Jetix was an international children's television network owned by Jetix Europe, Jetix Latin America and ABC Cable Networks Group (The Walt Disney Company). The Jetix brand was used for children's blocks and channels featuring action and adventure-related programming, most of which had previously aired on Fox Kids, as well as some original programming.
History[]
In the United States, the block aired on Toon Disney (from 2004–2009) and on ABC Family (from 2004–2006). The Jetix brand, alongside Toon Disney, were eventually retired and both rebranded as Disney XD in 2009, or Disney Channel in certain European countries, in accordance with The Walt Disney Company's focus on its Disney, ABC, and ESPN brands.
In January 2004, Fox Kids Europe, Fox Kids Latin America and ABC Cable Networks Group agreed to rename its then current operations under a single umbrella name Jetix, 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.
The Jetix name was chosen after the company conducted international research specifically with a number of children 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.
On 14 February 2004, Toon Disney and ABC Family launched their Jetix blocks with Jetix Cards Live, the world's first concurrently online and telecast trading card game. Toon Disney had 12 hours of weekly prime time programming to start, and ABC Family had two hours on weekdays and four hours on weekends, all in the morning. In fall 2004 with the addition of three new shows, Toon Disney's U.S. block was expanded to 16 hours.
After Jetix Europe was purchased by Disney in December 2008, they announced that all Jetix operations would be replaced with a Disney branded channel. In the United States, Toon Disney and Jetix were merged to form Disney XD on 13 February 2009. [citation needed]
The rest of the Jetix channels were either merged with Toon Disney to create Disney XD or were replaced with Disney XD or Disney Channel, depending on the region.
The Latin American channel was also rebranded as Disney XD on 3 July 2009. On August 1, 2009, Jetix block alongside of Toon Disney replaced by Disney XD in Japan, Jetix block in Canada went off air. The Jetix channel replaced by Disney XD was the Indian channel on 14 November 2009.
Jetix Europe N.V. (formerly known as Fox Kids Europe N.V.) was a television broadcasting company based in the Netherlands that ran children's oriented channels and programming blocks across the European and Middle East markets.