Disney Cinemagic (UK & Ireland)

Disney Cinemagic
Launched	16 March 2006
Owned by	Disney-ABC Television Group
Picture format	576i (16:9/4:3) (SDTV) 1080i (HDTV)
Audience share	0.1% 0.0% (+1) (June 2011, BARB)
Country	United Kingdom Ireland
Headquarters	Chiswick, London
Replaced	Toon Disney
Sister channel(s)	Disney Channel Disney XD Disney Junior
Timeshift service	Disney Cinemagic +1
Website	www.disneycinemagic.co.uk
Availability
Satellite
Sky	Channel 622 Channel 628 (+1) Channel 622 (HD customers) Channel 631 (SD version for HD customers) Sky Anytime
Cable
Virgin Media	Channel 728
UPC Ireland	Channel 614 Channel 615 (+1) Channel 612 (HD)
Smallworld Cable	Channel 622 Channel 628 (+1)
IPTV
BT Vision	Programmes available on-demand

Disney Cinemagic is the premium subscription movie service, available through Sky, TalkTalk TV and Virgin Media. The channel first appeared on 16 March 2006, airing previews, preparing for the official launch that took place at 17:00 on 19 March 2006.

The channel replaced the British version of Toon Disney. A one hour timeshift service called Disney Cinemagic +1 is available on Sky and UPC Ireland. Despite the name, Disney Cinemagic has no formal connection with the CineMagic children's film festival based in Belfast, UK.

Disney Cinemagic shows premieres of Disney movies on Sundays and includes regular screenings of Disney movies, typically three to four each day. Disney Cinemagic also shows the archives of classic Disney Cartoons, newer Disney Cartoons and shorts as well as animated television series such as Disney's House of Mouse, Lilo & Stitch: The Series, and Tarzan.

From launch, up to November 2007, Disney Cinemagic would show channel branding where a character from a film would blend with reality. There were also Bumpers for what programme or film was about to start now and later. After Disney Cinemagic ceased these, they would instead mention what was next in their schedule during the end credits of their current programming.

History

Before Disney Cinemagic launched, two early teasers were first shown for the channel on Disney Channel, Playhouse Disney and Toon Disney, starting from September 2005. The first one shown was a slightly altered version of the original theatriatricle teaser trailer for The Incredibles, with the ending tagline, "The Incredibles! Coming Soon!". However, during the late Autumn/early Winter period of that same year, another teaser trailer was shown, featuring a musical montage of the movies set to be shown on the channel, such as Bambi, Brother Bear, Dumbo, Cinderella and The Lion King II: Simba's Pride. This was the first advert to feature the early working title, "Incredible Movies" (to correspond with the channel's main movie, The Incredibles). At the end of the advert, all it said was "Coming soon, to Disney".

A final advert shown at the beginning of 2006 revealed the Disney Cinemagic branding. The advert featured Mickey Mouse, dressed in his The Sorcerer's Apprentice attire. He walked on to the completely blank white screen, took a magic wand and pressed the center of it with his finger, making magically morph into a TV remote. Mickey presses a button on the remote, and it starts blasting out magic holograms of several Disney characters. The remote starts vibrating uncontrollably, Mickey tries to regain control of it by randomly mashing different buttons, until finally, all of the holograms disappear. Mickey stands at the corner of the screen, smiling at the audience, while the Disney Cinemagic logo appears in the centre.

In the early morning of 16 March 2006, the day Toon Disney closed, the channel began to show numerous repeats of Kim Possible. At 06:00 that same morning, all programmes on that channel came to an end and a caption took its place, stating "Disney Cinemagic is coming soon".

Four hours later, at 10:00, Toon Disney was removed from the EPG. Toon Disney swapped EPG slots with Disney Channel and was relabelled Disney Cinemagic. At 17:00, Disney Cinemagic officially launched. Disney Channel +1 was temporally replaced with a 1 hour timeshift of Disney Cinemagic. Disney Channel +1 did eventually return after it relaunched in June 2006.

Aspect ratio

Unlike its counterparts, Disney Channel and Disney Junior, its movies are sometimes shown in their original aspect ratio though these are usually available only on Sky. Notable exceptions are Tarzan II, Pocahontas II: Journey to a New World and Bambi II, which have only been broadcast in fullscreen, and not their proper 16:9 ratio. Films in the 2.55:1 ratio, such as Lady and the Tramp^[1], are cropped to 16:9, the only exception being The Incredibles. Disney Cinemagic is slowly abandoning this process of showing 16:9 films in their original ratio, favouring prints in pan-and-scan due to the availability of widescreen on digital platforms.

Disney Cinemagic HD

Disney Cinemagic HD is a simulcast high definition version of Disney Cinemagic. The channel upscales all standard definition content and shows original high definition content where available. The channel launched on 1 December 2008 and is available on Sky 631. The channel is available to Sky+ HD customers who have a Sky Movies subscription. Some of the movies shown in HD during the first couple of months of broadcasting included Ratatouille, Tinker Bell, Sleeping Beauty and The Incredibles.^[2]

Films and programmes

Main article: List of programmes broadcast by Disney Cinemagic

References

1. ^ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0048280/technical
2. ^ http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/digitaltv/a136168/disney-to-launch-cinemagic-hd-channel.html

External links

• Current graphics for Disney Cinemagic and Disney Cinemagic HD
• Official website