Misplaced Pages

#330669

35-447: KidsClick was a daily children's programming block distributed by Sinclair Broadcast Group , which premiered on July 1, 2017. The block, which primarily consisted of long-form animated series as well as some short-form content, was carried in the U.S. on terrestrial television network TBD , and on Sinclair-owned/operated television stations in several markets. At launch, the block was available in 75 million households. The block marked

70-539: A blog post titled "Farewell to Circa News" in which, he admired the successes of Circa , but lamented the company's failure to become a sustainable business. On November 22, 2015, a few former Circa employees reported that the CircaNews.com website was again active, stating a simple message that "Circa will be back soon...". A report by the Nieman Journalism Lab said that the site's domain name

105-729: A daily briefing service called "Wire", which aggregates top stories over a 24-hour period. Circa would expand from the app world to the internet in February 2015, with the announcement of a web version, CircaNews.com. On April 30, 2015, Circa announced that it was looking for a buyer after failing to obtain a new funding round of venture capital financing . On June 21, 2015, Circa halted its news reporting operations for financial reasons. Three days later, on June 24, Circa announced that it would shut down and go on an "indefinite hiatus" following its inability to secure an buyer. CEO and co-founder Matt Galligan bade farewell to Circa in

140-569: A multiplatform children's programming block on linear television and online platforms. The company partnered with MGM Domestic Television Distribution to develop and distribute KidsClick, a joint venture between Sinclair Broadcast Group and Toon Goggles , which it planned to air nationally on This TV and select network affiliates (particularly those aligned with The CW , and the MyNetworkTV programming service, as well as some Fox -affiliated stations that do not carry local morning newscasts in

175-575: A preference to air news and sports programming in those slots. It aired in a downscaled letterbox format via This TV, as that network had yet to upgrade to an HD master feed; it otherwise aired in HD or at least in widescreen on most of its affiliates and via the TBD network later on. Because the programs featured on KidsClick did not meet educational content guidelines defined in the Children's Television Act by

210-456: A regular schedule, is known as a marathon . Block programming in radio also refers to programming content that appeals to various demographics in time blocks, usually corresponding to the top or bottom of the hour or the quarter-hour periods. For example, various musical genres might be featured, such as a country music hour, a three-hour afternoon block of jazz, or a four-hour Saturday night '70s disco show. Generally speaking, block programming

245-430: A website (and three days before sister property KidsClick was also closed with little notice). The former domain for the site now redirects to Sinclair's streaming portal, Stirr . Circa's social media accounts remained active but dormant, with their handles changed to the initials "TND"; Sinclair would later repurpose the accounts for its headline news service The National Desk , removing all traces of Circa from

280-506: Is alive and well on outlets like public radio (such as NPR , the BBC , or CBC ) and in multicultural radio serving broad ethnic and cultural audiences, although even in this realm the idea of block programming is declining due to competition for donations. Some programming blocks have become so popular that they have been transformed to full-fledged 24-hour channels. Current channels which started as program blocks include Disney Junior (which

315-590: Is also a Cartoon Network Programming Block. However, since the 2010s, new programming blocks have become rare due to airing programming in a regular format or with little or no brand reference within the programming block. Circa News Circa News , also known as Circa , was an American online newspaper and entertainment service. The site was founded in 2012 by Matt Galligan, Ben Huh and Arsenio Santos. The service had news stories and features consisting of individual bits of information. The service went offline for financial reasons on June 24, 2015, and

350-493: Is anathema to modern competitive commercial radio, which traditionally uses uniform formats, other than a handful of speciality shows in off-peak hours such as weekends (for instance, the infamous beaver hours in Canadian radio). The general rationale for not using block programming is that listeners expect a certain type of music when they tune into a radio station and breaking from that format will turn those listeners away from

385-511: Is still a program block on Disney Channel ); the Nick Jr. Channel (based on the Nick Jr. block that still airs on Nickelodeon); Boomerang (which was once a program block on Cartoon Network ); PBS Kids (which is still a program block on PBS ) and MeTV Toons (which was once a programming block on MeTV ). In addition, TV Land airs older shows that were once aired on sister channel Nickelodeon's Nick at Nite program block. Adult Swim

SECTION 10

#1732790089331

420-699: The Federal Communications Commission (FCC), This TV continued to air a block of live-action travel and wildlife series from Steve Rotfeld Productions immediately after the weekend broadcasts of the KidsClick lineup to fulfill the mandate (accordingly, the network's E/I block switched from a singular, three-hour block aired only on Sunday mornings to two separate 90-minute-long blocks that will air on Saturdays and Sundays). Sinclair-operated independent stations that aired KidsClick also continue to provide E/I-compliant programs acquired from

455-463: The return of children's programming on American commercial broadcast television, Steven M. Marks, COO and EVP of Sinclair Television Group, said in an earnings report on May 3, 2017: "That's a $ 1 billion-plus spot business that we don't get a dime from. So again, it's an illustration of going back into the marketplace and fishing in ponds that we haven't fished in. So that's $ 1 billion that is pretty much split between [two] cable networks: Nickelodeon and

490-577: The syndication market through individual distributors, from Fox's Xploration Station block managed by Rotfeld, or via the Litton Entertainment-distributed Go Time block to meet the quotas. Some of the following programming made their debut or some previous programming that premiered on other networks aired new episodes on KidsClick. The following is a list of stations that carried KidsClick in syndication as of its March 31, 2019, discontinuation, which included

525-462: The 1980s, it was not uncommon to mix various blocks of talk programming together on one station, but this has declined dramatically in the late 1990s and beyond. A listener to a conservative talk radio station will have little interest in a progressive talk radio , sports radio or hot talk block, which reaches a different demographic; stations that have attempted the block strategy have historically been unsuccessful. Block programming of this nature

560-596: The 2016 election , which broke many stories seen to be favorable to the Trump administration. According to The Hill , Circa's reporting on Russian interference has "only a peripheral focus on whether anyone in Trump’s inner circle had contact with Russian officials during the campaign". It has been reported that Sinclair had made an agreement with the Trump campaign to be given greater access in exchange for favorable coverage. Solomon said that reporting in many mainstream outlets

595-498: The Cartoon Network. Disney is a subscription network. 18 years ago, we were the kings of reaching kids every day. There's no reason in the world why we can't be successful in that space." On Friday, March 29, 2019, KidsClick announced on Facebook that the block would air for the last time on March 31. Sinclair also discontinued sister property Circa News three days prior to the announcement. Sinclair would later claim that

630-575: The accounts, but also retaining the existing subscribers of those feeds. On October 16, 2012, Circa launched its application for iOS . The app featured news and information from different sources and viewpoints that were stitched together into a story designed to be shifted around and changed easily as stories developed. The founders' aim for Circa was "to pursue a more pure definition of news with truths divorced from conjecture, opinion or biased analysis". On September 24, 2014, Circa announced version 3.0 of its mobile applications. The update added

665-413: The block was discontinued "for business reasons", but that its use of cloud technology was a successful testing ground to use the technology for its digital broadcast networks. KidsClick ended quietly on March 31, 2019, with an airing of Oggy and The Cockroaches ; all advertising made no mention of its demise, and the promotional spot at the end of the show mentioned it would return Saturday morning. For

700-460: The block's designated timeslots) and independent stations owned and/or operated by Sinclair on July 1, 2017. Its content encompasses short- and long-form material and is distributed online, through internet browsers and mobile apps in video-on-demand and live streaming formats. The network's distribution and website utilized Imagine Communications ' cloud technology from Sinclair's Las Vegas studios for their market triopoly. Sinclair returned to

735-540: The block's website was taken down, with the domain redirected to the main Sinclair corporate page. A final postscript to the service came down three years later, when nineteen stations, along with Sinclair itself and Nexstar Media Group , were proposed to be fined $ 3.4 million for a violation of children's ad guidelines, involving advertising for Mattel 's Hot Wheels airing during episodes of Team Hot Wheels without being screened out, which under said guidelines, made

SECTION 20

#1732790089331

770-432: The children's television market with KidsClick several years after the demise of The Program Exchange (a barter syndicator of programming which ended up as the last company providing non-educational children's content to television stations before its 2016 dissolution), an industry estimated to be worth $ 1 billion, which is currently largely split in advertising revenue between Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network . Speaking to

805-671: The entire half-hour a program-length commercial . The block was preferred to air every Monday-Friday from 6:00 to 9:00 a.m., and Saturday and Sundays from 7:00 to 10:00 a.m. local time, though scheduling variances existed in certain markets due to network programming obligations (such as One Magnificent Morning airing from 8:00 to 11:00 a.m., which delayed or preempted the KidsClick Saturday Morning lineup on CW-affiliated stations that carried both blocks), existing contracts for other syndicated programming or with paid or religious programming providers, or

840-576: The network since November 1, 2013, after the discontinuation of Cookie Jar Toons (which coincided with original co-owner Weigel Broadcasting transferring its 50% interest in the network to Tribune Broadcasting , as well as the Cookie Jar Group 's absorption into DHX Media [now WildBrain]); it also marked the first time that This TV had carried children's programming on Monday through Saturday mornings since Tribune (whom Sinclair later attempted and failed to acquire) assumed partial ownership of

875-432: The network. On July 1, 2018, This TV discontinued carriage of KidsClick, which was transferred to Sinclair's TBD channel, which had been carrying the block on a transitional basis since May 7 of that year. On March 29, 2019, shortly after closing sister site Circa News , KidsClick's Facebook page announced the block's discontinuation on March 31, 2019. On May 2, 2017, Sinclair Broadcast Group announced that it would launch

910-526: The new Circa would not intentionally emulate. Though Sinclair has aired conservative political content on its stations, its stated intention with Circa was to present information with "no spin, just facts and transparency" and in "an irreverent tone" that will allow the site's target audience (young adults 18 to 35 years old) to form its own opinions. Circa's reporting has been characterized by other media outlets as conservative . Circa attracted attention for its reporting on Russian interference in

945-795: The possibility that a TBD affiliate on a station owned by Sinclair or another owner would air the programming block in the same market near or at the same time: Block programming Block programming involves scheduling a series of related shows which are likely to attract and hold a given audience for a long period of time. Notable examples of overt block programming were NBC 's Thursday evening " Must See TV " lineup, which included two hours of sitcoms and one hour of ER , and Channel 4 's " T4 " program which often ran sitcoms back-to-back for an hour or more. Reruns on cable television are often assembled into similar blocks to fill several hours of generally little-watched daytime periods. A particularly long program block, especially one that does not air on

980-441: The previous June that the company could sell or " white-label " its technology to a news-producing company for use in its own apps. The revived Circa formally went live on 18 July 2016, with a redesigned app and a website using a new URL, Circa.com. From December 2016, Circa was led by the chief operating officer John Solomon , the former vice-president of content and business development for The Washington Times . Solomon

1015-537: The return of traditional weekday cartoons and Saturday morning cartoons to terrestrial television, as well as the first children's programming block on U.S. free-to-air television not to comply with Children's Television Act regulations since the Saban Brands -produced Vortexx was discontinued on September 27, 2014. The This TV iteration of the block accompanied an existing, unbranded lineup of educational programming on weekend mornings, which had aired on

1050-410: The station; likewise, a station that airs its programming in hodgepodge blocks will have difficulty building listener loyalty, as listeners' music will only be on for a few hours of the day. This argument for homogenized radio was also a driving force behind the effective death of freeform radio in the late 20th century. The case of talk radio is indicative of the decline of block programming: prior to

1085-475: The vast majority of stations carrying it, temporary or permanent paid programming , religious programming, other syndicated content, or alternate E/I-complaint shows overlaid the former timeslot until more permanent programming was scheduled in the fall; this would turn out to be the national news service from Sinclair, The National Desk , for many Sinclair stations. Paid programming and some Internet-originated content series replaced it on TBD. Several days later,

KidsClick - Misplaced Pages Continue

1120-470: Was "reckless, false, unfair and imbalanced". Since its original iteration, the Circa mobile app and website have offered "atomization" of news rather than "summarization". "Atomization", as originally expressed by Circa , means "to break down a story into its core elements: facts, stats, quotes and media", as opposed to a summary where content is reduced for quicker reading or users are linked elsewhere for

1155-632: Was hired by Sinclair as Circa' s chief creative officer in December 2015. Solomon left Circa to join The Hill in July 2017. The app announced in March 2017, that it would be shutting down. Sinclair says that it aims to "let the content drive [Circa]" and not let the site adhere to any set political or cultural viewpoint, describing Vice News and Breitbart as "partisan-driven" news sites that

1190-418: Was registered a month earlier to Sinclair Broadcast Group . Sinclair confirmed on 7 December 2015, that it had acquired Circa News, its intellectual property and assets earlier in 2015, and aimed to relaunch Circa in spring 2016. The acquisition of Circa was to be funded by a Sinclair subsidiary (Sinclair Digital Ventures) and potentially other investors. Circa CEO Matt Galligan mentioned at its closure

1225-495: Was then relaunched in spring 2016 under the ownership of the Sinclair Broadcast Group media company. Under Sinclair, the website's coverage was described by some media outlets as conservative although the site claimed to report from a neutral point of view. The site was discontinued abruptly on March 26, 2019, with Sinclair stating that industry changes did not justify the continuation of Circa News as

#330669