Jetix

History

Development of the Jetix brand and launch in the United States

In January 2004, Fox Kids Europe, Fox Kids Latin America (both of which were purchased by Disney in 2001 as part of Fox Family Worldwide) and the ABC Cable Networks Group agreed to rename its then current operations under a single brand, called 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 program library and merchandising. After Fox Kids closed in the US, much of the content previously aired on the block moved to ABC Family and Toon Disney; the international Fox Kids networks kept operating despite their US forerunner becoming defunct.

The Jetix name was chosen after the company conducted international research specifically with a number of children's focus groups. Many of the children chose 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, explained 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 Jetix with Jetix Cards Live, the world's first concurrently online and telecast trading card game. ABC Family aired Jetix on weekdays from 7am to 9am and weekends 7am to 12 noon ET/PT. The block also aired on Toon Disney on both weekdays (Monday-Thursday) and weekends from 7pm to 9pm ET/PT.

International expansion and transition of the Fox Kids brand into Jetix

Outside of the United States, Jetix was first launched as a programming block on the European Fox Kids channels in April 2004, airing in mornings and afternoons.

The transition of Fox Kids networks into Jetix started in August 2004 with the French version's rebranding, which was followed by the Latin American version later in the month. The transitioning continued throughout 2004 and 2005 with the rebranding of the Scandinavian version in October 2004, versions in most European territories in January 2005, the Netherlands in February, and Italy and Israel in March. The transition was completed in June 2005 when the final Fox Kids network in Germany was rebranded as Jetix.

The Fox Kids Play channels available in CEE and MENA (which primarily aired archive programming from Saban, Fox Kids, and Jetix archives, including some DiC Entertainment shows) were rebranded as Jetix Play, on 1 January 2005.

The Jetix brand unified the children's programming department at ABC's domestic cable networks, as well as Fox Kids in Europe and Latin America, in a joint programming alliance. The first Jetix Europe co-productions were W.I.T.C.H. and Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go!, with Get Ed and Yin Yang Yo! following in 2005 and 2006 respectively.

Rebrand as Disney XD in the US and international discontinuation

In Fall 2006, Toon Disney in the United States became the exclusive home for Jetix, effectively ending the block on ABC Family. The Jetix programming block took up most of Toon Disney's airtime, taking 12 hours on weekdays and 19 hours on weekends, until the network was replaced by Disney XD in the United States on 13 February 2009.

Disney XD was to be slightly different from Jetix; it still mostly focused on the boy demographic, but would include more live-action productions under the Disney banner and also be a home for Disney's recent animated productions (for both boys and girls), effectively superseding Toon Disney in the United States. The new brand was to be "aimed at boys ages 6–14 and features content focusing on the themes of adventure, accomplishment, gaming, music and sports."

On 8 December 2008, two months before the U.S. launch of Disney XD, Disney announced that it would be increasing its shares in Jetix Europe to 96% with the intention to buy the remaining shares in the company, effectively ending Jetix Europe's autonomy. Disney wanted full control of the company and to bring the European Jetix channels completely under the Disney umbrella, enabling Disney to have a singular unified strategy for its channels. After the completion of Jetix Europe's share buy-back offer, Jetix Europe was delisted from the Euronext Amsterdam stock exchange on 27 February 2009. In the discontinuation of the Jetix brand, Jetix Europe's CEO Paul Taylor resigned, with John Hardie, the Executive Vice President of Disney Channels EMEA as CEO on 11 February 2009. John Hardie left Disney for ITN in June 2009 and was replaced with Giorgio Stock (who later became head of Turner Broadcasting System Europe).

In June 2008, Disney France announced that Disney Channel and Jetix would merge operations; at the time, Jetix was being affected by falling carriage rates and came close to being removed from the CanalSat television provider in France after protracted negotiations. Jetix France was the first European version of Jetix to make the conversion to Disney XD on 1 April 2009.

Jetix became Disney Channel in countries where it was not already available (most notably the Central Eastern Europe and the Hungarian, Czech, Slovakian, Romanian, and Israeli feeds). The last main Jetix feed in operation, Jetix Russia, was rebranded to Disney Channel on 10 August 2010. Also, in the countries where Jetix Play broadcast, it became a localised version of Playhouse Disney; however, the rollout was not synchronized with the conversion of the main Jetix networks in these areas, instead happening between 2010 and 2011, one region at a time.

In Italy, the managing director of Jetix Italy, Francesco Nespega, led a management buyout; Jetix Italy was renamed as Switchover Media and was now responsible for two channels that were previously operated by Jetix Italy, cable television channel GXT and free-to-air channel K2 (as of 2024, they are operated by Warner Bros. Discovery EMEA). However, the main Jetix Italy channel remained at Disney and was rebranded as Disney XD in September 2009.

List of versions

Other versions

Programming

Main article: List of programs broadcast by Jetix, List of programs broadcast by Jetix (block)

Jetix was primarily created through Disney's ownership of the Saban Entertainment library (acquired along with ABC Family Worldwide in 2001), which included shows from Marvel Productions; action-adventure shows were the primary programming theme, though not all Jetix networks and blocks were necessarily limited to that genre. Furthermore, programming from outside producers and distributors were also included.

Jetix Animation Concepts was a brand by Walt Disney Television Animation used for animation co-produced by and for the Jetix global group by the ABC Cable Networks Group.

Magazine and other ventures

As part of brand extension, many of the overseas Jetix networks engaged in various marketing exercises, including print publications, awards shows and sporting events.

In the U.K., Future plc published the official Jetix Magazine; it was launched in early September 2004 by Jetix Consumer Products and Future Publishing. Cavan Scott was the magazine's initial editor. 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.

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.

In CEE, there was annual children's awards show called Jetix Kids Awards, in which children could vote their favorite shows and stars, in order to win prizes. The last edition took place in 2008.

The Jetix Kids Cup (formerly known as the Fox Kids Cup) was an association football tournament in which children from 16 countries competed to "promote fair play, sportsmanship and cultural exchange".

References

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