Disney XD

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Disney XD is an American digital cable television channel, owned by the Disney-ABC Television Group division of The Walt Disney Company, that mostly airs action-oriented children's animated television series, with some live-action programming and movies aimed at male viewers age 6 to 14. The channel is a spinoff of Disney Channel, and airs a minimal amount of that channel's programming including a few recent and some archived original series and made-for-TV movies. In fact, re-runs of The Suite Life On Deck and Phineas and Ferb are the top rated series on the channel, despite them being Disney Channel series.

The channel is offered with Spanish language audio, either via a separate channel as part of a Spanish language network package sold by cable and satellite providers, or via a separate audio track with the SAP option, depending on the system; the channel also offers a video-on-demand service to digital cable and IPTV subcribers, with programming available free of charge. {| class="toc" id="toc" sizcache="0" sizset="0"
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Contents
[hide]*1 Overview
 * 2 Programming
 * 3 Disney XD HD
 * 4 See also
 * 5 References
 * 6 External links
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[edit] Overview
The network launched on February 13, 2009 as the successor to Toon Disney and effectively took over that network's channel space.[1] [2] [3] Its target market is boys from nine to fourteen,[4] [5] though it also airs some programming aimed toward teenage boys (10-18) like Aaron Stone and The Suite Life of Zack & Cody.

Unlike sister network Disney Channel though like predecessor Toon Disney, Disney XD is advertiser-supported and runs commercials for (mostly) non-Disney branded products during breaks, in addition to network promos. Despite Disney XD's relationship to Disney Channel and some of that cable network's series airing on Disney XD, little cross-promotion of Disney Channel shows is done on the channel, though Disney Channel cross-promotes Disney XD programming within their promo breaks and has aired some of Disney XD's original programming.

According to Gary Marsh, President of Entertainment for Disney Channel Worldwide, "XD" does not "stand for anything" and was chosen simply because it looked "cool". Marsh notes that "the letter X has many cool associations" and that "the beauty of it is the audience can imbue it with all sorts of positive attributes."[6] Coincidentally though, the name "Disney XD" was previously used as the name for an online media player and interactive web portal on the Disney.com website, which in that case stood for Disney Xtreme Digital.

Since the launch of Disney XD in the U.S., localized versions of Disney XD have begun launching in other countries, generally replacing international versions of Toon Disney or Jetix, depending on which network was available in the particular market.

[edit] Programming
Main article: List of programs broadcast by Disney XDMain article: List of movies broadcast by Disney XDDisney XD broadcasts original series such as Aaron Stone and Zeke & Luther, as well as reruns of older shows from Disney Channel, Jetix, and some other channels. A large amount of the channel's schedule consists of action-oriented animated series, such as The Spectacular Spider-Man, Naruto Shippuden and several others. The channel only airs a limited amount of Disney Channel series, particularly Phineas and Ferb (for which Disney XD now airs premieres of first-run episodes before Disney Channel, though Disney Channel Original Productions still produces the series), Cory in the House, The Suite Life of Zack & Cody and its spinoff The Suite Life on Deck. Upcoming original series set to debut in 2010 include the sitcom Pair of Kings starring Doc Shaw and Mitchel Musso[7] and the Marvel Comics-produced animated series The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes.[8]

The channel also aired its first original made-for-TV movie, Skyrunners, on November 27, 2009. ESPN's SportsCenter provides youth-oriented sports updates between shows periodically, and Disney XD airs other short series similar those seen on Disney Channel, such as Moises Rules starring Hannah Montana's Moises Arias and the extreme sports-oriented The Next X and its spinoff The Next Winter X. New episodes of Disney XD series are usually aired on Monday nights for live-action original series and Saturday mornings for animated original series. Disney XD airs movies, but unlike Disney Channel, movies are typically not aired in primetime. Instead, films generally air at 5:00PM/ET with double features airing a few times a week.

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. These shows often follow other shows on the network and last for approximately two to three minutes or sometimes fifteen minutes, with the exception of a few short-form series. Often, these shows are televised in the last two minutes of the program, with the exception of the Disney XD Shortstop, or following the ending of a movie. For the list of Disney XD Short Series see the List of programs broadcast by Disney XD.

[edit] Disney XD HD
Disney XD HD is the branding used for the high definition feed of the network which is offered on some cable providers, as well as both satellite providers and telco IPTV providers in the Disney/ABC television networks preferred HD picture format of 720p. The high definition feed airs a limited amount of programming in High Definition, mainly Disney XD's original programming as well as certain films and some episodes of Disney Channel series made after 2009. A high definition simulcast of an international version of Disney XD HD in The Netherlands launched on April 15, 2010 and in Brazil launch in 2010 or 2011.