History Creator / DisneyChannel

''[[ThemeTune Ba-Bah]] [[https://youtube.com/watch?v=b_rjBWmc1iQ Ba-Bum]]''

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* ''Film/{{Now You See It|2005}}''

* ''Film/{{Spin|2021}}''

* ''Film/{{ZOMBIES|2018}}''

->''"[[MyNameIsInigoMontoya Hi! We're TV Tropes]], [[AdBumper and you're viewing Disney Channel's TV Tropes page]]."''

* ''Film/UnderWraps''

** ''Series/{{Bunkd}}'' (Slowly becoming it's own separate show starting in season 4.)

** ''Series/{{Bunkd}}''

* ''Zapped''

* ''Read It and Weep''

* ''Motocrossed''

* ''Hounded''

[[AC:Disney Channel Original Movies (including pre-1997 Premiere Films]]

* ''WesternAnimation/MoonGirlAndDevilDinosaur''

Established in 1983 -- a time when The Walt Disney Company[[note]]then known as Walt Disney Productions[[/note]] seemed to be on its last legs, just before the arrival of Michael Eisner and company -- The Disney Channel initially served as an outlet for the company's old theatrical shorts, movies, television shows, and documentaries. Despite being a premium service at the time (a la Creator/{{HBO}}), the channel didn't even air full-time; at least not until the "Disney After Dark" [[UsefulNotes/BlockProgramming programming block]], with PG programming for adults (including ''Going Home'', a series of concert specials featuring mostly baby boomer-era acts, and ''Radio/APrairieHomeCompanion''), was added[[note]]Similar to Nickelodeon's early years, when [[Creator/AAndE A&E]] was carried in primetime. By contrast, Disney Channel ''never'' aired around the clock in the UK--with the midnight to 6 am block relegated to "previews"--though the local version of Disney XD did air 24/7 (it should be noted that said UK counterpart started as Creator/FoxKids UK and time-shared with other channels--first a failed spin-off of Creator/{{Sky}} 1 called Sky 2, then with the National Geographic Channel, before going 24/7 with the shutdown of Sky's analog service and the rise of Sky Digital {at the time, many channels time-shared due to lack of transponders}; after Disney bought Fox Family Worldwide, Fox Kids UK was first rebranded as Jetix, then Disney XD)[[/note]].

[[AC:Disney Channel Original Movies]]

* ''Can Of Worms''

* ''Film/CloudNine''

* ''Film/FreakyFriday2018'' (adaptation of the [[Creator/DisneyTheatricalProductions stage musical]])
* ''Film/{{Frenemies}}''

** ''Film/HighSchoolMusical2''[[note]]''High School Musical 3'' was made for cinemas, and is therefore not a [=DCOM=].[[/note]]

* ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible: A Sitch In Time''

* ''Life is Ruff''

* ''My Date With The President's Daughter''

* ''Film/NowYouSeeIt2005''
* ''Film/TheOtherMe''

* ''Read It And Weep''

* ''Right On Track''

* ''Film/Spin2021''

* ''Stuck In The Suburbs''

* ''[[Series/TheSuiteLifeOfZackAndCody The Suite Life]] Movie''

* ''Wish Upon A Star''

* ''Film/Zombies2018''

By 2006, Disney Channel was targeting teenage girls as their primary audience. With the ginormous success of the ''Film/HighSchoolMusical'' film franchise and shows like ''Series/HannahMontana'', the channel would gravitate to what would become [[Franchise/DisneyChannelLiveActionUniverse a whole shared universe]] [[FollowTheLeader of similar tween comedies]]. Except for preschool-oriented programming, Disney Channel would cut back on everything else. It worked spectacularly, with the ratings constantly being neck and neck with Nick's offerings, and both children ''and'' teenagers eating it up. Chances are if you grew up in [[TurnOfTheMillenium the late 2000s]], these shows practically shaped your entire childhood. General audience animated shows were banished to Creator/ToonDisney, [[NetworkDecay which would undergo a similar transformation]] and become Creator/DisneyXD in 2009. The channel's programming was now segregated between the female-skewing Disney Channel [[DistaffCounterpart and the boy-targeting Disney XD]].

All of this came at the expense of the audience that were outside of the channel's child/teenage demographic [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks and alienated by its programming and direction]]. These former fans pin the blame on then-president Anne Sweeney, for turning Disney Channel into a kids entertainment outlet that [[InNameOnly barely resembles]] anything associated with the all-inclusive family brand it is named after. Nevertheless, Disney Channel ''was'' able to finally beat Nickelodeon in the ratings in 2012, when the channel broke Nick's 17-year long streak as the highest-rated kids' channel in the U.S, though that was in part because of Nickelodeon's own [[NetworkDecay decay]]. [[note]]And also probably the dispute between [[Cable/SatelliteMudslinging DirecTV]] and [[Creator/ParamountGlobal Viacom]] that led to Nickelodeon getting dropped from their feeds, which would only cause the ratings to plummet.[[/note]]

By 2006, Disney Channel was targeting teenage girls as their primary audience. With the ginormous success of the ''Film/HighSchoolMusical'' film franchise and shows like ''Series/HannahMontana'', the channel would gravitate to what would become [[Franchise/DisneyChannelLiveActionUniverse a whole shared universe]] [[FollowTheLeader of similar tween comedies]]. Except for preschool-oriented programming, Disney Channel would cut back on everything else. General audience animated shows were banished to Creator/ToonDisney, [[NetworkDecay which would undergo a similar transformation]] and become Creator/DisneyXD in 2009. The channel's programming was now segregated between the female-skewing Disney Channel [[DistaffCounterpart and the boy-targeting Disney XD]].

All of this came at the expense of the audience that were outside of the channel's teenage demographic [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks and alienated by its programming and direction]]. These former fans pin the blame on then-president Anne Sweeney, for turning Disney Channel into a teenage entertainment outlet that [[InNameOnly barely resembles]] anything associated with the all-inclusive brand it is named after. Nevertheless, Disney Channel ''was'' able to finally beat Nickelodeon in the ratings in 2012, when the channel broke Nick's 17-year long streak as the highest-rated kids' channel in the U.S, though that was in part because of Nickelodeon's own [[NetworkDecay decay]]).

Outside of the US, the international rollout of Creator/DisneyPlus saw local versions of Disney Channel and its siblings shuttered, with their programming becoming exclusive to Disney+ in that region. [[note]]For instance, the UK Disney networks were all shuttered in September 2020 after failed negotiations with Creator/{{Sky}}.[[/note]] This could be somewhat justified as, by the time Disney+ launched, the international networks were a financial drain due to viewership being paltry in comparison to the US networks (which explains why they were separated from the main Media Networks unit in March 2018) and most of their programming being imported from the US channel[[note]]It also makes more financial sense to keep the US channel in operation alongside Disney+; around November 2020 Disney+ had around 30 million subscribers in the US, but Disney Channel is available in ''88 million'' households with cable, meaning it has a far wider reach there than Disney+ despite the ongoing decline of linear television[[/note]].