The 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, [7] [8] 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. [7] After the end of Fox Kids in the US, much of the content previously aired on the block migrated 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 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. [9] [10]
On Valentine's Day 2004, Toon Disney and ABC Family launched Jetix with Jetix Cards Live, the world's first concurrently online and telecast trading card game. [2] 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 Monday through Thursday from 7pm to 9pm ET/PT and weekends from 7pm to 9pm ET/PT. [11]
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, [3] airing in mornings and afternoons. [12]
The transition to the Jetix brand started in August 2004 with replacing the French version of Fox Kids, [4] and in the same month, it was also launched in Latin America. [13] In October 2004, it was launched in Scandinavia, in January 2005 in most European countries, in February in the Netherlands, and in March in Italy and Israel. The very last Fox Kids channel to be replaced by Jetix was the German version, which was closed in June 2005, ending the transition from Fox Kids to Jetix. [14]
In addition, the Fox Kids Play channels available in CEE and MENA (which primarily aired programming from the Saban/Fox Kids/Jetix archives, including some DiC Entertainment shows) were rebranded as Jetix Play, on 1 January 2005. [15]
The new Jetix brand brought together 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 Hyper Force Go! , with Get Ed and Yin Yang Yo! following in 2005 and 2006 respectively.
The fate of Jetix
In Autumn 2006, Toon Disney in the United States became the exclusive home for Jetix, effectively ending the block on ABC Family. [16] However, the Jetix programming block continued to take significant chunks of Toon Disney's airtime, until the introduction of Disney XD in the United States on February 13, 2009. [17]
Disney XD was to be slightly different from Jetix; it still mostly focused on the boy demographic, but would have 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. In the U.S., 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."
A few months before the U.S. launch of Disney XD on December 8, 2008, 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. [18] Disney wanted full control of the company and to bring the European Jetix channels completely under the Disney umbrella, especially as this would enable 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. [19] [20] In the gradual phase out 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). [21]
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 leaving the CanalSat pay-TV platform 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. [22] [23]
In countries where Disney Channel didn't already exist, Jetix became Disney Channel (most notably the Central Eastern Europe and the Hungarian, Czech, Slovakian, Romanian, and Israeli feeds). The last main Jetix feed in operation, Jetix Russia, made the conversion 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. [24] [15]
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, pay-TV channel GXT and free-to-air channel K2. However, the main Jetix Italy channel remained at Disney and was rebranded as Disney XD in September 2009. [25]
