Disney Media Distribution/Summary

Background

Buena Vista Television was the production/distribution arm of Walt Disney Television established in 1985 as "Walt Disney Domestic Television", before it was rebranded in 1986 to "Buena Vista Television". Originally, it distributed Walt Disney Television and Touchstone Television shows and the Buena Vista film library on TV. Later, it also took on the libraries of ABC (in 1996) and Saban (in 2002). It also distributed other Disney-owned libraries. Disney-ABC Home Entertainment and Television Distribution is the domestic distribution unit of the Disney-ABC Television Group, a division of The Walt Disney Company formed in July 2007 initially as "Disney-ABC Domestic Television" after the Disney-ABC Television Group re-branded its syndication division Buena Vista Television, when The Walt Disney Company retired the "Buena Vista" brand. In 2013, its barter syndication division was renamed to "ABC Syndication". Since August 2015, Disney-ABC Domestic Television was renamed to its current name.

Buena Vista Television

1st Logo
(September 14, 1985-2006)

Nicknames: "(Classic) Disney Castle", "Abstract Castle", "Blue BG & Rainbow Castle", "Multicolored Kingdom", "Disney Castle", "Rainbow Disney Castle"

Logo: On a shady indigo blue background, we see the familiar Disney stylized, segmented castle (as seen in the 1985 Walt Disney Pictures logo), but shaded (from top to bottom) red, orange, and yellow. The white circular line is already there, and below it is the stacked text "Buena Vista Television" in two lines appear below the logo. A spark flies from the circular line, from the left to the right.

Trivia:

• This logo was shown until 2006 at the end of local-Disney produced shows for example on 2003, as Club Disney produced in association with Telecinco.
• One Winnie the Pooh tape strangely had full animation, although it was supposed to use the still version. It might have been a mistake in production.

Variants:

• On shows distributed by Buena Vista, the text appears in one line, and the word "Distributed By" is shown above the logo. The spark goes from right to left in the variant (in the same vein as the Walt Disney Pictures logo of the era). Sometimes, the text fades from the Walt Disney Television text.
• There is also a chyroned in copyright date that appears underneath the logo.
• A variant of the "standalone" logo has the text set horizontally rather than vertically.
• One variant had a dark purple background instead of the indigo-blue background. This variant can be found on the VHS release of Winnie the Pooh: Detective Tigger.
• On international distribution and most DVD releases, "Television" is replaced by "International, Inc." The font in this variant may look narrower and/or bolder.

FX/SFX: The "spark" flying, the text fades. In other cases, it's completely still.

Music/Sounds: A series of ascending pings sounding like when you move your hands rapidly on the keys of a piano, the closing theme of the show, or none. 

Availability: It used to appear at the end of Where on Earth is Carmen Sandiego? and last seen on Bill Nye the Science Guy on Univision, and was shown before every Disney movie shown on TV outside the U.S.. This logo was found on DuckTales DVDs and also appears on seasons five and six of The Golden Girls on DVD. The non-animated version of this logo was found on Winnie the Pooh videos. The standalone version was seen on some episodes of The Challengers (most episodes had no BVTV logo; see below), and pre-1996 episodes of Siskel & Ebert.

2nd Logo
(September 13, 1988-October 27, 1995)

Nicknames: "Abstract Castle II", "Black BG & Rainbow Castle", "Multicolored Kingdom II", "Disney Castle II", "Rainbow Disney Castle II"

Logo: On a black background, we see the light blue words "Buena Vista Television" below in 3D zooms out. A red chyron trail stands behind it, and we see the castle from the 1st logo zooms out. and the text centers itself and settles behind the castle. A spark then draws the circular line, but this time from left to right. As the line draws itself, the flags appear one by one on top of the castle.

Trivia: The logo is designed by Studio Productions (now Flip Your Lid Animation) in Hollywood.

Variants:

• On shows created by Walt Disney Television, the Walt Disney Television text fades out, and the words is smaller, with "Distributed By" above the logo.
• A short version exists, starting with the logo already formed, with the line drawing being the only animation of the logo
• There can also be a copyright date under the BVTV text. This could usually be seen on Bill Nye the Science Guy.
• Reprints of Witt/Thomas/Harris-Touchstone shows, such as early '90s syndicated reruns of The Golden Girls, had this logo with a "Touchstone Pictures and Television" copyright stamp, plastering the original Touchstone TV logo.
• Sometimes this logo is completely still.

FX/SFX: The chyron trail, the zooming out of the castle, the line drawing, the flags appearing and sometimes a spark going through the circular line. This was all done by Flip Your Lid Animation (formerly known as Studio Productions)..

Music/Sounds: Bell music, but in other cases, it's silent or the finishing of the end title theme from any show plays over the logo. But on reruns of Bill Nye the Science Guy from this era that were reran after the 4th logo debuted, the music from that logo was used.

Availability: Again, usually only seen on older prints. Check old tapes for shows such as Bill Nye the Science Guy (the last episode to have this was "Animal Locomotion", broadcast on October 27, 1995). Was last seen on Unsolved Mysteries on Lifetime with the BVTV logo. The 1990 quiz series The Challengers didn't have this logo, however, opting instead for either no BVTV logo at all, or the previous logo (with the exception of the Invitational Tournament, which uses the "chyron trail" variant of this logo). The long version is extinct and was last seen on early 90s episodes of Live with Regis & Kathie Lee, as well as syndicated reruns of The Golden Girls. This surprisingly on 1992 KTXH airings of Bambi on The Wonderful World of Disney, followed by their station ID. This was first seen on Roger Rabbit and the Secrets of Toon Town on CBS in 1988 and also appeared on the 1991 TV special Rocketeer: Excitement in the Air. It was also spotted on some episodes of Bonkers! (including the Christmas episode, "Miracle at the 34th Precinct"), the original version of the TaleSpin pilot, "Plunder and Lightning", and surprisingly appears on the Goof Troop episode "Calling All Goofs" on the Goof Troop: Volume 2 DVD set. It was also on syndie prints of Tron and White Fang.

Editor's Note: The logo has outstanding CGI for its era.

3rd Logo
(September 5, 1992-September 3, 1993)

Nickname: "Goofy Filmstrip"

Logo: It's only the same as the 1992 Walt Disney Television logo, except after few seconds it changes to "Distributed by Buena Vista Television".

FX/SFX: Same as the 1992 Walt Disney Television logo.

Music/Sounds: None.

Availability: Extinct; originally seen on the 1992-93 season of The Disney Afternoon.

Editor's Note: Same as the 1991 Walt Disney Television logo.

4th Logo (October 20, 1995-August 31, 2021)

Nicknames: "The Comets", "The Buena Vista Comets", "The Blades", "The Globestreaks", "The Burning Comets"

WARNING: Because of the logo’s fanfare, and Bill shrieking throughout during the "Volcanoes" episode variant, turn down your speakers, and contains flashing images may cause seizures for some viewers. Please do not watch this video if you are prone to seizures.

Logo: We start at the angle of a dark blue Earth globe on a black space background filled with stars (possibly the Milky Way) which can be seen within a borderless background boxed-in against a black background. Three comets can be seen streaking past the globe in an diagonal direction from the bottom left corner toward the upper right corner, and gradually zoom away into the black background. The comets fly past the globe, burning dark blade-cut imprints in the process throughout the entire box, as the following text:

B U E N A V I S T A
T E L E V I S I O N

is wiped in from left to right by way of a fancy gradual dissolve. The comet blade imprint is light-colored from inside the globe portion and dark-colored from outside the globe. As the comets fly past the globe, the space background fades from a black color to a gradient yellow-purple color that can be more visibly defined from the background, with a yellow dot that appears to be the sun appearing on the surface of the globe. The gradient color also appears within the "BUENA VISTA TELEVISION" text.

Trivia: This logo appeared most commonly from 1995 to 1997, when the more common 5th logo (below) debuted, although Live with Regis & Kathie Lee/Kelly continued to use the original version in subsequent seasons.

Variants:

• Like the last logo, it would sometimes have copyright info underneath.
• Like with the previous logo, reprints of Witt/Thomas/Harris-Touchstone shows, such as Lifetime's airings of Nurses, had this logo with a "Touchstone Pictures and Television" copyright stamp, plastering the original Touchstone TV logo.
• On the demo reel of Pittard Sullivan's creations, a brief clip of this logo starts at the point where the three comets fly around the rotating globe when gradually zooming away like the medium-length version of the 1997 logo. Although an extended musical theme does exist, a longer version of the logo itself was never used.

FX/SFX: Zooming from the earth, the comets "streaking," the light effects, the trailing colors of the comet blade-cut are light on the side of the dark globe and dark outside of the remaining portion outside of the globe. This was done by Pittard Sullivan.

Music/Sounds: A 7-note horn fanfare, which sounds almost like a "space-age" remix of fanfares that were used to close out old Mickey Mouse cartoons. It also sometimes used the closing theme of the show.

Music/Sound Variant:

• Usually, the music played at warp-speed.
• On the season 4 Bill Nye the Science Guy episode "Volcanoes", Bill screams into the logo while a explosion sound is heard with the logo's standard music.
• Some episodes of Bill Nye the Science Guy play the extended theme on both the standard logo and the other half of the BVTV international logo.

Availability: Extremely rare. Was found on a DVD print of Bill Nye the Science Guy. On broadcast TV, it was last seen in all its glory mostly until 2008 on Univision reruns of Bill Nye the Science Guy, preceding the previous BVTV International castle logo. It was also on Live with Regis (and Kathie Lee/Kelly) episodes of this era. A version using the closing music appears on international prints of most S3 episodes of Timon & Pumbaa, cross-fading to the Buena Vista International logo. It first appeared on Season 8 of Unsolved Mysteries, which premiered on October 20, 1995, one week before the 2nd logo ended. It was also seen on the first season of the game show Debt when it was last seen on Lifetime in the late '90s. It was also seen on reruns and on Disney+ prints of The Mighty Ducks: The Animated Series, where it was followed by the 1995 International version of 1st logo (both were plastered with the 1986 Walt Disney Television logo on Toon Disney (now Disney XD) airings), the 1995-97 seasons of The Disney Afternoon, Dinosaurs, where it plastered the 1986 Walt Disney Television logo, and Home Improvement, where it appeared after the Touchstone Television logo but later airings plaster it with the next logo.

Editor's Note: The "comets" are a very significant change from the previous "castle" logos, which clearly identified the division with Disney. Viewers more acquainted with the later BVTV logos might be a little put off at first because of the slightly faster version of the fanfare commonly found on this logo.

5th Logo (May 17, 1997-June 20, 2005, May 23, 2006-December 31, 2021)

Nicknames: "The Comets II", "The Buena Vista Comets II"

Logo: Zooming back from a closer overhead view purple Earth globe, three comets cross each others' paths, one by one, as they circle the globe and then appear from underneath streaking past the globe diagonally in unison from the bottom left to the upper right direction and gradually zoom away. A rectangular box fades in and creates an enclosure around the globe and space background with the surrounding area fading to black. The comets fly past the globe and while it trails off, they leave a frozen motion mark behind just barely past the border of the globe and in the center of the logo (the middle comet is the shortest, the top comet is longer, and the bottom comet is the furthest out) as the following text:

B U E N A V I S T A
T E L E V I S I O N

is faded in from left to right by way of a fancy gradual dissolve.

Variants:

• The short version of this rendition follows the same exact formula as the previous rendition, only now with the frozen comets intact.
• Reprints of Witt/Thomas/Harris-Touchstone shows, such as Lifetime's airings of The Golden Girls, had this logo with a "Touchstone Pictures and Television" copyright stamp, plastering the original Touchstone TV logo with copyright stamp. In later years, after Lifetime began using generic split-screen credits on shows, the logo's regular music would be heard instead of the show's end theme, albeit with the logo theme slightly off-sync.
• Some prints of this logo show a (c) year at the bottom, most notably on shows such as Bill Nye the Science Guy. On the long version of this logo, the (c) year faded in midway through the duration.
• On overseas airings of 101 Dalmatians: The Series and Hercules: The Animated Series (both programs mentioned below), the logo fades to the Buena Vista International logo. Believe it or not, they didn't even use the Walt Disney Television logo for either program!
• On Bill Nye the Science Guy, one half of the short music plays through the standard logo, the other half plays over the BVTV International logo. On a couple of episodes, this occurred with the long version of the music.

FX/SFX: Zooming from the earth, the comets "streaking," the light effects, the fades.

Music/Sounds: Same as above, but this time never at warp-speed. There is also a long version of this logo that has some chimes before the horns come in. In other cases, the short version has the last note incomplete. A medium-length version also appears to exist, which takes the first note of the long version then goes straight to the fourth note. Also, it sometimes just used the closing theme of the show.

Availability: Common. It's still preserved on Disney, ABC and Touchstone Television shows, such as America's Funniest Home Videos whenever reran. It also can be found on the two Winnie the Pooh Friendship video Three Cheers for Eeyore and Rabbit. The logo was also seen on episodes of Digimon Frontier when it ran on UPN and Jetix and in Canada on YTV. The "Touchstone Pictures and Television" variant surprisingly plasters the 2nd logo on a DVD of the Bill Nye the Science Guy episode "Animal Locomotion".

Editor's Note: Great animation and a great theme combine to make this logo a winner. This is a favorite of many.

6th Logo (June 21, 2005-June 30, 2019, September 14, 2020-Present)

File:Buena Vista Television Logo 2006-2007 -2

Nicknames: "The Comets III", "The Buena Vista Comets III", "2000s Comets"

Logo: The same concept as before, except that Neptune is in place of Earth globe on a spiffier Milky Way, and we start from a different position than last time. On a black space background, we see three comets. We pan up to the Earth and pan to its upper right, where the comets fly to the back. Three comets streak from the left and freeze, and the screen turns white with the logo of the comets and globe in space in a box at the top, and the "BUENA VISTA TELEVISION" text, in gray, fades in and zooms out to take its place under the logo.

Trivia: Unlike the 4th and 5th logos, this one was animated a 60fps.

Variants:

• A more common short version starts with the comets streaking past first appeared in 2005, while the longer variant appeared in 2006.
• There is a rare variation that is longer than the short version, yet shorter than the extended version, where the logo starts when the comets pass the Neptune instead of circling around it.
• There is an extremely rare variation where the background is light blue, the comets are still, and the company is known as "Buena Vista Productions".

FX/SFX: Same as the previous logo.

Music/Sounds: A re-orchestrated version of the fanfare in the 1997 logo. Again, there were long, short and medium-length versions.

Music/Sounds Variant: On The Tony Danza Show, it used the 1997 logo theme.

• A low-tone short variant appears on 102 Dalmatians on Superstation WGN in 2005

Availability: Uncommon, as it was only used for 3 years. This logo first appeared on Moonlighting in 2005 when Nick @ Nite celebrated its 20th Anniversary in 2005. Appeared on episodes of Buena Vista-produced/distributed shows such as Live with Regis and Kelly, The Tony Danza Show, and the syndicated version of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire from 2005 to 2007. It also appears on reruns of other shows including The Golden Palace. The long version appears on some syndicated reruns of Scrubs and America's Funniest Home Videos.

Editor's Note: The lighter background will seem odd to those viewers familiar with the previous "comet" logos, but it's nothing too out of the ordinary. This is a nice logo.

Disney-ABC Domestic Television

(2007- )

Nicknames: "Crashing Stars", "Disney-ABC in the Sky"

Logo: We see two stars flying downward on a black space background. They merge into a white star, and the logo starts to take form with the Disney (in the corporate font) logo and the ABC logo (tinted blue) coming from each side with the words "Home Entertainment and Television Distribution" (previously "DOMESTIC TELEVISION" in Futura MD BT font and spaced out all-caps), under the two small lines, and a blue sky background, with clouds appearing. As this is happening, the Disney logo and star fade from white to blue. After this, the clouds move slowly to the left. In most cases, however, the short version is used, so the logo tends to cut off before the clouds make any significant movement.

Variants:

• On Who Wants to be A Millionaire? for Nintendo DS, a still version is used. The Disney/ABC logos and words are placed horizontally against a white background, with the Disney and ABC logos separated by a vertical line.
• An updated version of the logo was introduced in September 2013. The sky color fade-in plays faster, and starts a second earlier. The ABC logo was modified into the 2013 rendition that made its debut that summer, but with a blue shine instead of a yellow one. The words "Domestic Television" appear in a new generic typeface, called "Benton Sans", and now in regular capital-and-lowercase letter formation.
• The logo was updated in 2015 to reflect the name change.
• Starting in Fall 2020, a new version was made: the ABC logo is removed as the Disney logo is now at the center and much bigger, and because of that, the star disappears when it lands. The bottom now reads "Media Distribution".

FX/SFX: The two stars merging, the flying logo.

Music/Sounds: A majestic remix of the 1997 medium-length Buena Vista Television jingle, to fit better with the "Disney" moniker. However, this time the medium version is the most common. The long version didn't appear until 2013 (see below). Sometimes, the end theme plays over the logo depending on the closing of the show.

Music/Sounds Variants:

• On LIVE! with Kelly and Ryan, the first half of the music plays over before the show fades to the logo and the second half is on the logo. The first half is on low volume while the second half is on the normal volume.
• On the Katie talk show, it's only the tail end of the logo.
• On a few Katie episodes, a remix of the long Buena Vista Television jingle is used.

Availability: Common. Currently appears on post-2007 episodes of first-run syndication programs such as Live! with Kelly and Ryan, At the Movies, and the syndicated version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, among others. This was seen FABLife and Right This Minute and Tamron Hall. Also appeared the 2015 Disney ABC Domestic TV logo seen Burrowed Hearts (after the 1997 Atlantis logo) and The long version seen Katie talk show Reruns of the syndicated version of the latter on GSN with Meredith Vieira plasters the Buena Vista Television logos with this logo. Don't expect this to appear on reruns of the Disney-ABC library, because Disney allegedly has a logo policy to keep all of the original logos and to protect the Disney company's family image; this logo is seen only on first-run syndicated series.

Editor's Note: The name of this division is rather long (and rather redundant as well), but this logo is still perfectly fine.