The Disney feature-length movies were, at first, either edited down to one hour, or broadcast in two or more weekly installments, one hour per week. It was not until the mid 1970s, that Disney Studios finally broadcast one of their feature-length movies complete in one evening, the way all other movies were usually telecast on network television.
Walt Disney's last opening comments aired in "A Salute to Alaska", in April 1967, five months after he had died.
While declining ratings were a factor in the decision, the show ended primarily because the studio felt it would be competing with the then-new Disney Channel on cable television. Today, the Disney Channel rarely shows old Disney movies or programs as they used to in the 1980s and 1990s.
The series was so popular, that in 1972, NBC renewed it through 1976. During this period, Disney was the only Hollywood studio that routinely made money on most of its feature films.
This television series was created by Walt Disney in order to obtain the money he needed to build his Disneyland theme park. In 1954 the new ABC television network agreed to provide financing to build the park, in exchange for Walt Disney creating the TV series for them and for a minority ownership in Disneyland. In the 1990's fortunes were reversed and The Walt Disney Company bought ABC.