Disney Channel is a U.K. pan-European-managed

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

pay television Pay television, also known as subscription television, premium television or, when referring to an individual service, a premium channel, refers to Subscription business model, subscription-based television services, usually provided by multichan ...

kids' channel, owned and operated by

The Walt Disney Company The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was founded on October 16 ...

. It was launched on 19 September 2009, replacing Jetix Eastern Europe. It shares its feed with Disney Channel Romania.

History

The channel was launched in April 1999 as

Fox Kids Fox Kids (originally known as Fox Children's Network and later as the Fox Kids Network; stylized in all caps) was an American children's programming block and branding for a slate of international children's television channels. Originally a j ...

Central and Eastern Europe Central and Eastern Europe is a geopolitical term encompassing the countries in Baltic region, Northeast Europe (primarily the Baltic states, Baltics), Central Europe (primarily the Visegrád Group), Eastern Europe, and Southeast Europe (primaril ...

, 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 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

News Corporation The original incarnation of News Corporation (abbreviated News Corp. and also variously known as News Corporation Limited) was an American Multinational corporation, multinational mass media corporation founded and controlled by media mogul Ru ...

, launched a

-branded block which aired on weekday afternoons and weekend mornings. In 2004 the Fox Kids block was renamed to

Jetix Jetix (stylized in all caps) was a children's entertainment brand owned by The Walt Disney Company. The brand was for a slate of action and adventure-related programming blocks and television channels. Jetix programming mainly originated fr ...

. It was removed in 2008, although bTV still airs shows from Jetix, but not part of any block. In 2001,

announced its intention to buy Fox Kids' majority owner,

Fox Family Worldwide ABC Family Worldwide is a subsidiary of the Disney Entertainment business segment of the Walt Disney Company that operates American basic cable channel Freeform (previously known as ''ABC Family'') and manages the programming libraries of BVS E ...

, along with

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

'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 began as a block on Fox Kids and would eventually rebrand on 1 January 2005. After Robert Iger 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 referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...

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

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

, the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, 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 west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

and

) would be renamed to

Disney Channel Disney Channel is an American pay television television channel, channel that serves as the flagship (broadcasting), flagship property of Disney Branded Television, a unit of the Disney Entertainment business segment of the Walt Disney Company ...

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

Logos

file:FOX Kids logo.svg, 1999-2005 file:Jetix logo.png, 2005–2009 file:2002 Disney Channel logo.svg, 2009–2011. file:2010 Disney Channel logo.svg, 2011–2014. file:2014 Disney Channel logo.svg, 2014–2017. file:2017 Disney Channel logo.svg, 2017–2022 file: 2022 Disney Channel logo.svg, 2022–present

References

External links

Disney Bulgaria
on ''

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

''
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

Logos

See also

References

External links