Disney Channel at launch                                                                            

The channel's first programming day began on April 18, 1983 at 7:00 A. M. Eastern, with an episode of Good Morning, Mickey!, which featured classic Disney short cartoons. Early programs shown on the network included Good Morning, Mickey!, Donald Duck Presents, Contraption, Dumbo's Circus, You and Me Kid, Welcome to Pooh Corner, and Mickey's Mouse Tracks. The late night had The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, and other programming. Disney also published a complementary magazine, The Disney Channel Magazine, which featured program information. The Disney Channel programmed from 7AM to 1AM (18 hours) from its inception until December of 1986, at which time it began 24 hour a day programming.

Three blocks period                                                                                     

In 1998, Disney Channel took on a revamped look and dropped the "The" in the network's name, and split the network into three programming blocks—Playhouse Disney, a block of shows aimed at preschoolers; Vault Disney, an overnight block that featured classic Disney shows that aired on the network since its inception and movies such as Zorro, The Mickey Mouse Club, and The Love Bug  and the most distinct block, running from afternoon to late evening, called Zoog Disney, which was a programming block aimed at preteens —Even Stevens, Lizzie McGuire, Smart Guy, The Famous Jett Jackson, So Weird, etc. Zoog Disney also connected Disney Channel viewers and the computer, by allowing kids to interact with games and see their screen names on television. The programming block also featured anthropomorphic characters called Zoogs. They began to carry break interruptions (not advertising commercials, but promos from the network).

2000-2002: New shows, new graphics, new format                                

While Disney Channel moved from premium cable to basic cable on January 1997, most of the design elements have changed three years later. The Zoogs were redesigned, and the channel's logo (which featured a 1930s-era Mickey Mouse on a black Mickey ear-shaped TV), introduced in 1997, was changed to reflect the Zoog Disney image.

From 2000 through 2002, ratings grew higher with such shows as Even Stevens, Kim Possible and others. Lizzie McGuire became the network's banner show, and was the highest-rating program on the network. Reruns of Lizzie continued to outrate competing shows, including those from Disney Channel itself. This led to the termination of Vault Disney and all other classic Disney programming in September 2002. To complement the change, Disney Channel changed their logo at that time.

Today                                                                                                         

The channel has become well known in recent years for its Disney Channel Original Series. Today's Disney Channel runs original programming such as That's So Raven which is the network's highest rated original series of all time, beating former ratings champion Lizzie McGuire[1]. That's So Raven made history as the first Disney Channel series to beat the 65 episode mark and get 100 episodes. Other hit shows on Disney are Phil of the Future, The Suite Life of Zack and Cody , and Kim Possible (which have been shown on ABC after debuting on Disney Channel), along with former ABC sitcoms such as Boy Meets World and Sister, Sister. Other shows aired by Disney Channel include: The Emperor's New School, The Proud Family, Brandy & Mr. Whiskers, American Dragon: Jake Long, The Buzz on Maggie, Lilo & Stitch: The Series, Naturally, Sadie, Life With Derek, and Hannah Montana. The Hannah Montana premiere brought Disney Channel 5.4 million viewers on premiere night alone, a record-setter for the network.

Most of Disney Channel's programming today, surprisingly, does not heavily feature the "classic" Disney characters such as Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Pluto, and Goofy. The characters appear on occasion, especially during the holidays on movies such as Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas, and were also featured on the show House of Mouse, which used to air every weekday afternoon on the channel. This was after Disney Channel realized that reruns of Lizzie McGuire were beating classic Disney shows, and the September 2002 termination of classic programming grew out of that fact. The network is based in Burbank, California, a short distance from Disney headquarters.

Disney Channel now also airs commercials for Danimals (Dylan and Cole Sprouse sweepstakes) and McDonald's (Playhouse Disney)

Programming                                                                                                 

Series produced by Walt Disney Television or production companies unrelated to the Walt Disney Company used to make up most of the schedule, but with the explosion of Disney Channel Original Series, less of these series air on the channel. The only non-original productions airing on Disney (not including the Playhouse Disney lineup) as of February 2006 are Sister, Sister and Boy Meets World.

Playhouse Disney still airs in the mornings from 6am until noon.

Disney Channel is known and occasionally criticized for its sometimes poor and/or obvious censoring and editing of some live action series and movies not produced by the channel.

Disney also has compeletely refused to air certain episodes of some non-Original Series, especially Boy Meets World, for adult content. Boy Meets World has had at least five episodes omitted from Disney Channel broadcasts. "If You Can't Be With the One You Love..." from the fifth season is one of the best examples of this. The involvement of alcohol abuse is the likely reason.

Disney will syndicate its second and third series in the fall with Even Stevens and Lizzie McGuire in September 2006. Both series will be distributed by Buena Vista Television which distributes all series produced by Walt Disney or Touchstone Television. September 2006 and Summer 2007 there will be spin-offs of The Suite Life of Zack & Cody and That's So Raven, the new shows are Housebroken and Cory In the House.

Campaign to save Disney shows                                                                

With all the success that Disney Channel has experienced in the last ten years, it has come with its share of costs. Many of its most-watched shows are forced into cancellation once they reach the maximum of 65 episodes (e.g. Lizzie McGuire stopped production at 65 episodes even though it remained its highest rated show at the time). There has been a movement, mostly through online message boards and forums, to save cancelled shows that were stopped in their prime. The most recent example is the "Save Phil" or "Save POTF" campaigns that are helping to bring back Phil of the Future, one of Disney Channel's highest-rated shows that was canceled after 43 episodes/2 seasons were produced (the show has been cancelled), though they wraped up filming last year, they still air new episodes every once in awhile. Campaigns like this were responsible for a fourth season of Kim Possible. (YAY!) The 65 Episode Policy has ended now each season of a show is to have 31 episodes or more each season.

See also: 65 Episode Policy

Movies                                                                                                          

Additionally, a movie is broadcast almost every night, but not necessarily a theatrically released feature film. Disney Channel airs new made-for-TV movies, called Disney Channel Original Movies (or DCOMs), about 8 to 10 a year, and those are frequently broadcast during that timeslot. Circa 2000, Disney Channel claimed to produce a new movie each month, but this only lasted throughout the year 2000. One of the most successful DCOMs was High School Musical, released in 2006, High School Musical received 6 Emmy Award nominations and the soundtrack reached the number one on the Billboard 200 twice (on March 1 and March 22, 2006) and had shipped 3.5 million copies. Out of those copies, more than 2.5 million copies have been sold by June 2006; it was certified triple platinum by the RIAA. Occasionally, Disney will secure the rights to air a picture released by a non-Disney studio, such as Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Bob the Butler and Little Secrets.

During the 1980s and '90s, movies made up most Disney's evening and overnight schedule. Disney now only airs usually around 12 hours of movies per week, occasionally 14 or 15 hours. A Disney Channel Original Movie will used to air twice in the same night on the Friday it premieres, this tradition ended with the premiere of High School Musical. Most movies airing on Disney Channel usually run around 1 hour, 35 minutes to 1 hour, 45 minutes.

Because of this, Disney airs filler programming following the movie:

• If the movie lasts 1:25 to 1:35, an Original Series will air (Disney used to air syndicated series that aired on the channel).
• If the movie lasts 1:40 to 1:45, an Original Animated Series will air.
• If the movie lasts 1:50 to 1:55, one or two music videos along with Disney Channel promos will air.

Logos                                                                                                           

The original Disney Channel logo from 1983 to 1986.	A later version of The Disney Channel logo used in the United States from 1986 to 1997. The "Mickey Mouse Screen" logo would be dropped sometime in the early-1990s.	The Disney Channel logo used from 1997 to 2000.	A secondary-alternate version of the Disney Channel logo used from 2000 to 2002.
The Disney Channel logo now: used from 2003 to the present.