Disney Channel UK's First Day Schedule (1st October 1995)

In 2014, RC made his first contribution to the "Old International Disney Channel, Toon Disney, Playhouse Disney and Disney Cinemagic Schedules" thread on the ToonZone forums, it made a lot of sense to start off with Disney Channel UK's first day schedule from 1st October 1995 as well as the schedule for the channel's first full broadcast day (2nd October 1995), the schedule is now preserved on the RC Wiki and can now be easily accessed by everyone.

History
When the channel launched in 1995, it was met with a lot of fanfare, it was the third Disney Channel feed to launch in the world, after the launch of the original channel in the United States and the launch of Disney Channel Taiwan earlier in 1995. The UK versions of Disney Channel, Disney XD and Disney Junior sadly closed on its 25th Birthday on 1st October 2020, the TV channels were superseded by Disney's brand new Disney+ streaming service. At present, the only children's channel that Disney operates in the UK is BabyTV, which was owned by 21st Century Fox, in 2019, 21CF was split between Disney (which acquired the majority of 21CF's assets) and FOX Corporation.

Disney Channel UK would have been the second version of Disney Channel in the world to launch with the help of Sky Television in 1989, however the partnership and proposed joint-venture between Disney and Sky led to a lawsuit, Disney was supposed to launch two channels, but when the talks broke down, Sky issued a lawsuit against Disney, claiming £1.5 billion in damages. Disney claimed that it wanted more influence in decision making in the partnership and wanted to change the terms of the partnership, Disney was also reluctant to supply its share of funding for the proposed channel.

The suit was later settled, then Disney sold its joint venture stake back to Sky, and gave Sky to access its movie library for five years. When those five years expired, Disney decided to launch Disney Channel on its own, but formed a premium distribution deal with Sky, offering Disney Channel for free to cable and satellite subscribers if they subscribe to Sky's movie package. Disney Channel was also available as a standalone package without having to subscribe to Sky Movies.

After the disagreements between Rupert Murdoch's Sky Television (which later became BSkyB) and Disney, both companies have formed a good business relationship and in 2011, Sky launched Sky Movies Disney (later Sky Cinema Disney), which replaced Disney's premium movie and cartoon channel - Disney Cinemagic. Even though Disney has mostly exited the UK pay-TV market, they have remained on good terms with Sky and signed an exclusive distribution deal for its Disney+ streaming service, which became accessible via Sky Q set-top boxes. Also included in the Sky/Disney+ deal is combined single billing for both Sky and Disney+.

Disney Channel UK Pre-Launch Preview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3vMcBU71X4

The Launch of Disney Channel UK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1KTZFlaAeZ4

Special thanks to the Daily/Sunday Express newspapers archive for preserving and archiving the schedule.

Disney Channel UK's First Day Schedule (01/10/1995)

18:30 Film: The Jungle Book (1967)

20:00 Special Evening With Elton John

22:00-06:00 Closedown/Sign-off (Sky Movies Gold until 03:55am)

Disney Channel UK's First Full Day's Schedule (02/10/1995)

06:00 Under The Umbrella Tree

06:30 Muppet Babies

07:00 The New Adventures of Winnie The Pooh

07:30 Ducktales

08:00 Chip 'n' Dale Rescue Rangers

08:30 Adventures in Wonderland

09:00 Fraggle Rock

09:30 Welcome to Pooh Corner

10:00 Dumbo's Circus

10:30 Donald Duck's Quack Attack

11:00 Walt Disney Presents

12:00 Film: The Legend of Young Dick Turpin (1965)

13:30 The Admiral and the Princess.

14:00 Adventures in Wonderland

14:30 Under The Umbrella Tree

15:00 Fraggle Rock

15:30 The New Adventures of Winnie The Pooh

16:00 Donald's Quack Attack

16:30 Ducktails

17:00 Chip 'n' Dale Rescue Rangers

17:30 Danger Bay

18:00 Tarzan

18:30 Dinosaurs

19:00 Boy Meets World

19:30 Thunder Alley

20:00 Film: Brothers By Choice (1986)

22:00-06:00 Closedown/Sign-off (Sky Movies Gold until 03:25am)

Source: Daily/Sunday Express Archives