Disney Channels Worldwide

ABC Cable Networks Group, Inc., d/b/a Disney Cable Networks is a division of Walt Disney Television responsible for the The Walt Disney Company's cable networks in the United States. The unit was formerly known as Disney Channels Worldwide (a name previously shared with its international Disney-branded networks), until November 5, 2019. The group's channels consist of cable/satellite networks including Disney Junior, Disney XD, Freeform, FX, Chuckle, and Disney Movie Channel. John Landgraf heads the division as president.

Disney Channel was originally established in the United States in 1983 as a premium channel, and has since converted to a basic service; in addition, Disney Channel's programming has also expanded internationally with the launch of various country-specific and regional versions of the channel, as well as program licensing agreements reached with television networks not bearing the Disney Channel brand.

Other previous corporate names were: Walt Disney Entertainment, Inc. (1982–1983), The Disney Channel, Inc. (1983–1997), Disney Channel, Inc. (1997–2001).

Disney Channel, Inc.
On November 10, 1981, Walt Disney Productions and Westinghouse Broadcasting released that they had agreed to start a family-oriented cable television service. In 1982, Disney hired Alan Wagner to develop a cable channel.

By July 15, 1982, Disney incorporated Walt Disney Entertainment, Inc. which was renamed by January 28, 1983 to The Disney Channel, Inc. The channel, The Disney Channel, was launched in April 1983 with 16 hours of programming as a premium channel. The channel became profitable in January 1985,

20 months after launch, the channel moved into the home satellite dish market thus scrambling its signal. The channel started moving to the basic cable level on September 1, 1990 with TCI Montgomery Cablevision. In March 1995, the second Disney Channel began broadcasting in Taiwan while the third is launched in October for the United Kingdom.

By September 29, 1997, the corporate name was shortened to Disney Channel, Inc. Disney had hired Geraldine Laybourne in 1996 away from the Nickelodeon channel she founded for a kids channel codename ABZ that the media speculated to be a pre-school age channel. Laybourne dismissed this report. In December 1997, the Toon Disney channel was announced as a basic channel consisting of Disney animated programming. As of April 1, 1998, most of the international version are pay channels while Taiwan and Malaysia are ad supported and the USA is a basic channel. The Toon Disney Channel was launched on April 18, 1998 on the Disney Channel's 15 anniversary.

In 2000, the Playhouse Disney preschool channel was launched in the United Kingdom, while in the US the Playhouse Disney block was launched on the Disney Channel. In June 2001, Disney was looking into launch Playhouse as channel in the United States in 2002.

ABC Cable Networks Group
Disney Channel, Inc. changed its name to ABC Cable Networks Group, Inc. by January 31, 2001. In October 2003, ABC Family Worldwide was changed from a Disney COO direct reporting unit to being within the ABC Cable Networks Group. In early 2004, Disney Channel original programming leaders took over ABC Family's original movies unit temporarily as two ABC Family executive left the channel.

In January 2004, Fox Kids Europe, Fox Kids Latin America and ABC Cable Networks Group agreed to the Jetix programming alliance that would rebrand Fox Kids as Jetix for all blocks, channels and companies. ABC1 channel launched on United Kingdom digital terrestrial television platform on September 27, 2004.

Disney Channel
Disney Channel serves as the unit's flagship channel. Its programming consists of original first-run television series, theatrically released and original made-for-TV movies and select other third-party programming. Disney Channel – which formerly operated as a premium service – originally marketed its programs towards families during the 1980s, and later at younger children by the 2000s. A majority of Disney Channel's original programming is aimed at children aged 6–16, while its Disney Junior programs are targeted at children aged 7 years and under.

Disney Junior
On May 26, 2010, Disney-ABC Television Group announced the launch of a new digital cable and satellite channel targeted at preschool-aged children called Disney Junior, which debuted on March 23, 2012. The Disney Junior channel – which like Disney Channel (though unlike Disney XD or the channel Disney Junior replaced, Soapnet), is commercial-free – competes with other preschooler-skewing cable channels such as Nick Jr., Qubo and Sprout. The channel features programs from Disney Channel's existing preschool programming library and movies from the Walt Disney Pictures film library. Disney Junior took over the channel space held by Soapnet – a Disney-owned cable channel featuring soap operas – due to that genre's decline in popularity on broadcast television, and the growth of video on demand, online streaming and digital video recorders, negating the need for a linear channel devoted to the soap opera genre. An automated Soapnet feed continued to exist for providers that had not yet made carriage agreements for Disney Junior (such as Dish Network) and those that have kept Soapnet as part of their lineups while adding Disney Junior as an additional channel (such as DirecTV and Cox Communications); After a period during which cable providers unwilling to drop the network immediately retained it to prevent subscriber cancellations, Soapnet ceased full operations on December 31, 2013.

The former Playhouse Disney block on Disney Channel was rebranded as Disney Junior on February 14, 2011; the 22 existing Playhouse Disney-branded cable channels and program blocks outside the United States rebranded under the Disney Junior name over the next two years, concluding with the rebranding of the Russian and Chinese versions in September 2013. Disney-ABC Television Group previously planned to launch a domestic Playhouse Disney Channel in the U.S. (which would have served the same target audience as Disney Junior) in 2001, however, this planned network never launched, although dedicated Playhouse Disney Channels did launch outside of the United States.

Disney XD
Disney XD is a digital cable and satellite television channel in the United States, which is aimed at boys and girls (originally aimed at young male audiences) aged 6–15. The channel was launched on February 13, 2009, and is the successor to Toon Disney; it carries action and comedy programming from Disney Channel and the former Jetix block from Toon Disney, along with some first-run original programming and off-network syndicated shows. Like its predecessor Toon Disney, but unlike parent network Disney Channel and its sister channel Disney Junior, Disney XD operates as an advertiser-supported service. The channel carries the same name as an unrelated mini-site and media player on Disney.com, which stood for Disney Xtreme Digital, though it is said that the "XD" in the channel's name does not have an actual meaning.