Disney Channel

Disney Channel is an American pay television channel that serves as the flagship property of Disney Branded Television, a unit of the Disney Entertainment business segment of the Walt Disney Company.^[1]

Launched on April 18, 1983, under the name The Disney Channel as a premium channel on top of basic cable television systems, it originally showcased programming towards families due to availability of home television sets locally at the time. It dropped "The" from its name in 1997, thus getting rebranded as Disney Channel, with its programming shifting focus to target mainly children and adolescents ages 6–14.^[2] The channel showcases original first-run children's television series, theatrically released and original television films and other selected third-party programming.

As of November 2023, Disney Channel is available to approximately 70 million pay television households in the United States — down from its peak of 100 million households in 2011.^[3] The channel's international footprint, once encompassing 46 channels available in 33 languages,^[4] has also diminished in parts of Europe and most of the Asia-Pacific due to the launch of Disney+ and competition from other streaming and social media platforms.