Jetix
Jetix was an American children's television network owned by Jetix Europe, Jetix Latin America and ABC Cable Networks Group. The Jetix brand was used for children's blocks and channels featuring action and adventure-related programming, most of which had previously aired on Fox Kids, as well as some original programming.
In the United States, the block aired on Toon Disney and on ABC Family. The Jetix brand, alongside Toon Disney, were eventually retired and both rebranded as Disney XD in 2009, or Disney Channel in certain European countries, in accordance with The Walt Disney Company's focus on its Disney, ABC, and ESPN brands. The last remaining Jetix channel, in Russia, was rebranded as Disney Channel on 10 August 2010.
History
In January 2004, Fox Kids Europe, Fox Kids Latin America and ABC Cable Networks Group agreed to rename its then current operations under a single umbrella name Jetix, which helped strengthen its then operations into a single force. The Jetix name was applied to its programming blocks which aired on ABC Family and Toon Disney, its television channels in Europe and Latin America, along with its programme library and merchandising.The Jetix name was chosen after the company conducted international research specifically with a number of children focus groups. Many of the children picked the name as it implied action and adventure, and the company was able to use the name internationally due to its ambiguity. Bruce Steinberg, chairman and chief executive officer of Fox Kids Europe, explain that Jetix would help strengthen Fox Kids Europe's partnership with Disney while building new alliances to continue to successfully leverage its programming library and distribution.
On 14 February 2004, Toon Disney and ABC Family launched their Jetix blocks with Jetix Cards Live, the world's first concurrently online and telecast trading card game. Toon Disney had 12 hours of weekly prime time programming to start, and ABC Family had two hours on weekdays and four hours on weekends, all in the morning. In fall 2004 with the addition of three new shows, Toon Disney's U.S. block was expanded to 16 hours.
After Jetix Europe was purchased by Disney in December 2008, they announced that all Jetix operations would be replaced with a Disney branded channel. In the United States, Toon Disney and Jetix were merged to form Disney XD in February 2009. The rest of the Jetix channels were either merged with Toon Disney to create Disney XD or were replaced with Disney XD or Disney Channel, depending on the region.
Jetix Europe
Jetix Europe N.V. was a television broadcasting company based in the Netherlands that ran children's oriented channels and programming blocks across the European and Middle East markets.History
Fox Kids Europe was founded when the first International Fox Kids channel launched in the United Kingdom in October 1996. The company became a publicly traded company in November 1999 with Fox Family Worldwide holding a 75.7% majority stake and the other 24.3% being listed on Euronext. By then, Fox Kids Europe had launched 6 different channel feeds: United Kingdom, Netherlands, France, Poland, Scandinavia and Spain.In 2000, 5 additional Fox Kids feeds launched: Russia and ex-Soviet countries, Italy, Turkey, Germany, Hungary and the Middle East. These launches made Fox Kids the only children's entertainment company with a local channel in every major European market.
In February 2001, a Fox Kids feed was launched in Israel, while the Hungarian feed was extended to Czechia and Slovakia, while launching in Russia as a programming block on free-to-air channel Ren TV. In June 2001 Fox Kids Europe announced that the Fox Kids brand had become the most widely distributed children's channel in Europe and the Middle East, reaching 24.9 million households and broadcasting in 54 countries via 11 channel feeds in 16 languages.
In October 2001, Fox Kids Europe's major owner Fox Family Worldwide was purchased by The Walt Disney Company and renamed ABC Family Worldwide Inc. K2 started out as a syndicated block for several local stations in Italy.
In November 2001, a Greek service was launched with limited 13 hours following a 2-hour block launched in October.
In December 2002, the company signed with BMG Europe for two Fox Kids Hits music compilation albums per year for 10 European markets.
In July 2003, Fox Kids Europe launched a VOD channel on Telewest titled Fox Kids Play. The name was eventually used for a sister channel under the same name, which first launched in Central, Eastern Europe and Turkey in October 2003.
By 2003, Fox Kids Europe had extended to 34.8 million households in 57 countries via 12 channel feeds in 17 languages.
During the Jetix rebranding, Fox Kids channels across Europe started to introduce Jetix branded blocks. The UK feed added the Jetix block in April. Fox Kids blocks across the worlds started to change over in April and the first channel in France was changed over in August 2004. Fox Kids Europe N.V. changed its legal name to Jetix Europe N.V. on 14 July 2004.
In May 2005, Jetix Europe subsidiary Jetix Italia launched a male teen channel called GXT on Sky Italia
SIP Animation co-produced a few animated series with Jetix Europe during the 2000s.
In 2008, Jetix Europe licensed out Jetix France to The Walt Disney Company France and Disney-ABC-ESPN Television became its channel distribution partner. In February 2008, Jetix Europe was in talks to join affiliated companies, Disney Channel Europe, ESPN Europe and Disney–ABC International Television, in their combined distribution sales unit. In June, Jetix Europe agreed to have DAIT take over distribution sales for all channels across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. In November, the Central and Eastern European channel team won gold in the U.K. Promax Awards for Jetix Max idents.
On 8 December 2008, Disney made an agreement to increase ownership in Jetix Europe to 96%, with intentions to purchase the remainder and have Jetix Europe delisted from the Euronext Amsterdam exchange. In 2009, K2 became a TV channel. With full Disney control over Jetix Europe, Disney indicated in February 2009 that Jetix blocks and channels would be switched over to Disney branding starting with the Jetix France channel with Disney XD on 1 April 2009. Jetix Italy management agreed to purchase the Jetix Italy company, renamed as Switchover Media, GXT and K2 from Jetix Europe in July 2009 while managing the Jetix Italy channel unit it re-brands as Disney XD in the fall. The final Jetix channel to switch over to Disney XD was the Dutch version on 1 January 2010, while the last Jetix channel to close was the Russian version, which was rebranded as Disney Channel. The Jetix Play channels soon followed suit in 2010/2011, being replaced with Playhouse Disney.
List of versions
Other versions
Jetix Play
Jetix Play was a brand used by Jetix Europe N.V. across the world, mostly used as a sister channel to Jetix.As a Channel
In most European regions, Jetix Play functioned as a sister channel to Jetix that was shown in various European countries. The channel originally launched in January 2001 in CEE regions, and later launched in MENA regions, Turkey and Poland.Jetix Play was aimed at a younger audience than the main Jetix channel and showed mainly classic animated cartoons and animated television series from the Saban Entertainment catalogue as well as other programs owned by ABC Family Worldwide and Fox Kids Europe/Jetix Europe, as well as some DIC Entertainment shows.
After Jetix Europe's purchase from Disney, they planned to rebrand the service after Jetix's rebranding into Disney XD or Disney Channel. The CEE and Polish feeds were closed down on 1 August 2010 The channel closed in Turkey on 1 September 2010 and was lastly closed in Romania and the remaining MENA Regions in 2011. The channel was replaced with Playhouse Disney/Disney Junior in all regions apart from Russia, as Playhouse Disney wasn't licensed to air in the country at the time.
As an Interactive Service
In the United Kingdom, Fox Kids Europe launched an interactive VOD channel on Telewest under the Fox Kids Play brand in July 2003. The service extended to Sky Digital in March 2004.As a Programming Block
Jetix Play in The Netherlands functioned as a pre-school focused morning block on Jetix, airing shows aimed towards younger children.Logos
Programming
Jetix owned the Saban Entertainment library which included shows from Marvel Productions.Jetix Animation Concepts, also Jetix Concepts Animation, was a brand used for animation co-produced by and for the Jetix global group by the American partner, ABC Cable Networks Group.
Magazine
In the U.K., Future plc published the official Jetix Magazine. Published every four weeks, it featured puzzles and features based on the channel's shows. The magazine also came with a free DVD featuring shows from the channel.In other countries, including Bulgaria, the Netherlands and Romania, similar Jetix magazines were also produced.
Jetix Magazine was launched in early September 2004 by Jetix Consumer Products and Future Publishing. Cavan Scott was the magazine's initial editor.
With the purchase of the remaining Jetix Europe shares by The Walt Disney Company and the change over of the channels to a Disney branded channel, Future renamed the magazine to Nitro!, to become an independent magazine with the same general focus.