The Disney Afternoon
Some of the early cartoon series on The Disney Afternoon came from already in-circulation cartoons, such as "Adventures of the Gummi Bears", which aired on NBC from 1985 to 1988 and then moved to ABC in 1989. "DuckTales" premiered in 1987 as Disney was focused on incorporating animated series into its portfolio in the era of cartoons; it was Disney's only syndicated cartoon series until accompanied in 1989 by "." These two shows had been packaged together as an hour-long cartoon block from 1989 to 1990, until both shows were incorporated into The Disney Afternoon in September 1990.
Fox Kids
In 1988, Disney purchased independent television station KHJ-TV in Los Angeles, changing its call letters to KCAL-TV the next year. The station's new owners wanted "DuckTales" to be shown on KCAL, effectively taking the local television rights to the animated series away from Fox-owned KTTV. Furious at the breach of contract, Diller pulled "DuckTales" from all of Fox's other owned-and-operated stations WNYW, WFLD, WTTG, KRIV, KDAF and WFXT in the fall of 1989. Diller also encouraged the network's affiliates to do the same, though most did not initially. As Disney went forward in developing "The Disney Afternoon," Fox (whose schedule at the time was limited to prime time programming on Saturday and Sunday nights) began the process of launching its own children's programming lineup.