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60-533: In August 1999, PBS and Nelvana teamed up to create the network's first-ever animated weekend programming block. It was created to boost viewership of the preschool audience on weekends, specifically on Saturday mornings when that attention was shifted elsewhere; many PBS stations devoted their Saturday morning schedules to general audience programming, including crafting or do-it-yourself shows, meanwhile commercial networks had extensive lineups for Saturday morning cartoons. A proposed series called Junior Kroll and Company

120-648: A block under the Sprout branding from 3 a.m. to 6 p.m. ET daily. Brennan explained that Sprout needed to "grow up with the rest of the family", and that Universal Kids would " offer something something to 2 to 12 year olds that has a slightly different purpose—widening their eyes, opening their minds and celebrating many aspects of being a kid." The network would launch with a slate of original non-scripted series, including Bear Grylls : Survival School and Top Chef Junior . NBCUniversal intended to make "significant" investments in original content for Universal Kids over

180-402: A different "tiny house" set with additional areas and camera options. Unlike Sunny Side Up , the segments are pre-recorded instead of broadcast live; supervising producer Vinny Steves felt that the live format was too "limiting", and explained that the new format was also designed to enable the segments to be distributed on digital platforms such as social media. With the launch of Sprout House ,

240-530: A drastic revamp. Elliot Moose and Corduroy were both dropped from the lineup entirely, thus shortening the block to two hours. The four remaining series ( Timothy Goes to School , Marvin the Tap-Dancing Horse , Seven Little Monsters , and George Shrinks ) were instead seen on the hour and half-hour. Timothy Goes to School and Marvin the Tap-Dancing Horse both ended production by late 2001. The second season ended on February 23, 2002. Following

300-408: A little over a week after the launch of PBS Kids Go! ), PBS announced that it had entered into a partnership with cable provider Comcast and production companies HIT Entertainment and Sesame Workshop to launch a 24-hour cable network aimed at preschool children. Created to “strengthen the competitive positions” of all of the parties, PBS Vice-President of digital ventures Deron Triff noted that

360-476: A new logo with three circles with different colors (orange for Nick, green for the word "On", and blue for CBS) alongside bumpers and promos animated by Primal Screen. As with its predecessor Think CBS Kids and CBS Kidshow blocks, all of the programs within the block complied with educational programming (E/I) requirements defined by the Children's Television Act , although the educational content in some of

420-938: A result, the network's operations were brought under the NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment Group , and the "PBS Kids" branding was removed (thus officially shortening its name to "Sprout"). The network's operations were later moved from Philadelphia to NBCUniversal's facilities in New York City . Whilst all these complex business arrangements were taking place, on July 7, 2012, Sprout began to produce educational programming blocks for NBC and Telemundo , branded as " NBC Kids " and "MiTelemundo" respectively. Both of these blocks replaced Qubo (a previous joint venture between NBCUniversal, Ion Media , Corus Entertainment , Scholastic , and Classic Media ), which had been airing on NBC and Telemundo since September 2006, but continued to air via

480-598: A third programming block on Ion Television as well as a separate 24-hour network known as Qubo Channel until that brand's full discontinuation in February 2021. NBC Kids was discontinued on September 25, 2016 (one day before Sprout's eleventh anniversary) and was replaced by " The More You Know ", a block produced by Litton Entertainment that would feature live-action documentary and lifestyle programs aimed at pre-teens and teenagers. However, MiTelemundo continued to air with its existing programming until January 6, 2018, when

540-613: A three-year programming partnership with DIC Entertainment to produce a new children's program block for the three-hour Saturday morning timeslot featuring new and older series from its program library, to begin airing in Fall 2006. The block was replaced by DIC's block, initially branded as the KOL Secret Slumber Party , on September 16, 2006. Following the announcement of the second merger between CBS Corporation and Viacom , former CBS Corporation CEO Joseph Ianniello

600-516: A year later, the 24-hour PBS Kids Channel (which Sprout had replaced back in 2005) was revived by PBS as a digital multicast network on January 16, 2017. The network's head Sandy Wax stated that Sprout also planned to experiment with more half-hour programs, and commission programming with more "complex stories" that can appeal better to older preschool audiences. In August 2016, NBCUniversal acquired DreamWorks Animation . Deirdre Brennan, formerly of Canadian media company Corus Entertainment ,

660-481: Is marathon 'best-of volume' blocks of one program featuring individual segments aired continuously for 1–3 hours rather than a traditional block of consecutive episodes, emulating the model of the official YouTube channels for prevailing children's series, which either feature a continuous live stream of the series, or an uploaded video several hours in length containing multiple episodes. Traditional marathons of episodes are also scheduled. The scheduling model began in

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720-464: Is a wholly owned subsidiary of Comcast . The channel launched on September 26, 2005, as PBS Kids Sprout , a preschool -oriented channel jointly operated by PBS , Comcast, Sesame Workshop , and HIT Entertainment , as an offshoot of the PBS Kids brand. After the acquisition of NBCUniversal by Comcast in 2011, the company bought out the remaining owners' shares in the network. NBCUniversal became

780-437: Is more we can explore there." Universal Kids saw a significant decrease in viewership in comparison to its previous incarnation as Sprout, with IndieWire reporting a 30% decline in 2017, followed by a 73% drop in 2018. Brennan was replaced by Frances Berwick as network president in February 2019. In April of that year, Universal Kids unveiled a new logo and branding designed by the design agency Kill 2 Birds. On June 19, it

840-464: The Bookworm Bunch became the second preschool-oriented Saturday morning block on broadcast television after Nick Jr. on CBS , which premiered two weeks before. Although PBS intended on the block to be broadcast on Saturdays, some stations opted to air it other days, particularly Sundays when there was less competition from other networks. During the block's first season, all the shows (with

900-587: The Children's Television Act . Although the block was intended to air on Saturday mornings, some CBS affiliates deferred certain programs aired within the block to Sunday mornings, or (in the case of affiliates in the Western United States) Saturday afternoons due to breaking news or severe weather coverage, or regional or select national sports broadcasts (especially in the case of college football and basketball tournaments) scheduled in earlier Saturday timeslots as makegoods to comply with

960-556: The FCC 's E/I requirements, as they would still have to air the mandated 3 hours of content considered educational or informational; although such content would not have to be supplied directly by the network, it has been CBS policy to provide the necessary programming so that the block would still need to air the E/I content. All of the programs aired within the block featured content compliant with educational programming requirements as mandated by

1020-750: The Nick Jr. block until September 7, 2002, when it began airing mainline programming from Nickelodeon. On September 18, 2004, it switched back to its previous format. On April 14, 2000, a few months after Viacom (in timeline, which CBS founded in 1952 as television syndication distributor CBS Television Film Sales, and later spun off in 1971) completed its $ 37 billion merger with CBS Corporation (the original Westinghouse Electric Corporation ), CBS reached an agreement with new corporate cousin Nickelodeon to air programming from its Nick Jr. programming block beginning that September. On September 16, 2000,

1080-514: The Bear would premiere on the Sprout block alongside the relaunch. On August 14, 2017, Sprout replaced its long-running morning block Sunny Side Up with Sprout House (renamed Snug's House in 2018), which is presented by Carly Ciarrocchi and the new character Snug, a talking dog portrayed by puppeteer Chris Palmieri, through 90-second segments throughout the block. The program was designed to be more flexible to produce than its predecessor, with

1140-523: The Bear returned to Universal Kids in the US on August 4, 2023, after 7 months of being gone off the air. As of October 2023, Universal Kids is watched by about 47.232 million households in the United States. Universal Kids operates two feeds nationally, one for the east coast and a times delay one for the west coast. DreamWorks Channel serves as the network's worldwide equivalent and Sky Kids for

1200-592: The E/I regulations. Some stations also tape delayed the entire block in order to accommodate local weekend morning newscasts, the Saturday edition of The Early Show , or other programs of local interest (such as real estate or lifestyle programs). PBS Kids Sprout Universal Kids (formerly Sprout or PBS Kids Sprout ) is an American children's television channel owned by the NBCUniversal Media Group division of NBCUniversal , which

1260-621: The PBS Kids Channel until September 5, 2004, when it was dropped altogether. Around this time, there were many new additions coming to the PBS weekend lineup (like Thomas & Friends and Bob the Builder ) and the new PBS Kids Go! block debuted in 2004, all of which effectively replaced the Bookworm Bunch . Meanwhile, many PBS stations continued airing reruns of the individual standalone series (including Seven Little Monsters until

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1320-415: The Tap-Dancing Horse as part of its daily programming, the now-defunct Canadian dub of BBC Kids aired reruns of George Shrinks until its closure on December 31, 2018, and the now-defunct PBS Kids Sprout aired reruns of Seven Little Monsters until July 2006. The United Kingdom channel Tiny Pop aired reruns of Timothy Goes to School until 2017. Music videos aired at the end of each program before

1380-458: The block became programmed by Litton as well, retaining the "MiTelemundo" name. Under NBCUniversal ownership, Sprout began to increase its investments in original programming to better compete with Disney Junior and the Nick Jr. Channel , with a goal to double its original series output to at least 30% of its schedule by the end of 2015, and displace older and non-exclusive library content in favor of original series and acquisitions exclusive to

1440-480: The block in early 2001; as with Nickelodeon's Nick Jr. block at the time, it would be limited to four minutes per-hour. On September 14, 2002, the block was rebranded as Nick on CBS , and its programming content expanded to animated Nickelodeon series aimed at children between the ages of 2 and 12, in addition to two returning Nick Jr. series Blue's Clues and Dora the Explorer . The rebranding also introduced

1500-535: The block. Sometime in early 2004, the block had a relaunch, making additions such as live-action shows, such as The Brothers García . The older-skewing Nickelodeon series were discontinued from the block and the return of Nick Jr. on CBS premiered on September 18, 2004, refocusing the block back exclusively toward preschool-oriented series. On September 17, 2005, the block added Go, Diego, Go! and began incorporating interstitial hosted segments featuring Piper O'Possum. On December 31, 2005, Viacom formally split under

1560-436: The branding change timed out to a general nadir for traditional cable/satellite channels tailored to children as all networks across the industry have been de-emphasized for their associated streaming services. Based on the latest numbers from Nielsen , in its 2023 year-end viewership list, Variety has the network ranked 137th among 154 cable and broadcast networks. Currently, the network's most prominent scheduling pattern

1620-473: The channel now relying primarily on acquisitions and DreamWorks Animation content (drawn primarily from the series they had originally produced for Netflix ). Its remaining first-run programming moved to NBCUniversal's streaming service, Peacock . As of October 2023 , the channel is available to about 47.232 million households in the United States. Following the failure of PBS's original 24-hour PBS Kids Channel launched in 1999, on October 20, 2004 (just

1680-457: The channel was only carried between programs in small quantities and were aimed towards parents and caregivers. In spring 2009, it was announced that The Wiggles would be moving to PBS Kids Sprout from its previous broadcaster, Playhouse Disney , the morning preschool programming block on Disney Channel . This would coincide with the launch of a new programming block hosted by the group called Sprout's Wiggly Waffle . The reason for this move

1740-501: The channel. Sprout programs such as The Chica Show also earned increased visibility airing on NBC as part of the NBC Kids block. On September 26, 2015, Sprout underwent a brand refresh to mark the tenth anniversary of its launch, with new on-air imaging inspired by modern technology and mobile devices , a new tiny house -inspired studio at 30 Rockefeller Plaza for its hosted morning block The Sunny Side Up Show , as well as

1800-422: The company (such as the sitcom Bajillionaires ); DHX had recently entered into a programming agreement with DreamWorks Animation for its networks. DreamWorks would be leveraged by Universal Kids to bolster its programming, with linear television premieres of DreamWorks' Netflix series such as All Hail King Julien and Dragons: Riders of Berk as part of its launch lineup. Industry observers felt that

1860-559: The company in 2013. As a result, Comcast's interest in Sprout was turned over to the company. Apax Partners sold HIT Entertainment to Mattel on October 24, 2011, the sale did not include HIT's stake in Sprout, which was retained by Apax. In December 2012, Sesame Workshop sold its interest in Sprout to Comcast. On March 19, 2013, Comcast acquired the remaining 49% of NBCUniversal it did not already own, and concurrently acquired Apax's stake in Sprout. Comcast then acquired PBS's share in Sprout on November 12, 2013, giving it full ownership. As

PBS Kids Bookworm Bunch - Misplaced Pages Continue

1920-477: The content would be "consistent with PBS's values" and "meet certain curricular objectives and have been tested for educational efficacy." On April 4, 2005, Comcast announced that the network would be known as PBS Kids Sprout—a spin-off from PBS's children's programming brand PBS Kids . The service would soft launch as a branded video on-demand (VOD) service that same day. PBS Kids Sprout launched its 24-hour cable channel on September 26, 2005, effectively replacing

1980-518: The credits. These music videos were essentially montages of scenes from all of the shows with musical accompaniment. Each of the songs was performed by American musical artist Nancy Cassidy, appearing on three albums released between 1986 and 1992 by Klutz (purchased by Nelvana in April 2000). The first season (2000–2001) of the Bookworm Bunch block ran for three hours, and the second season (2001–2002) ran for two hours. The most successful series from

2040-509: The end of 2004, George Shrinks until 2009, and The Berenstain Bears which continues to air reruns on a limited number of PBS stations as of 2023). After PBS dropped the Bookworm Bunch block, some of the series were picked up by other commercial networks. U.S. cable channel Discovery Kids aired reruns of Timothy Goes to School from 2004 until 2006, the now-defunct Qubo aired reruns of Elliot Moose , Timothy Goes to School , and Marvin

2100-592: The exception of the first 15-minute Corduroy episode) were shown either 15 or 45 minutes past the hour, in an effort to discourage " channel-flipping " to other competing children's cartoons. Another 15-minute Corduroy episode then ended the block, making its total runtime three hours. The Bookworm Bunch proved to be extremely popular in its first season, and weekend viewership increased dramatically. The first season ended on February 24, 2001, with reruns continuing until October 27, 2001. The second and final season premiered on November 3, 2001, and with this premiere came

2160-530: The former aforementioned show reaired on the network on December 24 and 25, 2022, until it stopped airing on the channel once again, thus putting an end to the network's longtime chicken mascot altogether, and also removing the last vestige of Sprout. Masha and the Bear left Universal Kids in the US on January 1, 2023, but cable TV providers like Charter Spectrum & DirecTV stated that it's still there, and also streaming services like FuboTV , YouTube TV , Hulu with Live TV , and DirecTV Stream . Masha and

2220-431: The integration of DreamWorks IP with Universal Kids would help NBCUniversal establish a viable multi-platform competitor to other major children's networks. The network planned to continue investing in preschool programming for the Sprout block; Brennan stated of Sprout that "the greatest thing is, there is nothing to fix there. Sprout is a beautiful brand. If anything, we want to invest more in original production. There

2280-511: The network acquired exclusive television rights to carry content from the popular YouTube channel Cocomelon . As PBS Kids Sprout, the channel featured reruns of many preschool shows from the PBS Kids library, like Sesame Street , Dragon Tales , Sagwa, the Chinese Siamese Cat , Teletubbies , Barney & Friends , Thomas & Friends , Angelina Ballerina , Make Way for Noddy and Super Why! . Even with

2340-589: The network began to downplay its longtime mascot, Chica, although she was still featured in certain segments (such as Chica at School ) until 2020, when it along with the Sprout House / Snug's House segments were removed from Universal Kids' lineup. However, the channel did briefly air reruns of The Chica Show (a former Sprout original show in which Chica starred in), on May 20, 2019, along with Moon and Me and Mofy , but all of these series stopped airing in that same year and 2021 respectively. However,

2400-515: The new three-hour block, known as Nick Jr. on CBS , premiered, replacing CBS Kidshow , produced by Canada-based animation studio Nelvana , which ended its run the week prior on September 9. For the first two years of the Viacom agreement, the block exclusively aired preschool-oriented programming from Nick Jr.; the block launched without commercial advertising, only airing promos, interstitial segments, and PSAs. Viacom began selling advertising during

2460-570: The next three years, including original scripted programming. The launch lineup included a large number of international acquisitions, particularly from the U.K., Australia, and Canada (such as The Next Step and Nowhere Boys ); Brennan acknowledged that since youth audiences had become "globally aware", the network wanted to showcase foreign series that had not yet aired in the United States. Universal Kids would also feature programing produced by Canadian studio DHX Media for Family Channel and its sister networks, as well as co-produce series with

PBS Kids Bookworm Bunch - Misplaced Pages Continue

2520-475: The original 24-hour PBS Kids Channel. At launch, PBS Kids Sprout reached around 16 million viewers across the Comcast and Insight cable systems. The multi-platform approach was designed to appeal to different viewing habits; the Sprout channel featured dayparted programming blocks , with hosted segments such as activities, features, and promotions for supplemental content on Sprout's website. To increase

2580-411: The premiere of Nina's World — an original animated series spun off from its evening block The Good Night Show . Actress Alyssa Milano began to make appearances in interstitial segments as Sprout's " Mom-bassador ", with a particular focus on the channel's public service campaign "Kindness Counts". By this point, nearly all shows inherited from PBS's library were dropped from Sprout's lineup. Over

2640-462: The programs was tenuous in nature. It was partly for this reason why some of Nickelodeon's most popular programs (most notably SpongeBob SquarePants , then the cable channel's most popular series) were mainly not included as part of the CBS block, especially during the more open-formatted Nick on CBS era. However, Rugrats aired briefly in 2003, when it was added as a short-lived regular series within

2700-577: The removal of the "PBS Kids" branding in the channel's name in November 2013 (due to PBS selling its interest in Sprout to NBCUniversal , with Sid the Science Kid being the last PBS show added to Sprout's lineup before the acquisition), many shows from its library continued to air on the network under extended license agreements. By the September 26, 2015 rebrand however, most of PBS's library

2760-481: The same half-hour time slot. This did not last long as PBS eventually aired two 15-minute episodes of The Berenstain Bears back-to-back beginning September 15, 2003. George Shrinks was given its own half-hour timeslot, in which it also proved to be extremely popular. Given the success of these shows, many PBS stations carried them on their weekday schedule. Reruns of the second season of the Bookworm Bunch block continued airing on weekends on select PBS stations and

2820-410: The second season of the block, two shows were picked up as separate, standalone series. This included new episodes of Seven Little Monsters and George Shrinks beginning January 6, 2003, in addition to a brand-new revival of The Berenstain Bears . The new episodes of Seven Little Monsters were 15 minutes, instead of the original 30 minutes, and were aired immediately after The Berenstain Bears in

2880-521: The shared control of National Amusements (owned by the late Sumner Redstone ), with CBS and all related broadcasting, television production and distribution properties as well as some non-production entities becoming part of the standalone company CBS Corporation , while Nickelodeon and its parent subsidiary MTV Networks became part of a new company under the Viacom name. Less than a month later on January 19, 2006, CBS announced that it would enter into

2940-760: The sole owner of the network in 2013, after which it was renamed Sprout . Under NBCUniversal ownership, the channel increased its investments into original programming. In 2017, the network relaunched as Universal Kids, adding an evening and prime time lineup targeting a wider youth audience—including DreamWorks Animation content, non-scripted programming (including game shows , and youth spin-offs of reality series from its NBCUniversal sister networks, such as American Ninja Warrior and Top Chef ), and acquired teen dramas. The channel continues to devote its daytime lineup to preschool programming. Amid declines in viewership in comparison to Sprout, Universal Kids ended its development of new original programming in 2019, with

3000-614: The summer of 2020. Previously, original programs produced for the network included the Top Chef spin-off Top Chef Junior , the game shows Beat the Clock and The Noise , the bedroom redecoration show Get Out of My Room , and American Ninja Warrior Junior . The channel also airs several series produced by DreamWorks Animation (some of which were originally produced for the streaming service Netflix ) and has acquired and co-produced programs with international partners. In 2021,

3060-445: The variety of its schedule, Sprout did not repackage short-form series into half-hour episodes with interstitial segments, as had usually been the case for series imported for U.S. broadcast. Unlike PBS Kids, PBS Kids Go!, and the main PBS network respectively, all of which operated as non-commercial services, PBS Kids Sprout operated as an advertiser-supported service running traditional television commercials . However, advertising on

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3120-435: The weekend Bookworm Bunch block were stripped to five days a week, and joined Berenstain Bears as standalone programs. Nickelodeon on CBS Nick on CBS (also known as Nickelodeon on CBS ) was an American Saturday morning children's programming block featuring programming from Nick Jr. and Nickelodeon that ran on CBS from September 16, 2000 to September 9, 2006. It initially aired programming from

3180-418: Was dropped from Sprout's lineup. However, two PBS shows that have been on the channel since its launch, Caillou and The Berenstain Bears , continued to air on the network, with the former airing until March 31, 2019, and the latter airing until Sprout's rebranding into Universal Kids. Almost three years after PBS sold its share in Sprout to NBCUniversal, Space Racers (which aired on select PBS stations)

3240-536: Was due to competition from the Imagination Movers , a children's music group from New Orleans who received their own TV show in September 2008. The move took effect on August 24, 2009. A high-definition simulcast of the network launched in September 2010. Comcast acquired a 51% majority stake in NBC Universal from General Electric on January 28, 2011, and would assume full ownership of

3300-585: Was moved to Sprout for its second and final season on October 31, 2016, and continued to air into the Universal Kids rebranding until March 22, 2020. Sometime after the channel rebranded into Universal Kids, Barney & Friends and Bob the Builder both returned to the channel's lineup, with the former airing from December 17, 2018 to January 25, 2020, and the latter airing from April 22, 2019 to July 7 that same year. Both of those aforementioned shows, along with PBS's long-running Curious George (which

3360-507: Was named the new president of Sprout in January 2017, replacing the outgoing Sandy Wax. On May 1, 2017, NBCUniversal announced that it would be relaunching Sprout on September 9, 2017, as Universal Kids; the relaunched network aimed to be "an umbrella brand for NBCUniversal's family offerings". Universal Kids would introduce primetime programming targeting a wider youth and pre-teen audience, while still carrying preschool programming as

3420-465: Was part of original plans for the new block, but that idea was eventually shelved and replaced by Marvin the Tap-Dancing Horse . This and the other five series were all based on a children's book, a theme that was inspired by a PBS-commissioned study from the University of Kansas that demonstrated the idea that children can learn to read from television programs. Upon its launch on September 30, 2000,

3480-481: Was produced by Universal Animation Studios , but never aired on either Sprout or Universal Kids) are also made available on NBCUniversal's streaming service Peacock . After losing the rights to most of PBS's library, yet prior to the Universal Kids rebranding, Sprout continued to premiere new series such as Kody Kapow , joining a slate that was included Dot , Nina's World , and DreamWorks-produced Noddy, Toyland Detective . New acquisitions such as Masha and

3540-518: Was receptive to the possibility of the return of Nickelodeon children's programming to CBS. However, CBS is currently under contract with Hearst Media Production Group to carry the CBS WKND E/I programming block until the end of the 2025–26 television season, meaning any new children's programming block wouldn't air on CBS until late 2026 at the earliest. Any return of Nickelodeon programming to CBS would bump up against stations' compliance with

3600-535: Was reported that Universal Kids had ceased the development of original programming, and had laid off its development staff or transferred them to other NBCUniversal properties. Thereafter, the channel would rely primarily on DreamWorks content, acquisitions, and its remaining slate of original programming. Some Universal Kids original series, such as American Ninja Warrior Junior , Super Wings and Where's Waldo? , moved to NBCUniversal's new streaming service Peacock . The network has struggled for viewers, though

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