Disney XD

Disney XD is an American multinational pay television channel owned by the Disney Media and Entertainment Distribution unit of The Walt Disney Company. The channel is aimed primarily at children ages 6–11.
Disney XD's programming consists of original first-run television series, current and former original series and made-for-TV films inherited from sister network Disney Channel, theatrically-released films, and acquired programs from other distributors, along with a primetime block of programming involving competitive gaming.
The channel offers an alternate Spanish-language audio feed, either via a separate channel with the English track removed as part of a package of Spanish-language television networks sold by subscription providers or a separate audio track accessible through the SAP option, depending on the provider.
As of January 2016, Disney XD is available to 77.5 million households in the United States.
History.
Disney XD was launched on February 13, 2009 at 12:00 a.m. Eastern Time, with the "Phineas and Ferb" episode "Dude, We're Getting the Band Back Together" being the first show to air on the channel. The channel debuted its first original series, "Aaron Stone", at 7:00 p.m. New animated series included in the channel's initial lineup were "Kid vs. Kat" and "Jimmy Two-Shoes".
The network took over the channel space of Toon Disney, an animation-focused channel that debuted on April 18, 1998, which eventually launched a live-action/animation block called Jetix in 2004. Jetix channels outside of the United States were relaunched under the Disney XD banner starting with the France-based service on April 1, 2009. Many of the channel's programs – particularly animated series – previously aired on Toon Disney, mainly as part of the Jetix programming block, which ran on Toon Disney until that channel's shutdown. Disney XD carries the same name as an unrelated mini-site and media player on Disney.com, which stood for Disney Xtreme Digital, though it has been stated that the "XD" in the channel's name does not have an actual meaning.
The channel's first original television movie, "Skyrunners", premiered on November 27, 2009. On April 1, 2012, Disney XD launched a block called "Marvel Universe", as a result of Disney's 2009 acquisition of Marvel Entertainment. By June 2014, Disney XD agreed to a multi-picture development deal with Two 4 the Money and MarVista Entertainment with MarVista having global rights.
On November 17, 2016, it was announced that the "Pokémon" anime series would be moving to Disney XD from its previous broadcaster, Cartoon Network. The twentieth season, "", was the first season to air and was first broadcast as a sneak peek on December 5, 2016. "Pokémon" began its regular broadcast on May 12, 2017.
On August 12, 2017, Disney XD premiered a reboot of "DuckTales". In 2018, through a series of promos and news announcements, Disney announced that four of Disney XD's original series (those being "Star vs. the Forces of Evil", "Milo Murphy's Law", "DuckTales", and "") would be moving their premieres over to Disney Channel, while Disney XD would continue to air re-runs.
Programming.
Disney XD's schedule consists largely of animated and live-action programs aimed at pre-teens and young teenagers. Disney XD content is a mixture of former original series as well as programs inherited from sister network Disney Channel. In addition to full-length live-action and animated original series, the channel also debuts short series similar to those seen on Disney Channel during commercial breaks (such as "Two More Eggs"), which serve as filler for programs scheduled to end during the half-hour and last usually around one to three minutes.
In addition, Disney XD airs original made-for-TV movies from Disney Channel and theatrically released feature films, but unlike Disney Channel, Disney XD typically does not air these movies in prime time; instead, films generally air during the early evening hours at 6:00 p.m. Eastern Time with double features airing a few times a week.
Unlike Disney Channel (and similarly, fellow sister network Disney Junior)—whose advertising comes in the form of program promotions, underwriter sponsorships, and interstitials for Disney films, home video, and game releases produced by the channel—Disney XD operates as an advertiser-supported service running traditional television commercials in addition to promotions for the channel's shows.
Sports.
The channel also airs a youth-oriented "plays of the week" countdown segment called "SportsCenter High-5", which is produced by ESPN's "SportsCenter" and airs periodically between shows. On January 27, 2019, the 2019 Pro Bowl aired on Disney XD, with the event becoming the first long-form sporting event that the network ever aired (it was also simulcast on ESPN, ESPN Deportes, and ABC).
International channels.
Disney XD, similarly born of a merger between Jetix and Toon Disney, was formerly available around the world. Most of the international Disney XD networks closed down through late 2019 and into 2020 due to the launch of Disney+, which allows the Walt Disney Company to retain the most profit for its content compared to a traditional wireline network where it shared proceeds with its providers. Disney also lost the burden of scheduling a full-week network, as streaming providers have proven to do much better with young audiences than cable channels.
On 6 January 2019, Disney XD closed down in Australia and New Zealand with programs moving to Disney Channel for that network's last year before its content was subsumed into Disney+. In India, the channel was rebranded as Marvel HQ on January 9, 2019. On October 1, 2019 Disney XD closed in Italy following the non-renewal of its Sky carriage agreement.
The Spanish and German versions were closed on 1 April 2020, followed by France's network a week later. XD in Singapore closed on 31 May, then the UK & Ireland and continental Africa domestic feeds on 1 October. 2020 finished with the southeast Asian and Scandinavian feeds closing on 31 December.
By the end of January 2021, the only remaining countries apart from the United States and Canada where Disney XD exists as a channel internationally are in Latin America and Poland as a full-time network, and the Netherlands as a time-share with Veronica TV.