16 March 2006; 18 years ago (2006-03-16) (UK) September 4, 2007 (2007-09-04) (France) July 1, 2008 (2008-07-01) (Spain) October 1, 2008 (2008-10-01) (Portugal) July 4, 2009 (2009-07-04) (Germany) December 3, 2011 (2011-12-03) (Italy)
November 1, 2012 (2012-11-01) (Portugal) March 28, 2013 (2013-03-28) (UK) January 1, 2015 (2015-01-01) (Spain) May 8, 2015 (2015-05-08) (France) June 30, 2019 (2019-06-30) (Italy) 30 September 2019; 5 years ago (2019-09-30) (Germany)
Disney Cinemagic was a European television brand that consisted of a group of television channels owned by The Walt Disney Company Limited (UK) (50%) Sky plc (50%)[1] plus two programming blocks by Disney Channels Worldwide.[2] It used to be broadcast on most countries in Western Europe; currently, formerly-branded Disney Cinemagic channels in France (Disney Cinema) and the United Kingdom and Ireland (Sky Movies Disney) are run by third parties which primarily airs films by the Walt Disney Studios.
History
Disney Cinemagic was launched in the UK and Ireland on 16 March 2006 on BSkyB's premium package.[3] On 4 September 2007, the France market version of Disney Cinemagic was launched.[4]
In November 2008 at 8:30pm, Disney Cinemagic HD debuted in France, broadcasting on CANALSAT from 6am to 1am daily,[5] making Disney Cinemagic the first children and family HDTV channel in a French market.[6] In December 2008, Disney Cinemagic HD was launched in the UK with programming in high definition with initial availability through Sky+ HD with a Sky Movies subscription.[7]
In October 2008, Disney Cinemagic Portugal was launched and in January 2009, it launched Disney Cinemagic HD being the first children's channel in Portugal to have an HD feed, with SIC K being the second.
In November 2012, Disney Cinemagic Portugal was replaced by Disney Junior,[8] while its HD feed was rebranded as Disney Movies on Demand.[9]
On 28 March 2013, Disney Cinemagic was replaced in the UK with Sky Movies Disney, as part of a deal between BSkyB and Disney which allowed Sky to stream Disney movies on Sky's video on demand services and the last program on Disney Cinemagic UK was an episode of Lilo & Stitch: The Series.[10] In a similar move in Australia, Foxtel has launched Foxtel Movies Disney in April 2014, along with Disney XD.[11]
Disney Cinemagic in Spain closed in January 2015.[12] Disney Cinemagic in France was replaced by Disney Cinema in May 2015.[13] Sky rebranded its Sky Movies channels to Sky Cinema, including Sky Movies Disney, in July 2016.[14] On 31 December 2020, Sky Cinema Disney closed.
Duplicating Sky Movies Disney arrangement in the UK, Movistar+ launched Movistar Disney in December 2017.[15] The channel shutdown, films moved to Disney+.
The last program on Disney Cinemagic Germany was Zenon: Z3 on 30 September 2019, which finished at 11:53 pm. The final Disney Cinemagic, the Germany version, was replaced with Sky Cinema Special on 30 September 2019, thus bringing an end to Disney Cinemagic after 13 years, 6 months, and 2 weeks.[17] The first movie on Sky Cinema Special in Germany was The Greatest Showman at 12am on 1 October 2019.