Disney magazine group considers Sunday newspaper insert for kids.

Disney Magazine Publishing is considering launching a new children's publication to be distributed in the nation's Sunday newspapers.

But Disney officials quickly emphasized that nothing has been decided, and the publication is only one in a handful of ideas they are looking at.

If Disney were to go ahead with it, the new publication would be much like Parade, only aimed at the children's market. Parade Publications Inc.'s weekly Parade is distributed in 350 Sunday newspapers across the country.

"It's a project we're looking at," said Disney Publications spokesman Chuck Champlin, "something we're evaluating."

He declined to speculate on when such a publication might be launched or its potential circulation. Sunday newspapers reach about 60 million American households each week.

M.L. Stein, West Coast editor of the newspaper trade publication Editor & Publisher, said the newspaper industry has long been waiting for such a major Sunday insert aimed at the children's market.

Some newspapers, such as the Chicago Tribune, have even launched their own children's publications. Others, such as the Daily News in Los Angeles, devote several pages each week to the children's market, with games, puzzles and child-penned pieces.

Others have tried to start such a publication and failed, as did Los Angeles-based Lafuer Publications with the 1992 aborted launch of Teen-News, a newspaper insert geared to teenagers.

"Newspapers are interested in appealing to kids, whom they see as their future readers and subscribers," Stein said. "I think there is definitely a market for (a national children's Sunday insert) and it is certainly something newspapers would be interested in, especially the major newspapers."

Mary Huhn, who monitors the magazine world for Mediaweek, agreed: "Disney has a lot of money to pull this off, and advertisers would be interested because it will have great reach. If Disney goes through with this, it will be a great success."

Though better known for its filmed entertainment and theme parks, Burbank-based Walt Disney Co. has been expanding into magazine publishing as well. It is the largest publisher of children's books and magazines in the world.

In the United States, the company offers Disney Adventures, a monthly, digest-sized magazine for children aged 7-14. Disney also prints the science-oriented Discover and Family Fun, which the company bought in 1992.

Disney publications are also highly popular overseas, with Topolino, Disney's Italian Mickey Mouse magazine, selling as many as one million copies a week.

But whether Disney will take the plunge with a national children's magazine distributed within U.S. newspapers will have to wait to be seen.

"We're thinking about it," is all Champlin would say.