I hear that in the US (and most other countries where Disney hosts a TV show), it’s called the Disney Channel, but in Canada, they decided to be weird and call it the Family Channel. We still get the same shows (I think we have one or two Canadian shows for some strange reason (probably national identity or Canadian influence or something…), it’s just named differently.
I’m much too old to be watching Family channel, but I have a little sister. And although I hate to admit it, I find it hard to look away from the TV when other people have it on, even if I thoroughly hate the show. So I get to know the shows, with the amount my sister watches. But one thing I’ve notices is that Family channel does not have commercials. Now, I thought that commercials were what made TV happen. The companies that are advertised during breaks in the show pay millions and billions of dollars to have their products shown. That money goes towards the creation and display of TV shows. Because we see it advertised on TV (showing the same annoying commercial over and over again, getting the product name to stick in your mind), we buy their product, and fund their company, and their commercials. And so the cycle continues. I feel weird knowing that when I buy deodorant, I’m funding The Bold and the Beautiful, but I understand the basics of this cycle.
Then there’s Family Channel. They don’t advertise. But they have extremely popular TV shows, movies, singers, and actors, and Channels in countries throughout the world. They must pay a lot of money for that. And I’m confused. How do they get their money? They have no commercials interrupting the shows. They do have sizable breaks BETWEEN shows, but there are no real ads shown in that time. Recently, they’ve been filling the airwaves with anti-bullying propaganda, and as annoying as Michael Seater from “Life With Derek” is, I actually think that seeing him discourage bullying, along with almost every other actor from Family, is a good thing. But it’s not like they’re getting paid for these ads.
My guesses for how they get paid are few. One, they do have a couple of ads for Disney movies, Ubisoft games, and Nintendo products, but those are neither traditional nor frequent ads. I’m sure they don’t get paid enough for them to fund an entire channel. My second guess is that they get their money by promoting their actors. For example, Miley Cyrus has a TV show that’s extremely popular with preteen girls. Those preteen girls want all the Hannah Montanna/Miley Cyrus they can get. So they buy her posters, her bedsheets, and her concert tickets. So I’m thinking that instead of advertising products, Disney advertises their actors. A combination of children’s shows, and on-screen actors (aka NOT cartoon voice actors) is pretty much unique to Disney, so they’re probably one of the only channels that can utilize this combination of merchandise-lovers and merchandise subjects. But could this possibly fund an entire channel? I have a hard time believing that the folks at Disney are paying for it out of their own pockets.
So could someone explain this to me, or clarify something? As trivial as it is, it’s bothering me.
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- Nintendo Channel!?
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- Game Boy Color Video Game Collection Bundle: Disney the Little Mermaid 2 Pinball Frenzy; Ms Pac Man Special Color Edition; Stuart Little the Journey Home; Disney Monsters Inc; Winie the Pooh Adventures in the 100 Acre Wood; Disney the Emperor’s New Groove; Harry Potter Chamber of Secrets; Uno; Harry Potter Set
- Did anybody update The Nintendo Channel and The Internet Channel?
