and present top charting hits the final disney character-centric show worth a mention was welcome to pooh corner which was just as adorable then as it is now but with a slight hint of discomfort and don't forget there are good strangers and bad strangers and some strangers the bad ones want to hurt kids as far as the disney content aimed at teens and parents there were plenty of reruns of classic live-action shows such as zorro davy crockett and the mickey mouse club there was also a wide assortment of non-disney content such as the exhilarating hot yachts and cold water the cave starring james earl jones the secret life of plants with the music of stevie wonder and contraption a game show for kids yeah the channel's non-disney content was pretty lackluster but more on that later another major draw to disney's new television service were premieres of their live-action films with newer releases such as tron and older movies like mary poppins finally there was disney's first ever made for tv movie called tiger town which was part of what was then called disney channel premier films but alas aside from alice in wonderland and dumbo once again the rest of disney's animated feature film canon was nowhere to be found okay now that we've covered the channel's first year so of content let's continue its history and evolution the disney channel wishes you a wonderful tomorrow and remember you always have a place to turn to your family place the disney channel and now good night now when talking about the early history of the disney channel a lot of sources claim it was an immediate success and it was kind of you see the initial six months were actually a significant loss for the company 28 million dollars in fact with the loss of another 35 million dollars by the end of 1984. so while the situation does sound bad it was far from unexpected as given the channel's massive startup costs disney actually planned for this initial loss it was even estimated from disney themselves that it would take around 2 million subscribers to even well break even by their analysis this wouldn't happen until 1985 to 1986 but with over 1 million subscribers within the first year alone they were well on track in fact within the first two years of operation they'd obtained more subscriptions than any other service on cable tv so by most accounts the disney channel was an immediate success however this outward hazaab was covering up a major oversight that almost ended the channel forever but to fully explain what was going on it's time to bring into the story one of disney's most controversial executives and a yes to world favorite michael demayne eisner that's actually his middle name i kid you not i have uh wanted to be involved with a disney organization for all my life i grew up as most people in my generation did on walt disney entertainment you see when frank wells and michael demand eisner were hired by the mouse disney's new paid tv channel was thriving on the outside but was also a ticking time bomb of potential failure on the positive side of things was a deal made with cablevision systems inc one that was worth over 70 million dollars the person behind this incredibly lucrative deal was james jamiro who at this point was now president of the disney channel thanks to his efforts the channel wound up passing the break-even point much earlier than expected and was also on track to become profitable ahead of schedule in fact michael eisner and frank wells were so pleased with his efforts that james jamiro was given a whopping 80 000 bonus or almost a quarter of a million dollars today so good news right well for some still unknown reason there was a falling out and james demiro resigned from disney over quote superficial differences with michael eisner and frank wells so he was ultimately replaced by john cook who among other things took over the responsibilities of running the disney channel if i could just say a little bit about when i came to disney when i came to disney i i had a strong belief in pay television that is i thought it was a fabulous idea and i still do now when john cook took over for james demiro part of his job was to inspect and review subscriber analytics for the disney channel and this led to a troubling discovery while the cancellation rate of most cable services was around five percent each month it turned out the disney channels was close to a panic inducing 80 each month so true the channel did have 1.8 million subscribers but it was only a matter of time before any additional growth would come to a screeching halt or even worse start losing more subscribers than it was gaining part of the problem was determined to be the channel's paltry 5 million dollar budget for outside non-disney programming this led to the general practice of licensing cheaper to obtain shows such as steve allen's comedy room steve allen's music room a talk show with dr joyce brothers and the adventures of rin tin tin but this was also the same case for their non-disney movies such as the acquisition of old charlie chaplin films a three hour religious epic and box office dud called the big fisherman and incredibly obscure tv movies like the magic statue on top of this there was also a severe lack of shows and movies to draw on teens and preteens so the feeling by many was yeah it's squeaky clean content but often boring as so first the budget for the acquisition of outside programming was tripled with a focus on more hip and trendy content aimed at kids there were shows like the edison twins huckleberry finn a non-disney cartoon show called the raccoons the care bears kid scene featuring the kids of degrassi street and the fantasy series the wind and the willows disney also licensed a bunch of made-for-tv movies specifically targeting teens and these were showcased within a weekly special called gemini cricket theater then with a true twist of irony there was the return of the once canceled walt disney network anthology series which was now exclusive to disney's cable channel the disney channel proudly announces the return of television's longest running and most honored series the wonderful world of disney now you can share with your own family the wonder and experience of these legendary television presentations as an extra incentive to view this sort of new program quite a few episodes that were originally broadcast in black and white weared in color for the first time ever disney also began developing more shows based on their iconic characters such as the unintentionally terrifying dumbo circus as part of a cross-promotion strategy there was also more integration of the disney theme parks in general such as the making of captain eo in its eventual grand opening another example was videopolis which was both a live music dance club at the parks and a program block on the channel which featured all the hottest music videos at least the super clean ones however one of the more drastic changes to the channel had to do with disney's animated feature film canon you see up until this point alice in wonderland and dumbo were still the only titles out on the channel or any network for that matter this actually went all the way back to walt disney himself as he made the decision to air these two films in the 50s after his passing the company basically decided that aside from these two animated films no others would ever have a release outside of movie theaters this was done to both preserve their legacy and what they felt at the time ensure their future profitability even with the introduction of walt disney home video in 1980 which was initially run by james jamiro alice in wonderland and dumbo were the only titles allowed to be released however under the new direction of john cook and with the full support of michael eisner they were finally able to end this practice once and for all so the disney classics were at long last set to be released on home video and more importantly to this story the disney channel but only after their home video release it first began with the release of robin hood in december of 1984 as the next year was aired on the disney channel uncut and commercial free this was followed by other classics like the sword and the stone pinocchio sleeping beauty and cinderella now believe it or not under this new direction there were even more changes made to the channel such as going from a 16 hour a day schedule to 24 hours a day seven days a week but the final thing i'll mention before moving on was the revival of the walt disney network anthology series with and by michael eisner it was given a rebranding as the disney sunday movie for abc and was yet another example of cross promoting their pay tv service all that said before the end of the decade the channel had grown to acquire more than 5 million subscribers and began to earn over 20 million a year ensuring it wasn't going anywhere anytime and soon magical times [Music] [Applause] [Music] now in terms of the rest of the disney channel's history there's still a lot and i mean a lot more to cover but first let's take a look at some of the more unique programs of the early to mid 90s as the disney channel had quite a bit to offer though it technically began in 1989 there was a revitalization of the mickey mouse club known as the all-new mickey mouse club but aside from an obvious overload of 90s wardrobe and set decor one of the more interesting aspects was the inclusion of quite a few would-be future superstars there was britney spears carrie russell justin timberlake ryan gosling jc chazzas and christina aguilera so whoever casted the show definitely deserved a raise as far as purely fictional content one of the more nostalgic and creative shows not to mention the source of a ton of unintentional trippy nightmare fuel was adventures in wonderland i'm glad that up there you'll think it's so funny but it's maddening down here on the ground for this bunny now kevin over at defunctland already has a great deep dive on the show itself so we won't get into much here however one of the more fascinating tidbits had to do with the so-called lost episode one that even over 20 years later has yet to surface it was an episode called white rabbits can't jump and featured at the time and distress at the time beloved sports icon oj simpson the episode was filmed in late 1993 and was supposed to air the next year but as you can probably guess plans were scrapped when he was put on trial for you know murder to this day the episode is yet to surface and if disney has their way more than likely never will speaking of nightmare fuel there was also the tv movie musical mother goose rockin rhyme which and i'm not even kidding i've gone like 20 years believing the memories i have of this to be some sort of fever dream i had as a kid but after researching this episode now i realize it was indeed real which has me questioning so many things it looks like you fell off the wall and into the frying pan but we just have to know how do you get to outer space as far as shows that were able to avoid having you question your sanity there was flash forward which is often referred to as the first true disney channel original series also by sheer coincidence it was yet another early disney show featuring the up-and-coming ryan gosling of course this particular teen centric format would eventually dominate and forever change the disney channel but more on that soon though it technically began in the 80s a major part of the disney channel's rise in the 90s were the channel's original animated series however contrary to popular belief the first official series wasn't the gummy bears this adorable show was made for nbc in 1985 but since it did appear on the channel a few years later the confusion is understandable the first official series to air on the disney channel was actually ducktales which made its debut in 1987. after this came chip and dale rescue rangers tailspin as well as darkwing duck and in later years goof troop bonkers and of course gargoyles now just to avoid confusion all of these shows were also part of the incredibly popular disney afternoon but this was just a repackaging of these shows for television networks and basic cable although eventually the disney channel did introduce the block party which was basically the same thing anyway going back to the live action side of things there were also programs like going wild with jeff corwin a game show called mad libs another game show called off the wall and bug juice for disney movie files like myself there was also movie surfers which took you behind the scenes of upcoming movies in between program blocks finally there was the magical world of disney this was a continuation of the walt disney anthology series but this time specifically made for the disney channel it's a bit tedious but as i said earlier the series was revived in 1986 as the disney sunday movie for abc with michael eisner as the host in 1988 this iteration ended and was reworked as the magical world of disney and was switched over to nbc but ironically once again it failed to draw on viewers and was once again cancelled by the network due to its lackluster ratings so disney simply brought the show over to the disney channel and set the stage for the future rivalry between disney and nbc the format of the show was generally the same in which michael eisner still served as the host and showcased a wide variety of disney films and specials however now that it was on disney's pay tv service the entire show and its feature presentations were shown commercial free and if you're like me even hearing a snippet of the intro brings back a ton of memories now as far as the channels promos and bumpers which come on are just as if not more nostalgic than the shows themselves the vast majority of the ones in the 80s were animated segues featuring mickey's hand from his point of view however in the 90s they soon began to shift into live-action shorts most of them were still from mickey mouse's point of view and usually involved some sort of quick sketch or skit some even hearken back to shows from the channel's early days like the disney centric exercise program mouser size the one i personally remember the most was mickey going through a supermarket for a mickey shaped tv dinner once in a while there were even from donald duck's perspective and though i wasn't able to find any examples i could have sworn the review from goofy as well or am i just crazy tell me in the comments if mother goose rock and rhyme just scrambled my brains you know when i was a kid my father ran off with a goat shut up blue anyway getting back to the history side of things the next major shift in the channel's evolution took place in the middle to late 90s but to fully understand why they were made and what led to the changes we have to briefly discuss the channel's subscriber base like i said earlier by 1990 the disney channel as a pay tv service had grown to over 5 million subscribers however a short time later disney quietly began to allow certain cable providers to offer the channel as part of an expanded basic cable package this had a huge impact on the channel's subscriber base in the form of an additional 25 million subscribers by 1997 or 30 million in total but and this is a big but as far as those paying for the channel as a standalone service like hbo this number had grown from five million subscribers to just 5.1 million so with virtually no growth as a premium paid tv service it was just a matter of when not if the channel would transition to basic cable in the meantime however a massive rebranding took place to pave the road for this inevitable change hi my name is jesse that's janet that's michael i'm jim this is margie and hannah and this is angus families come together after nearly 15 years of use the disney channel's iconic symbol was abandoned and received a much more modern makeover the channel's new icon was a tv set with mickey ears and featured the famous mouse himself at the center there were also a ton of new bumpers and ad breaks most of which were variations of the channel's new symbol featuring other iconic disney characters but with these changes to the channel's overall tone came a major and drastic shift in its content you see when the channel began to focus on specific demographics within families even through the 80s and most of the 90s it was still under the umbrella of the disney channel and nothing else in other words there was the disney channel's morning programming for kids the disney channel's afternoon programming for slightly older kids the disney channel's evening programming for the entire family and the disney channel's nighttime programming for adults so there wasn't any sort of official category to put the shows under the one exception was the previously mentioned block party but that was about it however within a year of the rebranding this was no longer the case as the channel's content was now exclusively tied to three unique and individually named program blocks the first was playhouse disney and though its primary demographic was content for preschoolers most of the programs could be enjoyed by older kids too and by older kids i mean like me when i was 13 years old a few examples were shows like baron the big blue house roly polyelli out of the box and pb and j otter the second program block that was intentionally aimed at teens and preteens was zouk disney and was hosted by robot alien hybrids known as zoox but this one was especially unique as it utilized a revolutionary form of technology the internet so watch zoo disney sundays then go to www.dukedisney.com all week but then tune in saturday when you'll see stuff kids doing online back on tv like chat scores and messages seeing this ether interactivity aside zoo disney also featured a wide variety of music videos from new hit artists such as nsync and britney spears it was also the home for the presentation of disney's feature films both live action and animated for the fans of disney's theme parks there was also imagineer that a new show featuring interviews with imagineers and also went behind the scenes of new attractions and rides zoo disney was also home to the channel's original series i mentioned earlier with new additions such as so weird the famous jet jackson and the jersey so with playhouse disney for kids and zoo disney for teens the final brand new television block was vault disney and this was for adult viewers and older subscribers the series aired at night and was home to disney's classic content or basically the shows that used to be the main draw of the channel in its early days but aside from these three very specific program blocks there was also the channel's regular weekday content starting today guess who's coming to disney on growing pains that's right that lovable leading man from that big boat these non-disney shows were also heavily aimed at teens and pretty edgy at least for disney in the 1990s also for the record most of these came from disney's acquisition of abc although a few had seasons produced by disney themselves another new addition to the channel's lineup were the show's muppets tonight and dinosaur and for a lot of younger viewers like myself this was their first real exposure to the television side of jim henson's creations hey all courtesy brought here and i see you found our behind the ears preview where we're getting ready for new episodes of muppet two nights hey kermit look uh excuse me what is dongle it's harold the mummy star of under wraps oh sure that's the brand new disney channel original movie how's it going now when it came to the disney channel's movie content this massive rebranding saw the first disney channel original movie with under wraps however it's important to stress that this wasn't disney's first tv movie as remember that distinction belongs to the 1983 disney channel premier film tiger town this was followed by a wide variety of other disney channel premiere films most of which were produced by disney themselves with a handful of titles simply licensed by disney the main difference between these premier films and the rebranded disney channel original movies was the demographic as while the others were made for the entire family these were specifically made for teens and preteens you seeing a common theme here under wraps was then followed by you lucky dog brink halloweentown xenon girl of the 21st century can of worms the 13th year smart house johnny tsunami genius don't look under the bed and horse ends just to name a few now if you're wondering where disney's animated content fits into all this well it didn't you see a short time after all these modifications to the disney channel disney officially debuted toon disney a sort of spin-off of the disney channel this was now the new home for the disney afternoon cartoons and virtually all things iconic disney characters 24 hours a day and exclusively on cable in other words it was more or less a way to move disney's animated content off the disney channel which was a pretty big deal since it was once the channel's main selling point to subscribers the final major change of the 1990s took place in 1998 and once again the subscriber base was the instigator you see the channel was now at a whopping 41 million subscribers but as far as those paying for it as a premium cable channel the number was now under 5 million or barely over 10 of its total subscribers so disney pulled the trigger so to speak and finally abandoned the disney channel was a paid tv service officially becoming a basic cable channel that december practically overnight this sent the disney channel's 40 plus million subscribers to upwards of 70 million subscribers so although it did mean losing the revenue of those who'd pay for the channel on its own it meant nearly double the viewers to promote the disney brand from new movies going into theaters the disney theme parks upcoming attractions merchandise at the disney store and much much more [Music] much like the late 90s to early 2000s the mid-2000s also saw drastic changes to the disney channel first was another major rebranding and by rebranding i mean erasing all traces of the iconic disney characters from the channels logos and bumpers eventually most of the content deemed it teens and pre-teens during the week fell into zouk disney on the weekends otherwise known as zoo weekends there was also the addition of new shows like even stevens in the insanely popular lizzie mcguire the success of these two shows was incredible and was basically the nail in the coffin for the channel's original purpose as television content for the entire family part of what led to this was yet another major rebranding with the various logos and bumpers having a more computerized appearance oh and the disney channel was now simplified to just disney channel the stars of disney's teen centric shows and original movies also became more than just actors but the face of the channel itself then there was getting rid of zuke disney in 2002 and just made this content part of the channel's regular weekday and weekend offerings however by far the most controversial change was the cancellation of vault disney which meant for the first time in the channel's 20-year history there was absolutely zero content for adults it probably doesn't sound like a big deal but it really was and many subscribers were angry about losing the only real classic disney content on you know the disney channel so it was seen as a cruel joke of sorts but not nearly as bad as the jokes in mother goose rock and rhyme this is great it's breathtaking that's because there's no air up here regardless of the bad news for older subscribers with this came an avalanche of new shows such as that so raven fill of the future and the sweet life of zack and cody of course there was also the original animated series kim possible in the proud family but aside from the general demographic of kids if you notice that most of these offerings were geared towards a female audience you are not alone from what i gathered this was initially unintentional and just kind of happened but once disney realized their content was attracting mostly female viewers they really leaned into it so to account for this shift the spin-off channel tuned disney was given a program block called jedix this aimed to appeal and attract male viewers with new shows such as the emperor's new school the legend of tarzan and buzz lightyear of star command and yes i realized that jedicks was also part of fox kids and that abc had its own disney programming outside of the disney channel but honestly it gets incredibly tedious so we're just focusing on the disney channel's history anyway with the disney channel now focused on female-driven content the mid-2000s saw yet another new initiative this one was to establish synergy between the disney channel's music video offerings and their hit tv shows the reason for this was due to what else money as disney wasn't able to obtain revenue from cd sales concert tickets or merchandise of the bands they were promoting so disney formed walt disney records and utilized their in-house label hollywood records this led to an absolute cash-filled bonanza of music-based disney channel movies and tv shows most of which still aimed at female viewers there was camp rock high school musical and tv shows like austin and ally along with the incredibly popular hannah montana and while the show wasn't music-centric there was also the wizards of waverly place which starred pop sensation selena gomez who ironically first appeared on disney as a fictional pop star for the show hannah montana another change worth mentioning was the rebranding and merging of toon disney energetics officially becoming disney xd along with the previously mentioned shows two major additions were phineas and ferb and gravity falls both of which proved to be huge hits now as convoluted as these changes were it really did pay off as in 2012 the disney channel officially beat out nickelodeon as the highest rated basic cable channel in the us by this point there'd also been quite a few additional disney channel original movies so just to name a few to appease the you forgot to talk about x crowd there was up up and away the color of friendship alicat strike rip girls miracle in lane 2 stepsister from planet weird ready to run quince the other me mom's got a date with a vampire phantom of the megaplex the ultimate christmas present xenon the sequel motocross the luck of the irish hounded jet jackson the movie the jenny project jumping ship the proof point halloweentown 2 calabar's revenge twas the knight double-teamed cadet kelly true confessions get a clue gotta kick it up a ring of endless light the scream team you wish right on track the even stevens movie eddie's million dollar cook-off the cheetah girls full court miracle pixel perfect going to the mat xenon z3 stuck in the suburbs tiger cruise halloweentown high now you see it buffalo dreams kim possible the movie sow the drama go figure life is rough which by the way has the most rage inducing opening of a disney movie ever first is the issue of a bunch of parents taking their kids on a trip to the convenience store and being like sure grab that free puppy while we're here it's not like it's a serious commitment or life-changing decision or anything then there's the blatantly obvious continuity error as the box is clearly shown to have two more black puppies left then another is taken leaving one left then the final puppy is taken but disney thinks we lack the ability to count because another magically appears it's also just incredibly depressing no one returns to see if all the puppies found a home the store owner leaves the last one for dead and ultimately the yellow lab is forced to escape after almost drowning in a cardboard box and runs off into the dark streets in the pouring rain you disney the world is dark enough without the the proud family movie twitches high school musical cowbells wendy wu homecoming warrior read it and weep cheetah girls 2 return to halloweentown jump in johnny kapala back on board high school musical 2 twitches 2 minutemen camp rock cheetah girls one world dad napped hatching pete princess protection program wizards of waverly place the movie star struck den brother camp rock 2 the final jam avalon high the sweet life movie lemonade mouth sharpay's fabulous adventure phineas and ferb the movie across the second dimension geek charming good luck charlie it's christmas frenemies radio rebel let it shine girl vs monster teen beach movie cloud 9 zapped how to build a better boy bad hair day teen beach 2 descendants invisible sister adventures in babysitting the swap tangled before ever after descendants 2 zombies freaky friday not the lindsay lohan one kim possible the live action one descendants 3 zombies 2 upside down magic spin under wraps the reboot christmas again zombies three were running out of ideas and for the sake of future proofing under wraps too again just to name a few now to be totally honest the rest of the disney channel's history is well uneventful i mean sure there were plenty of additional shows like ant farm and a revival of duck tales on disney xd as well as a few changes to the logos but in my opinion the most interesting change came with the launch of disney plus as disney's cable channel lost over 30 percent of its viewers and subscribers since then disney has shut down a number of disney channels and disney xd channels all around the world so with this in mind it really does seem like disney's future television content is heading for sole distribution on disney plus and away from cable entirely now i find that incredibly ironic because disney plus is essentially what the disney channel used to be a standalone service with a monthly fee so here's to a new generation who will grow up with disney plus in the same way we grew up with the disney channel but as far as having the same level of nostalgia we'll have to wait and see [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] you

Channel: Yesterworld Entertainment

Views: 724,489

Keywords: Yesterworld, Yesterworld: The Rise & Fall of The (Original) Disney Channel, The Disney Channel, History of the Disney Channel, Disney Channel nostalgia, Disney TV shows, Disney Channel shows of the past, The Disney Channel evolution, Evolution of the Disney Channel, 1980s Disney Channel, Disney Channel history, Yesterworld Disney Channel, Yesterworld: The Rise & Fall of The Disney Channel

Id: 9MQ8kwPkemQ

Length: 49min 26sec (2966 seconds)

Published: Thu Jul 28 2022