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Disney Junior debuts on DirecTV Saturday July 14

23K views 115 replies 50 participants last post by  tonyd79 
#1 ·
Here's some good news for some in the midst of the Viacom dispute. Disney Junior is coming to DirecTV. Hopefully Disney Junior will add more classic Playhouse Disney shows like Bear in the Big Blue House in the near future.

It will be interesting to see what DirecTV packages get Disney Junior. Hopefully grandfathered Choice Xtra Classic customers will see the addition as well.


Disney Junior will Launch Saturday, July 14 to Millions of DIRECTV Customers Nationwide


BURBANK and EL SEGUNDO, Calif., July 13, 2012 - DIRECTV and Disney have reached a new agreement to add Disney Junior, a 24-hour channel expressly for kids age 2-7 and their parents/caregivers, to DIRECTV's programming lineup beginning tomorrow on channel 289. Disney Junior launched in 2011 as a daytime programming block on Disney Channel and expanded to a 24/7 channel in 2012. It is one of the most sought after channels by DIRECTV customers and will be permanently added to their programming options as a basic channel.

Disney Junior's animated and live action programming blends Disney's unparalleled storytelling and beloved characters with learning components, including early math and language skills, as well as healthy eating and lifestyles, with an emphasis on social and emotional development. The original series include "Jake and the Never Land Pirates," "Doc McStuffins," "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse," "A Poem Is…," "Handy Manny," "Little Einsteins" and "Special Agent Oso." Disney Junior also airs Walt Disney Studios' and Pixar's classic and contemporary animated films, as well as Disney's many non-theatrical sequels so popular with children and parents.

"When it comes to children and families, nobody has the tremendous programming to compare with Disney," said Derek Chang, executive vice president of Content Strategy and Development for DIRECTV. "Our customers have been clamoring for us to add Disney Junior since they first heard about the concept, and DIRECTV is happy to place our trust in Disney as a partner in building this exciting new family service."

"We are pleased to reach this agreement with DIRECTV to provide Disney Junior's high quality, valuable and family-friendly programming to their customers," said David Preschlack, executive vice president, Disney & ESPN Affiliate Sales and Marketing. "We know parents are passionate about having top quality television options for their families, and now millions will be able to watch outstanding preschool programming on a 24/7 channel unlike any other on television. With the addition of DIRECTV, the 24-hour Disney Junior channel has distribution agreements that cover approximately 55 million U.S. households." Disney Media Networks' flagship Disney Channel is fast becoming the most popular programming service among DIRECTV homes. The number of children viewers aged 2 through 11 has surged more than 19 percent in the past year alone, and total viewership has increased 15 percent during those same 12 months. Disney Junior will now take a place in the DIRECTV channel guide directly adjacent to Disney Channel at channel 289.

http://news.directv.com/2012/07/13/...-to-millions-of-directv-customers-nationwide/
 
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#77 ·
"jimbo56" said:
If DirecTV does indeed have bandwidth problems preventing it from adding more HD channels, maybe replacing SD-only receivers with down-rezing HD receivers and eliminating SD duplicate channels is a good idea. I'll bet that many of the of the SD-only receivers are obsolete and due for replacement anyway. If that were done then maybe DTV could use the extra bandwidth to add more HD. Gotta be cheaper than launching a new satellite.
Yes MPEG2 SD receivers should have started to been phased out after the launch of D10.

"tonyd79" said:
Not enough to make it business wise yet.
D* couldn't take an HD feed, downrez it to MPEG2 SD and put it up on 101 for their SD customers while at the same time deliver it in HD to their HD customers? Isn't this happening now with some SD feeds (ESPN and FSN)? I noticed some of them are letter boxed.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that HD channels could be displayed on SDTVs with a receiver, I do it now on a couple of my TVs.

I guess we still have a ways to go before HD is the standard.
 
#78 ·
"ChicagoBlue" said:
People's eyes deceive them. SD channels are meant to be viewed on SD televisions. Watch SD picture on a SD television and they look fine. Watch a SD channel on a HD television, especially a large one, and they don't look good. They were never intended to look good on a HD television.
Except I can take a DVD in a non-uprezing player on a 50" plasma and it will look okay. Not HD obviously, but not terrible. DTV takes SD programming and actually ruins it. Is it the HD recievers? I don't know how SD boxes look now I haven't had one in at least 10 years.
 
#79 ·
"jimbo56" said:
I'd be interested in knowing what percentage of DirecTV's customers still have SD sets, especially considering that they tend to cater to a more affluent customer base. Do installers even put in SD receivers any more? You can't even buy a SD TV any more. I know I've replaced all of my SD TVs with HD. The 720p sets are not very expensive and are fine for a kid's room...
I posted the source elsewhere, but according to an FCC filing in May, half of the customers have HD, and 60% of new customers. There are certainly a lot of customers with HD service and some SD boxes.
 
#84 ·
"skierbri10" said:
Except I can take a DVD in a non-uprezing player on a 50" plasma and it will look okay. Not HD obviously, but not terrible. DTV takes SD programming and actually ruins it. Is it the HD recievers? I don't know how SD boxes look now I haven't had one in at least 10 years.
It is not the receivers. It is firmly established that directv starves SD.

I don't mind on channels that have HD. Too bad they do it to all of them.
 
#85 ·
skierbri10 said:
Except I can take a DVD in a non-uprezing player on a 50" plasma and it will look okay. Not HD obviously, but not terrible. DTV takes SD programming and actually ruins it. Is it the HD recievers? I don't know how SD boxes look now I haven't had one in at least 10 years.
No relevancy. DTV's signal in SD was never as good as a DVD to begin with. An SD broadcast signal is meant to be seen on a SD television. Seeing it on a HD television is not going to do it any justice. A dvd is locally connected to your tv and depending on the connection (HDMI, etc), you could get a pretty decent picture.

If I see SD from any provider on a HD television, it just doesn't look good because it wasn't meant for that medium.
 
#86 ·
ChicagoBlue said:
If I see SD from any provider on a HD television, it just doesn't look good because it wasn't meant for that medium.
Have you ever seen SD on FiOS? FiOS does not compress their SD signal at all, so it is actually quite watchable on an HD television. Not HD quality, of course, but eons better than what DirecTV delivers.
 
#87 ·
"jimbo56" said:
Have you ever seen SD on FiOS? FiOS does not compress their SD signal at all, so it is actually quite watchable on an HD television. Not HD quality, of course, but eons better than what DirecTV delivers.
Better, yes. Eons? Nope. I see marginal differences between Doctor Who (BBCA) and Hot in Cleveland (TVLand), for example. I see no difference on TCM. But I see a big difference on FMC. Fios's SD sports (EI, NHL, etc) reeks, but i think that is the supplier, not fios itself So it varies.

They do give more bandwidth to SD but I'm not sure their boxes handle SD well.

I have fios and directv both HDMI through the same AVR.
 
#88 ·
"ChicagoBlue" said:
No relevancy. DTV's signal in SD was never as good as a DVD to begin with. An SD broadcast signal is meant to be seen on a SD television. Seeing it on a HD television is not going to do it any justice. A dvd is locally connected to your tv and depending on the connection (HDMI, etc), you could get a pretty decent picture.

If I see SD from any provider on a HD television, it just doesn't look good because it wasn't meant for that medium.
There are a couple SD sub channels I get OTA that run old sitcoms. They actually look very good on my HD tvs. Not sure what they are doing but It can be good.
 
#89 ·
"ChicagoBlue" said:
No relevancy. DTV's signal in SD was never as good as a DVD to begin with. An SD broadcast signal is meant to be seen on a SD television. Seeing it on a HD television is not going to do it any justice. A dvd is locally connected to your tv and depending on the connection (HDMI, etc), you could get a pretty decent picture.

If I see SD from any provider on a HD television, it just doesn't look good because it wasn't meant for that medium.
Since I get Comcast Internet I can see their basic channels too, their SD is far superior. Their HD not as good. Price and content atrocious. I don't watch any SD channels, however when I download a show off directv on demand in SD the quality is much better than live. It is relevant as long as they are broadcasting SD channels to HD subscribers.
 
#91 ·
mitchflorida said:
I have a four-year old daughter who likes Disney Jr. very much but is angry that it is in SD and is now refusing to watch it unless it is upgraded by Directv to HD. What can I do to make her happy? This started on Saturday and she keeps sulking.
Record some of the programming on the regular Disney channel in the early AM. That would be my only suggestion.
 
#92 ·
mitchflorida said:
I have a four-year old daughter who likes Disney Jr. very much but is angry that it is in SD and is now refusing to watch it unless it is upgraded by Directv to HD. What can I do to make her happy? This started on Saturday and she keeps sulking.
Did you make a big deal out of it not being in HD? I ask because in general young children don't really care at all. Give them lots of movement, color and sound and they are good to go.

But I would think that if you just wait a bit, you'll find that she'll either watch it in SD or find something else she likes. Sulking isn't a terminal disease you know! :)
 
#94 ·
john262 said:
Perhaps this could be a good lesson for kids that in life you don't always get everything you want. Yes the channel would be nice in HD, but SD is better than nothing and perhaps they should be thankful that they have it at all. Or are we raising up a bunch of spoiled brats who have to have everything all the time? If my kids were young enough to enjoy that channel I'd tell them either watch it in SD or don't watch it at all. It's their choice.
So are adults being "spoiled brats" for wanting the TV channels we enjoy in HD? (Don't know about you, but in MY day to day life I see a lot more obnoxious adults than five-year-olds.)

Dbstalk: come from the discussion of satellite service, stay for the awesome parenting advice. :rolleyes:
 
#95 ·
My niece and nephew certainly don't care about whether a program is in SD or HD - I often see them watching the SD version of a channel when the HD is available.

But, that really doesn't matter, I would prefer that any new channel be in HD regardless of the target audience and whether or not it's a channel I particularly care about watching.
 
#96 ·
I've bit my tongue long enough....

I guess gone are the days where parents raised their children instead of letting TV do it for them. :(

I also guess gone are the days where parents took a stand and told children to be lucky with what they have instead of just giving them everything they want because they pitch a fit. :(

Disney Jr was given to us in SD, be lucky we have that.
 
#97 ·
susanandmark said:
So are adults being "spoiled brats" for wanting the TV channels we enjoy in HD? (Don't know about you, but in MY day to day life I see a lot more obnoxious adults than five-year-olds.)

Dbstalk: come from the discussion of satellite service, stay for the awesome parenting advice. :rolleyes:
No, the adults aren't spoiled brats since they are paying for the service. When was the last time your children paid the satellite bill? :)
 
#99 ·
lparsons21 said:
No, the adults aren't spoiled brats since they are paying for the service. When was the last time your children paid the satellite bill? :)
Why does paying the bill imply more of a right to complain? As a
parent I want my kids to be just as happy as I am when
they watch their shows. I certainly don't use the TV to raise
my kids but would be quite disturbed if they couldn't tell the
difference between SD & HD. Kids, who are people too should
prefer HD content just like adults. It looks so much better. How can they not?
Is it that children shouldn't express their opinions?
Or even have them?
Should they be mindless vidiots banished to SD content only
because they aren't paying?

I've been reading this blog since 2008 and have read countless posts crying about all sorts of channels available in SD that aren't available in HD. How is this
any different? What makes BBC America, DIY, H2 or any other channel
more important than children's content? News flash, it's not. There's a really
good possibility that this children's content drives more revenue
than many of the adult channels desired by the kid-haters posting
in this thread...

Quite the hypocrisy. Parents who want the best for their kids VS Adults acting like children.

And I don't even care about this, not affected by it. I have
Brighthouse as a back up for my DirecTV in case of bad Florida weather and get all the Viacom channels, Disney Jr HD, BBCA HD etc...completely unaffected either way but would like everybody to get what they want.
 
#100 ·
I never said the kids couldn't tell the difference, but generally if you don't make a big deal out of it, they won't either. I've been around this old ball of dirt quite a few years, had 4 kids of my own and interface with my grandkids, grandneices and grandnepwhews enough to know that they really don't care about it at all.

Will they notice? Yeah. Might they say something about it? Yeah. But in the grand scheme of things, they won't really care all that much.

From some of the overcaring parents comments here, it is easy to pick out which ones are making their issue, the kids issue when it really isn't at all.
 
#101 ·
lparsons21 said:
I never said the kids couldn't tell the difference, but generally if you don't make a big deal out of it, they won't either. I've been around this old ball of dirt quite a few years, had 4 kids of my own and interface with my grandkids, grandneices and grandnepwhews enough to know that they really don't care about it at all.

Will they notice? Yeah. Might they say something about it? Yeah. But in the grand scheme of things, they won't really care all that much.

From some of the overcaring parents comments here, it is easy to pick out which ones are making their issue, the kids issue when it really isn't at all.
And I am a big enough man to admitt I may be guilty of that. However, adult or child, all are entitled to want content in HD. Just because an adult is responsible
for paying the bill doesn't make the adult content more important. As adults we are supposed to have patience and understanding where as our children have
to learn from the example we set for them.
 
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