Jetix

Jetix was a television channel owned by The Walt Disney Company that was aimed at children ages six to 14. Jetix was available in many countries around the world in a localized form, including the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland. It was previously known as Fox Kids.

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Jetix was available as a timeshift hour-delay channel named Jetix+1. The channel iwas carried by Sky Digital, Virgin Media, and Tiscali TV in the UK and in the Republic of Ireland on Sky Digital, and Magnet Networks. The channel was available in Iceland on Skjarinn and in Malta on Melita (It still airing as Disney XD). On August 31, 2009, Jetix in the UK was rebranded as Disney XD, following its US counterpart and in keeping with the European Jetix channels.

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History

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Fox Kids initially launched on October 19, 1996. Broadcast hours were between the hours of 6 am and 7 pm and timesharing with Sky 2 and later National Geographic Channel. Eventually, broadcasting hours were extended to 10 pm, and, on November 3, 2003, the channel began broadcasting 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

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In April 2004, the Jetix brand was gently introduced to the UK and Ireland in the form of a programming block on Fox Kids. The Jetix programming line-up aired every day between the hours of 3 pm and 7 pm. In September 2004, the block was also included in the morning line-up, airing between the hours of 7 am and 9 am.

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The Jetix block featured the following programmes; Shaman King, Sonic X, Digimon, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Jackie Chan Adventures, Totally Spies, Black Hole High, Goosebumps, MegaMan: NT Warrior, Donkey Kong Country, Martin Mystery, Robot Wars'' and Power Rangers Ninja Storm plus 2-minute shorts of Shin Chan episodes.

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Fox Kids rebranded as Jetix on January 1, 2005. The Jetix programming blocks were dropped, and the shows that it contained were integrated into the normal programming schedule. Shortly after the rebranding, a new early-evening block was introduced named "Jetix Max". The Jetix Max slot included such shows as; W.I.T.C.H., Totally Spies, Martin Mystery, Funky Cops, Power Rangers, PXG and Black Hole High. The Jetix Max slot was dropped in June 2006, although it remainded on other Jetix channels around Europe.

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Censorship

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As Jetix was aimed at children aged 6 to 14, some shows were edited for content that is considered violent, scary or contains flashing images. Many of these edits have been brief and thus would not have been noticed had they not aired on other channels uncensored. The most notable edits are present on the anime Naruto, Goosebumps, MegaMan NT Warrior, and Power Rangers.

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Jetix VOD

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Since the launch of Pucca on Jetix (mid way though July 2006), Jetix has offered an online "Video On Demand" service, allowing viewers to watch "Exclusive to web" Pucca Shorts (Titled "Pucca: Funny ♥ Love"). Adverts for the TV episodes of Pucca run before and after each short. Since the UK TV airing of Power Rangers Mystic Force, all Pucca: Funny ♥ Love episodes have been replaced with clips of Power Rangers: Mystic Force (Interestingly enough, on AOL Browsers, debug information is also shown).

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Similarly to Toonami (US)'s Toonami Jetstream Service, Jetix VOD is exclusive to the United Kingdom and Internet Explorer (5.0 and later) users. Attempting to launch the service ether from outside the UK (Or rather, not using a UK IP address) or using a non Internet Explorer web browser will lead to an error message being displayed and the service not running.

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Magazine

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Future Publishing publishes the official Jetix Magazine. Released every four weeks, the magazine featured puzzles and features based on the channel's characters as well as a six page Power Rangers comic. New issues contained a Sonic X comic based on the current Sonic X comic series by Archie. The magazine frequently included a free DVD featuring shows from the channel. Since 3 September the magazine would become Nitro! due to Jetix rebranding as Disney XD. The magazine would still offer four free gifts per issue however it will cover all major children's content rather than the content on Jetix.

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In the UK, Future plc published the official Jetix Magazine. Published every four weeks the magazine featured puzzles and featured based on the channel's shows. The magazine also came with a free DVD featuring shows from the channel.

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Rebranding

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In March 2009, it was announced that Jetix would be rebranded yet again in 2009, and aligned with the global Disney XD brand that replaced Toon Disney in the US in February 2009. The new branding is designed to appeal to boys aged 6 to 14. Programming is not expected to significantly change from the current mix of live-action and animated shows around action and adventure themes. It is still unkown that weather after the relaunch that shows like Digimon: Data squad Will finally air and that Disney XD will drop Television advertising, making it equil with the other Disney brand channels as they also don't air adverts.

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Following the launch of Disney XD in the US, Disney-ABC Television Group confirmed that Disney XD would launch in the UK on August 31, 2009, replacing Jetix. On August 12, 2009 the Jetix on-screen logo was removed and replaced with the Disney XD logo counting down the days to the launch.

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Disney XD is aimed towards boys aged 6 to 14. The channel will feature live-action films, animated shows as well as sports coverage developed in collaboration with ESPN.

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The channel launched the original series Aaron Stone, animated series Phineas and Ferb, live-action series The Suite Life of Zack & Cody. The channel continued to air shows that previously aired on Jetix, such as Pokémon Battle Dimension, Kid vs. Kat, Phil of the Future, American Dragon: Jake Long and Jimmy Two-Shoes.