Disney Junior (formerly Playhouse Disney) is an American cable and satellite network that is owned by the Walt Disney Company through Disney Channels Worldwide. Disney Junior is aimed at children (ages 1-6), and their parents. Disney Junior was for kids ages 1-6 from February 2011-Present
Until January 2017, Disney Junior lent its name to a morning and early afternoon program block seen on sister network Disney Channel, branded as "Disney Junior on Disney Channel", airing weekdays from 6:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. (6:00 to 10:00 a.m. during the summer months and designated school break periods) and weekends from 6:00 to 9:00 a.m. Eastern and Pacific Time.
As of January 2016, the channel is available to 74.0 million households in the U.S.
History[]
Origins[]
The Walt Disney Company first attempted to launch a 24-hour subscription channel for preschoolers in the United States, when the company announced plans to launch Playhouse Disney, a television offshoot of Disney Channel's daytime programming block of the same name, which launched on the channel on May 8, 1997 (airing during the morning hours seven days a week, with the weekday blocks lasting until the early afternoon). Plans for the United States network were ultimately shelved. However, channels using the Playhouse Disney moniker were launched in other countries internationally.
The development of Disney Junior began on May 26, 2010, when Disney-ABC Television Group announced the launch of the channel as a pay television service, which would compete with other subscription channels targeted primarily at preschool-aged children such as Nick Jr., Qubo, and Sprout (the latter became known as Universal Kids); in addition to the Playhouse Disney branded blocks and channels being renamed under the Disney Junior label.
The flagship channel in the United States intended to replace Soapnet, a Disney-owned channel featuring daytime soap operas seen on the major broadcast networks (including sister network ABC) and reruns of former primetime drama series, due to the continued decline in popularity and quantity of soap operas on broadcast television, along with the growth of video on demand services (including the online streaming availability for soap operas) and digital video recorders that negated the need for a linear channel devoted to the genre.
Block and network launch[]
Disney Junior first launched as a programming block on Disney Channel on February 14, 2011. The new Disney Junior Channel was originally scheduled to launch on January 9, 2012, but on July 28, 2011, the Disney-ABC Television Group pushed back the channel's launch date from January to a different month. Then on January 9, 2012, the Disney-ABC Television Group announced that Soapnet's closing date for most cable providers was scheduled for March 22, 2012. Disney Junior's 24-hour subscription channel officially launched the following day on March 23, at 12:00 a.m. Eastern Time with the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse episode "Mickey's Big Surprise" as the first program to air on the channel. Programming on the channel will be Jake and the Never Land Pirates, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, the new animated series Doc McStuffins, and a movie block during the weekends called, the Magical World of Disney Junior, it was revealed during the Television Critics Assoc. press tour on Monday. On June 17, 2011, it has been confirmed that Disney Junior will include some Playhouse Disney shows, in its lineup when the channel launches. 6 Playhouse Disney shows were confirmed on January 9, 2012: Stanley, JoJo's Circus, Rolie Polie Olie, The Koala Brothers, Higglytown Heroes, and Johnny and the Sprites.
Though it in effect took over the channel space held by Soapnet, an automated feed of that channel continued to exist for providers that had not yet reached agreements to carry Disney Junior, or held out to not lose subscribers due to the immediate loss of that network. These included some providers such as Cox Communications, Optimum, DirecTV, Verizon FiOS, and Time Warner Cable, which continued to carry Soapnet instead of having the Disney Junior channel onto their channel lineups. Soapnet's operations continued sixteen months later than had been originally planned, until the network finally ceased operations on December 31, 2013, at 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time.
Television carriage[]
Since its launch, Disney Junior became initially available to subscribers of Xfinity, Time Warner Cable, Cablevision, Bright House Networks, and Verizon FiOS; other providers would sign carriage agreements to run the network following its launch:
- On March 26, 2012, Cox Communications announced that it would carry Disney Junior, as part of the provider's "Variety Pak" package.
- On April 3, 2012, Disney–ABC Television Group announced that it had reached a distribution agreement with the National Cable Television Cooperative to carry Disney Junior, which negotiates carriage deals on behalf of many of America's smaller cable providers.
- Cable One added the network to the digital tier of its systems around May 26, 2012.
- On June 21, 2012, RCN began carrying the network on its systems.
- On July 13, 2012, DirecTV announced that the Disney Junior network would be added to its lineup the following day on the 14th, a Saturday. Industry observers questioned both the unexpected announcement and untraditional weekend launch of the network as being timed to a nine-day carriage dispute between DirecTV and Viacom and the loss of Nick Jr. four days previously as a result of the dispute.
- On December 31, 2012, Charter Communications came to terms with Disney–ABC Television Group on a new wide-ranging multiple-year carriage agreement for ABC, all of the U.S.-based Disney Channels Worldwide and ESPN networks and ABC Family, which included the addition of Disney Junior to Charter systems throughout the first quarter of 2013.
- On January 15, 2013, AT&T U-verse also reached a deal with The Walt Disney Company on a new wide-ranging multi-year agreement to carry the Disney–ABC Television Group family of networks and ESPN, which included the addition of Disney Junior.
- Dish Network, the last major television provider to have not signed a carriage deal for Disney Junior, added the channel on April 10, 2014; after a long period of acrimony and a six-month extension of their past carriage agreement with The Walt Disney Company for a few select networks (some of which were not available in HD, partly as a result of a 2011 dispute with the company), Dish and Disney came to full terms on carrying all of Disney-ABC's networks in both standard and high definition on March 3, 2014, with the resolution of legal issues involving Dish's Hopper DVR system, which also included streaming rights for the networks as part of Dish's IPTV streaming service Sling TV.
Programming[]
Programming on Disney Junior includes original series (such as Alice's Wonderland Bakery), shows formerly seen on the now-defunct Playhouse Disney block (such as Mickey Mouse Clubhouse), plus re-runs of former original shows (such as Doc McStuffins) - including some that also air on the companion Disney Channel morning block and short-form shows, as well as reruns of some older animated series that had previously been seen on sister network ABC, CBS (made before 1996) and programs from Disney Channel and Toon Disney, which are aired on the channel by popular demand (especially during the overnight graveyard slot). Like on Disney Channel, Disney Junior is a commercial-free service, but it does short "promotional spots", which runs so often, such as often seen on PBS.
Note:[]
- Speaking of PBS, Disney Channel, Disney Junior and PBS actually have a lot in common.
TV Schedules[]
- Disney Junior on Disney Channel Schedules from the 2010s
- Disney Junior on Disney Channel Schedules from the 2020s
- Disney Junior Channel Schedules from the 2010s
Note:[]
- On top here is Disney Junior's TV channel & programming block schedules.
Special programming[]
International[]
- Main article: List of Disney Junior TV channels
Disney Junior, formerly known as Playhouse Disney, is available around the world. Since 2020, many of these networks were closed in favor of direct customer promotion of Disney+, where Disney Junior's content was moved to.
External links[]
- Official website
- Disney Junior Press
- Sources of article: Wikipedia & Disney Wiki