Disney Channel Scandinavia

For the Disney Channel in other countries, see Disney Channel (international). For the original Disney Channel, see Disney Channel.

Disney Channel Scandinavia
Launched	February 28, 2003
Owned by	The Walt Disney Company
Audience share	1.1% (Sweden 2008, [1])
Country	United Kingdom
Broadcast area	Nordic countries, Baltic States
Sister channel(s)	Disney XD, Playhouse Disney
Website	disneychannel.tv
Availability
Terrestrial
Boxer	Channel 31 (Sweden)
PlusTV	Channel 52 (Finland)
TV Viihde	Channel 52 (Finland)
RiksTV	Channel 14 (Norway)
Boxer	Channel 25 (Denmark)
Televarpið	(Faroe Islands)
Satellite
Canal Digital	Sweden, Denmark, Norway & Finland: Ch. 25
Viasat	Channel 12
Cable
Com Hem	Channel 154 (Sweden)
YouSee	(Denmark)
Welho	Channel 234 (Finland)
IPTV
Canal Digital	Channel 90 (Sweden)

Disney Channel Scandinavia is an edition of The Walt Disney Company-owned Disney Channel broadcasting to the Nordic countries and Baltic states. It is advertising-free and funded by subscription fees.

History

The Disney Channel was launched in February 28, 2003, and was then exclusively available through the Viasat satellite platform (Sirius 4). Later that year, it became available in digital cable networks, such as Swedish Com Hem.

In 2003, the channel also applied for a license to broadcast in the Swedish Digital Terrestrial Television network. They were among the channels recommended by the Swedish Radio and TV Authority, and the government granted the Disney Channel a broadcasting license on January 29, 2004. The terrestrial transmissions could start on February 15 via the Boxer TV Access platform. Soon after that, the channel celebrated its first anniversary by dropping encryption for one weekend.

On August 1, 2005, the channel became available to subscribers of the Canal Digital (Thor 2) satellite platform. Simultaneously, a sister channel called Toon Disney was launched. A third sister channel, Playhouse Disney, was launched on October 1, 2006.

In the autumn of 2009, the channel will start broadcasting its first original productions. Among these are a sitcom called Når klokkerne ringer produced by the Danish productions company Nobody and the music competition My Camp Rock produced by Titan Television.^[2]

Programming

Main article: List of programs broadcast by Disney Channel

The channel is mainly aimed at children and their families, broadcasting Disney television series throughout the day. Disney feature films are also an important part in the mixture.

Most of the non-live-action content is dubbed into Swedish, Norwegian, Danish and Finnish with separate audio streams being available, but on Tele2Vision you can change the audio into (English) if you don't want the dubbed version. In addition, subtitles are carried for live-action programmes like Home Improvement, Dinosaurs, Phil of the Future, Sam and Friends and Lizzie McGuire, which aren't dubbed. In Sweden, only Wizards of Waverly Place, JONAS and some episodes of The Suite Life of Zack & Cody are dubbed. In Norway, the channel is criticised for its dubbing.

Animated programs

Around the launch, the channel originally only aired animated programs. A lot of them were not Disney Channel Original Series (As they are called in the US). The live-action, which aired in 2005 was Smart Guy.

Website

The Disney Channel Scandinavia website has games just like the American one. In 2006 Disney Channel Scandinavia stopped having Halloween games on their website due to sharing with South Africa, the fact that they don't celebrate Halloween there. In 2007 Disney Channel in Scandinavia added video on their website, only Scandinavia can watch them as they are not available to other countries. DC Scandinavia will bring back Halloween-themed episodes and movies October 2011

Availability

The Disney Channel is available on satellite from Canal Digital/Thor 5 and Viasat/Astra 4A.

In Sweden, it became available through the DTT network via Multiplex 3 in February 2004. It is also available on the Faroe Islands.

It launched in Finland via Canal Digital in April 2006. The channel was only available in the daytime between 7 a.m. and 5 p.m.^[3] Nowadays, the channel broadcasts until 6 p.m., with Urheilu+kanava taking its broadcast space in the evening. The channel is not available around Turku. Canal Digital transferred the terrestrial transmissions of Disney Channel to PlusTV in October 2008.^[4]

In September 2007, the digital terrestrial television package launched in Norway with Disney Channel broadcasting via RiksTV.

On November 1, 2009, the channel was launched via the terrestrial network in Denmark through Boxer TV A/S.^[5]

Various cable companies, such as Com Hem, Tele2vision and YouSee, also offer the channel.

In Estonia you can see Disney Channel Scandinavia thru Elion Digitv, it's in children's theme pack.^{[citation needed]}

In Iceland, Disney Channel can be seen on -Digitalísland- microwave system by vodafone and (stod2/bylgjan) on ch.60 .^[6] ,^[7]

References

1. ^ Årsrapport 2008. Mediamätning i Skandinavien. http://mms.se/_dokument/rapporter/ar/%C3%85rsrapport%202008.pdf 
2. ^ "Disney Channel stärker upp med lokalproduktioner". Dagens Media. June 5, 2009. http://www.dagensmedia.se/nyheter/article5402.ece. 
3. ^ "Maanpäällisen digi-tv-verkon ohjelmatarjonta kasvaa - Disney Channel osaksi CANAL+ -pakettia". April 10, 2006. http://www.digitv.fi/sivu.asp?path=1;699;8075. 
4. ^ http://www.bakercapital.com/press/pdf/082908a.pdf
5. ^ "Disney Channel på Boxers tv-sendenet" (Press release). Boxer. April 16, 2009. http://www.boxertv.dk/?page=1459&display=2133:4225. 
6. ^ http://www.vodafone.is/sjonvarp/dagskra?channelId=79 program cable-tv network provider
7. ^ http://www.stod2.is/Dagskra/dagskra?stod=DSE program channel subscription provider