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77-477: Discovery Family is an American cable television channel co-owned by The Cartoon Network, Inc. and Hasbro Entertainment , which are divisions of Warner Bros. Discovery Networks and Hasbro respectively. The channel was originally launched by Discovery Communications (then Discovery, Inc. ) on October 7, 1996 as Discovery Kids Channel (later Discovery Kids ), a spin-off of Discovery Channel , with primarily science and nature-themed programming aimed towards

154-723: A Katz-owned network, the networks were load balanced and freed up onto Ion stations due to limited spectrum capacity during the ATSC 3.0 transition, along with Ion's existing carriage deals with Qurate 's home shopping networks, QVC and HSN , along with their own secondary channels. After March 1, Scripps began to utilize an outside-sourced three-hour block of programming on Ion Television Friday mornings in order to meet their E/I burden without any Qubo branding, including Finding Stuff Out and Science Max (both were past Qubo series), as well as Xploration Station programs from Steve Rotfeld Productions . The Qubo website redirected to

231-570: A channel is specialty service (or even more explicitly "specialty television programming undertaking"), referring to virtually any non- premium television service which is not carried over the airwaves or otherwise deemed exempt by the CRTC. They are primarily carried, therefore, on cable television and satellite television . The CRTC previously enforced strict regulations on the types of programming that may be carried by specialty services, employing minimums and restrictions across specific genres on

308-443: A national feed that was delivered directly to cable and satellite providers in markets without a local Ion Television station that carries the network. Qubo did not have any over-the-air stations in several major markets, most notably Toledo, Ohio ; San Diego, California ; Charlotte, North Carolina ; Richmond, Virginia ; Green Bay, Wisconsin ; and Cincinnati, Ohio . A key factor in the network's limited national broadcast coverage

385-686: A new imaging campaign, "Making Family Fun", which was developed by the Los Angeles-based agency Oishii Creative. On June 12, 2014, it was reported that Margaret Loesch would step down from her role as Hub Network president and CEO by the end of the year. On September 17, 2014, The Wall Street Journal reported that Discovery Communications was preparing to acquire a controlling stake in Hub Network from Hasbro and then retool it as Discovery Family. Along with Discovery's CFO Andrew Warren, Hasbro staff acknowledged that increasing competition in

462-490: A part of the toy lines such as My Little Pony , Pound Puppies , Transformers and Kaijudo . The 2022 merger of Discovery, Inc. with WarnerMedia to form Warner Bros. Discovery brought Discovery Family under the Cartoon Network Group division of Warner Bros. Discovery Networks , with Cartoon Network president Michael Ouweleen now overseeing the channel. Currently, Hasbro's output agreement for

539-432: A per-licence basis, and a category system granting exclusive rights to specific categories of channels. These restrictions were imposed to discourage networks from deviating from the programming format which they were licensed to broadcast . Under a deregulation scheme, the CRTC has since replaced these with streamlined, standard terms for most specialty channels ( discretionary services ), whose only major restrictions are on

616-457: A program during or in timeslots adjacent to the show itself. During time slots that targeted preschool audiences (aired during a block branded as "HubBub"), The Hub was to broadcast six minutes of advertisements per hour, below 12 minutes per hour on weekdays, and 10.5 minutes per hour on weekends as mandated by the CTA. Additionally, it was planning to broadcast 10.5 minutes of advertisements per hour

693-596: A selection of series licensed from Warner Bros. beginning in 2023. As the Hub Network, it also previously aired game shows tied to Hasbro's board games , such as Family Game Night . One of the network's most noteworthy series has been My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic , an animated series produced as a part of the then-recent revival of Hasbro's My Little Pony franchise. The series not only became The Hub's highest-rated program within its target demographic of young girls, but attracted an unexpectedly significant cult following among male teens and adults . Following

770-547: A transaction which brought Discovery Family into the Entertainment Group division of Warner Bros. Discovery Networks . Following the merger, Discovery Family was placed under the oversight of Cartoon Network's president Michael Ouweleen . Despite Hasbro's 2021 annual report reporting that its licensing agreement to produce and broadcast new television shows on the channel ended in 2021, the very next annual report stated that its operating agreement with Discovery

847-462: A video on demand service, a website, and a standalone 24-hour network to be carried as a digital subchannel on terrestrial television stations owned by Ion Media Networks and by pay-TV providers. Qubo president Rick Rodríguez (who formerly served as a programming executive at Discovery Communications ) stated in a 2008 interview with Multichannel News that Qubo was designed as a bilingual brand, offering programming in both English and Spanish (with

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924-494: A youth audience. In 2010, Discovery Kids was relaunched as The Hub (later Hub Network ) as part of a joint venture with Hasbro led by veteran executive Margaret Loesch . The relaunch pivoted the channel towards a general entertainment format, with dayparts targeting preschool, youth, and family audiences respectively. Some of its original programming would include adaptations of Hasbro-owned properties, such as game shows based on its board games , and animated series produced as

1001-461: Is religious, NBC is not. I want to focus people more on 'Isn't it cool that Bob and Larry are on television?'" Qubo ceased broadcasting VeggieTales in 2009. In December 2006, a Spanish-language version of the Qubo website was launched. The 24-hour Qubo network launched on Ion Media Networks' terrestrial stations on January 8, 2007 at 6:00 a.m., with Theodore Tugboat being the first program to air on

1078-552: Is the fact that Ion Media Networks did not actively attempt over-the-air distribution for the network on the digital subchannels of other network-affiliated stations (in contrast, its parent network Ion Television – which had similarly limited national coverage following the digital television transition – had begun subchannel-only affiliation arrangements through agreements with NBC Owned Television Stations ' Telemundo Station Group subsidiary and Nexstar Media Group during 2014 and 2015 ), with very few stations that contractually carry

1155-521: The Children's Television Act on its other subchannel services. This allowed Ion to carry Ion Shop, HSN and QVC without overlaying any E/I programming on those subchannels. On September 27, 2010, Qubo launched "Qubo Night Owl", (running from 12:00 to 6:00 a.m. ET) featuring classic animated series, many of which came from the Filmation library then owned by Classic Media. After Classic Media

1232-500: The E. W. Scripps Company announced an agreement to buy Ion Media for $ 2.65 billion. The transaction, which closed on January 7, 2021, saw Ion's networks integrated into Katz Broadcasting, Scripps's subsidairy for its own multicast networks, later re-christened as Scripps Networks . For several Ion networks, including Qubo, Ion Plus and Ion Shop, it would be a short-lived period under Katz's management. On January 14, 2021, Scripps announced that it would discontinue Ion Shop and Qubo at

1309-690: The E. W. Scripps Company , it ceased operations on February 28, 2021. In May 2006, Ion Media Networks , NBCUniversal (which owned a 32% interest in Ion Media at the time), Corus Entertainment , Scholastic Corporation and Classic Media announced plans to launch a new, multi-platform children's entertainment brand known as Qubo, oriented towards providing "educational, values-oriented programming" targeted towards children between 5 and 14 years of age. The brand would encompass programming blocks on NBCUniversal and Ion's respective flagship broadcast television networks ( NBC , Telemundo and Ion Television ),

1386-583: The Jim Henson series Fraggle Rock and the preschool-oriented programs Animal Mechanicals and The WotWots . The channel promised to keep the proportion of programs supplied from Hasbro to "less than 20%" of the total of its programming. The Children's Television Act (CTA) in the United States limits the commercial time during children's programming, and prohibits television broadcasters from airing advertisements for products associated with

1463-484: The transition from analog broadcasting ), which usually focus on library programming catering to specific themes, genres, or demographics. The term "specialty channel" has been used most frequently in Canada , having been used as a marketing term by the cable industry for various simultaneous launches of new channels throughout the 1990s. The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) term for such

1540-421: The "Qubo channel" (available as a digital terrestrial television service on owned-and-operated stations and some affiliates of corporate sister Ion Television , as well as on some pay-TV providers), associated website with games and programs available through video on demand , and a weekly programming block on Ion Television, along with Ion Life, later known as Ion Plus . Following Ion Media's acquisition by

1617-498: The 132nd most-watched broadcast or cable network in the United States in 2022 based on total viewership. On March 31, 2016, the pan- EMEA version of Discovery World was re-launched as a regional version of Discovery Family. On September 14, 2017, a version of Discovery Family was launched in France ; the channel ceased operation on March 29, 2022. Specialty channel The number of specialty channels greatly increased during

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1694-896: The 1990s and 2000s with the increase of broadcast bandwidth and television's transition to digital , while the previously common model of countries having just a few (national) TV stations addressing all interest groups and demographics became increasingly outmoded, as it already had been for some time in several countries. About 65% of today's satellite channels are specialty channels . Types of specialty services may include, but by no means are limited to: (These categories are provided for convenience and do not necessarily represent industry-accepted or otherwise legally binding names or categories for these types of services.) Some specialty channels may not be free-to-air or may not be available through conventional broadcast or terrestrial television , and are only distributed via multichannel television services such as cable or satellite television . In

1771-533: The Comcast merger. This left Ion Television as the only remaining network with a Qubo-branded programming block (with Ion Media acquiring NBCUniversal's interest in the venture). Ion Media Networks acquired the stakes in Qubo held by Classic Media (which became DreamWorks Classics in 2012 after its acquisition by DreamWorks Animation ), Scholastic Corporation and Corus Entertainment in 2013, with all three companies retaining program distribution partnerships with

1848-559: The Discovery Kids block with Qubo in September 2006. On April 30, 2009, toy manufacturer and multimedia company Hasbro announced that it would be forming a joint venture with Discovery Communications to re-launch Discovery Kids as a new family-oriented television channel, paying $ 300 million for 50% ownership of the channel. Under the arrangement, Discovery would be in charge of handling advertising sales and distribution for

1925-469: The District of Columbia. The network has an estimated national reach of 58.83% of all households in the United States (or 183,832,858 American families with at least one television set). Like parent network Ion Television, the network's stations almost exclusively consisted of network-owned stations (with the exception of Louisville, Kentucky affiliate WBNA ). Qubo's programming was available by default via

2002-719: The Ghostly Adventures and Super Monsters . Following the relaunch as Discovery Family in October 2014, Discovery began programming the channel's primetime schedule with family-oriented factual programming (including Discovery library programs), while leaving Hasbro responsible for programming its daytime schedule as a minority partner. The original programs commissioned for the channel in this timeslot include Bake It Like Buddy , From Wags to Riches with Bill Berloni , My Dog's Crazy Animal Friends , Reno, Set, Go! , Secrets of America's Favorite Places and burn-off

2079-484: The Hub Network, the channel also aired reruns of other acquired series, such as Fraggle Rock and Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman , a collection of various Warner Bros. Animation series, such as Batman Beyond , Batman: The Animated Series , Superman: The Animated Series , Animaniacs , and Tiny Toon Adventures , a few former Fox Kids shows such as Goosebumps and Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation , and various off-network sitcoms (at

2156-460: The United States, such networks are colloquially referred to as cable channels or cable networks (regardless of distribution method), with the most widely distributed referred to as "basic cable" networks (as opposed to those in higher service tiers, or premium services). In the U.S., specialty channels also operate as broadcast television networks designed to be carried on digital subchannels of terrestrial stations (which proliferated following

2233-462: The action to be "a pro-forma accounting exercise", and noted that Discovery felt "very positive and encouraged by The Hub's early days' performance, and ability to grow its audience in the future." In March 2013, The Hub picked up Stan Lee's Mighty 7 , an animated pilot film that aired on February 1, 2014. The network also began to phase in an amended branding as the Hub Network. On January 13, 2014, Hub Network introduced an updated logo, along with

2310-434: The broadcast of live sports programming. Contrarily, a service licensed as a mainstream sports network is restricted in their carriage of non-sport programming. Qubo Qubo ( / ˈ k j uː b oʊ / KYEW -boh ; stylized as qubo ) was an American television network for children between the ages of 5 and 14. Owned by Ion Media , it consisted of a 24-hour free-to-air television network often mentioned as

2387-563: The broadcasting industry for a new, family-oriented network. With these shifts in the network's operation, it was announced on October 7, 2014 that the Transformers: Prime follow-up Transformers: Robots in Disguise –which was initially announced for Hub Network–would instead be picked up by Cartoon Network (whose parent company would later merge with Discovery). Hasbro Studios president Stephen Davis felt that Cartoon Network

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2464-403: The channel primarily offered adventure, nature, and science-themed programs aimed towards a children's audience between ages 6 and 11. Marjorie Kaplan, the network's senior vice president, explained that the creation of Discovery Kids Channel was influenced primarily by kids, who were watching its parent network 's programming together with their parents. From 1996 to 2000, Discovery Kids Channel

2541-746: The channel would be known as The Hub; this was soon followed two months later with the announcement that The Hub would launch on October 10, 2010. The channel's original imaging was developed by Troika Design Group and built around an emblem nicknamed the "hubble" – which was designed to embody a "catalyst of action and imagination". The final logo design was the result of a number of drafts by Troika designers, some of which had incorporated typography similar to Hasbro's logo. The relaunched channel, which would compete against established children's services such as Cartoon Network , Disney Channel , and Nickelodeon , planned to continue targeting Discovery Kids' main demographic of children aged 2–12 (a market which staff felt

2618-463: The channel's premiere of the 2004 film Garfield: The Movie . In a June 2011 debt filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission , Discovery Communications indicated that the channel may be worth less than recently believed, based on low viewership figures. The management of The Hub subsequently underwent a fair value analysis of the channel. A Discovery Communications spokesperson considered

2695-412: The channel, including Dan Vs. and R. L. Stine's The Haunting Hour . Aside from The Hatchery's productions, American Greetings also supplied Strawberry Shortcake's Berry Bitty Adventures (part of the 2009 relaunch of Strawberry Shortcake , a property which was owned by AG until 2015), The Twisted Whiskers Show , Maryoku Yummy , and Care Bears: Welcome to Care-a-Lot to the channel. Hasbro

2772-573: The channel. Linn said "It will make a mockery of existing ad limits and the current prohibition of product placement in children's television" at the April 2009 announcement of the Discovery-Hasbro joint venture, and told Los Angeles Times that "[t]he notion of a toy company owning a television channel for the sole purpose of promoting their toys is egregious practice" in the days before the channel's re-launch. Loesch stated that The Hub's goal

2849-412: The children's media landscape – especially by subscription video-on-demand services such as Netflix – had an effect on the overall performance of the network and Hasbro's original content. As it was majority-owned by a competitor, other major toy companies such as Mattel refused to purchase advertising time on Hub Network, affecting its ability to air advertising that targeted its main audience; by 2014,

2926-468: The company was exploring strategic alternatives for its stake in the channel, citing the growing shift towards cord cutting and streaming services. She noted that the channel had been a "terrific investment" that had "driven over a $ 1 billion in revenue for the company", but that there had been "changes" in the cable industry since. These discussions came ahead of the then-upcoming merger of Discovery, Inc. with WarnerMedia to form Warner Bros. Discovery ,

3003-436: The conclusion of the series on October 12, 2019, the animated spin-off series featuring its cast, My Little Pony: Pony Life , premiered on Discovery Family on November 7, 2020. The Hatchery – a company co-founded by Margaret Loesch (who served as the channel's president and CEO from 2009 to 2014) and Bruce Stein in 2003, and had a majority stake acquired by American Greetings (AG) in 2004 – has supplied certain series to

3080-445: The edits, stating that he was not informed that religious content would be removed from the series, and that he would have refused to sign a contract with Qubo if he had known of the decision beforehand. Vischer said, "I would have declined partly because I knew a lot of fans would feel like it was a sellout or it was done for money." Still, Vischer added that he understood NBC's wish to remain religiously neutral, and said, " VeggieTales

3157-485: The end of the Hub Network's run, these included Blossom , Step by Step , and Sister, Sister ); Blossom , the only sitcom on Discovery Family's schedule, returned for a time in 2016. A limited amount of original Discovery Kids programming, such as Adventure Camp and Flight 29 Down , remained on the lineup upon its launch as The Hub. In 2019, Discovery Family acquired the cable rights to several series and specials from 41 Entertainment , including Pac-Man and

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3234-566: The end of the evening on February 28, with Ion Plus transitioning to a FAST service. The spectrum allocated to the three networks would be repurposed to carry Katz-owned networks starting March 1, with the initial slate of Ion Television O&Os adding those networks following the expiration of Scripps/Katz's existing contracts with other broadcasting companies the day prior, and other stations following suit as contracts with existing affiliates expired throughout 2021 and 2022; in markets where major network affiliates operated by Scripps already carried

3311-402: The end of the year, Discovery acquired 10% of Hasbro's stake in the network, and Henry Schleiff replaced Loesch, who leads sister networks such as Destination America and Investigation Discovery . Hub Network was re-launched as Discovery Family on October 13, 2014 – just over four years since the earlier re-launch as The Hub. With these changes, Discovery Communications now held a 60% stake in

3388-581: The first time that VeggieTales had ever been broadcast as a television program. All shows listed on the inaugural schedule made their official debuts on US television. Jacob Two-Two , however, was the only exception as that show previously aired with its Spanish dub on the predecessor of Telemundo's Qubo block, Telemundo Kids . The show premiered there on January 9, 2005, and was the only show from that block to transition to Qubo en Telemundo . VeggieTales and its spin-offs incorporated lessons related to Christian values; initially, this religious content

3465-481: The future. He felt that the market for Spanish-language children's programming had been underserved by existing outlets (such as Telemundo and Univision ), and envisioned the possibility of programming which could "bridge the gap" and educate Spanish-speaking children on the English language, and vice versa. The Qubo brand was intended to represent a "building block for kids," as reflected by its logo. The name "Qubo"

3542-487: The joint venture; Hasbro continued to hold a 40% stake in Discovery Family, and continued to program the network's daytime lineup with children's programming. Following the re-launch, the network's primetime lineup was replaced by reruns of family-oriented non-fiction programming from Discovery Channel's library. Henry Schleiff, who leads sister channels such as Destination America and Investigation Discovery, leads

3619-504: The latter's audio available through the SAP audio feed on most programming, along with the "CC3" closed captioning channel for Spanish text). While Qubo would initially carry Spanish-language dubs of its programming for both its Telemundo block and (through the SAP audio feed) the standalone 24-hour network, Rodríguez did not rule out the possibility of developing original children's programming geared to Hispanic and Latino audiences through Qubo in

3696-538: The launch of the new block, Discovery Kids also branched out into animated programming with the premieres of Kenny the Shark and Tutenstein . In March 2006, Discovery declined to renew its contract with NBC for its Saturday morning block, citing a desire to focus exclusively on the Discovery Kids channel. Since the launch of the NBC block, Discovery Kids had grown its cable carriage to over 43 million homes. NBC would replace

3773-494: The main Ion website shortly thereafter, then completely shut down. Qubo's oncoming sign-off went unacknowledged on-air outside occasional ticker announcements and the withdrawal of promotional advertising that no longer applied. Some affiliates abruptly switched the night of February 26 to other Katz networks, while others were switched automatically at the end of the 28th at the master control level. Qubo featured archived content from

3850-466: The morning and afternoon hours, while series aimed at older children were featured as part of the network's evening schedule. Programming on Qubo and its companion blocks on Ion Television and Ion Plus accounted for all educational programming content on Ion Television's owned-and-operated stations and certain Ion affiliates that carry the 24-hour channel, relieving the network from the responsibility of carrying programs compliant with guidelines dictated by

3927-713: The network at launch. The feed replaced a 3 hour timeshift of the main Ion network for the West Coast of the United States. The network initially included a schedule of children's programming in rolling four-hour blocks; Ion intended to attempt carriage of the channel on pay-TV providers. In May of that year, NBCUniversal sold its minority stake in Ion Media Networks to Citadel LLC . On December 3, 2007, Qubo expanded its programming offerings to include shows from other producers, as well as some programs that were already airing on Ion Television's Qubo block. In addition,

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4004-498: The network expires on March 31, 2025. As of November 2023, Discovery Family is available to approximately 28,000,000 pay television households in the United States, down from its 2014 peak of 71,000,000 households. Discovery Communications launched Discovery Kids Channel on October 7, 1996, as part of a suite of four new digital cable channels that included Discovery Travel & Living Network , Discovery Civilization Network , and Discovery Science Network . Upon its launch,

4081-512: The network had made only $ 9 million per year. Discovery staff was also unable to display a full commitment to Hub Network's operation, due to factors such as the troubled launch of the Oprah Winfrey Network . Believing that they had overvalued its stake in the venture, Hasbro decided to cede the operation of the network to Discovery so it could focus more on content, and its core toy business. Discovery and Hasbro publicly announced

4158-1073: The network in partnership with childhood obesity expert Goutham Rao. Qubo also began to air a series of public service announcements featuring characters from its programs in association with the Ad Council , the United States Olympic Committee and the Department of Health and Human Services , advocating exercise and healthy living. In May 2009, Ion Media Networks filed an inquiry with the Federal Communications Commission to attempt must-carry subscription television carriage to expand Qubo's distribution to other providers. Later in May 2010, Ion signed carriage agreements with Advanced Cable Communications and Blue Ridge Communications , as well as deal with Comcast's Colorado Springs system to add Qubo on

4235-526: The network known as Discovery Kids on NBC , beginning in September 2002. The block, which replaced a teen-oriented block consisting only of sitcoms , featured programming that met the educational programming guidelines from the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC), including new original series (such as the reality television series Endurance ), existing Discovery Kids programming, along with children's spin-offs of programs from sister networks, such as Animal Planet and Discovery Channel. With

4312-420: The network. The Qubo block on Ion Television was rebranded as the "Qubo Kids Corner" on January 4, 2015, concurrent with the block's move from Friday to Sunday mornings. On September 8, 2020, the block also began airing on Ion Plus during Monday mornings due to E/I commitments, since they had eight stations in the network that had DT1 main-channel carriage rather than subchannel carriage. On September 24, 2020,

4389-412: The new service, while Hasbro would be involved in acquiring and producing programming. While educational series (including those carried over from Discovery Kids) were slated to be maintained on the schedule, plans called for new original programs based on Hasbro-owned franchises such as G.I. Joe , My Little Pony , Transformers and game shows adapted from its board game brands. Discovery Communications

4466-446: The planned rebranding on September 25, 2014, Hasbro's CEO Brian Goldner explained that Discovery Family would be the "next chapter" in its joint venture with Discovery, "[combining] highly rated award-winning storytelling around Hasbro's brands and Discovery's most popular non-fiction shows that appeal to both children and families alike." Following reports earlier in the year that Hub Network president Margaret Loesch would step down by

4543-640: The programming libraries of NBCUniversal , Corus Entertainment , Scholastic Corporation , DreamWorks Animation , Classic Media , Trilogy Animation Group, WildBrain , Nelvana , 9 Story Media Group and Splash Entertainment , with its programs targeted all ages 5 to 14. Though there was a first agreement of the two companies – NBCUniversal, and Ion Media – to produce a new series for the network and program block each year, Qubo only produced three original series: My Friend Rabbit (2007–08), Turbo Dogs (2008–2011), and season 1 of Shelldon (2009–2012). Qubo regularly broadcast series aimed at preschoolers during

4620-541: The providers' digital tiers. With NBCUniversal dropping out of the joint venture following its acquisition by Comcast , it was announced on March 28, 2012, that NBC and Telemundo would discontinue their Qubo blocks and replace them with NBC Kids and MiTelemundo on July 7. Both blocks would be programmed by PBS Kids Sprout , a preschool-oriented television network that originated from a previous joint venture between Comcast, PBS , HIT Entertainment and Sesame Workshop , and later came under NBCUniversal ownership as part of

4697-401: The re-launched network, with Tom Cosgrove (who previously served as CEO of Discovery Channel and Science ) as general manager. In re-launching Hub Network, Discovery executives noted that there would be a larger emphasis on programming of interest to both children and their parents; Warren argued that since ABC Family had become, in his opinion, aimed towards teenage girls, there was a gap in

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4774-484: The remaining episodes of season 9 of Cake Boss . Discovery Family operates one feed nationally, and does not operate a timeshift feed for the west coast . A 1080i high-definition simulcast of the network was introduced alongside its re-launch as The Hub, with Dish Network , Verizon FiOS , and AT&T U-verse as the first to carry the HD feed. Based on numbers from Nielsen , Variety ranked Discovery Family as

4851-485: The rest of the day throughout the week, a policy upheld from its previous incarnation as Discovery Kids. The channel was planning to sell its advertising inventories to toy companies other than Hasbro as well; as reported by Advertising Age in May 2010, The Hub was even in talks with Mattel , one of Hasbro's major competitors in the toy industry. The channel, however, also planned to restrict certain categories of advertisements, including junk foods and " advertisers in

4928-460: The rolling schedule was expanded to a six-hour block, which repeated four times per day. In January 2008, Ion Media Networks and Comcast reached an agreement to continue carrying Ion's digital terrestrial channels, including Qubo and Ion Life . In August 2008, Qubo introduced guidelines for advertisers in an effort to help fight childhood obesity, committing to only accept advertisements for products which meet nutritional guidelines determined by

5005-405: The sugar category ". One vocal opponent of Hasbro's involvement in the joint venture was Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood (CCFC), founded by Susan Linn , concerning that the channel would be exploited by the toy company as a platform to plug its products. Ahead of the channel's re-launch as The Hub, CCFC called the whole project an " infomercial ", and stated that they would be monitoring

5082-609: Was a more appropriate home for a Transformers series due to its male-oriented demographics, describing Hub Network's lineup as being "traditionally skewed towards girls". Other recent Transformers animated series preceding the original launch of The Hub also aired on Cartoon Network. Davis remarked that Hasbro was still "100% committed" to its joint venture with Discovery. Despite the move for Robots in Disguise , fellow Hub Network Transformers series Transformers: Rescue Bots remained on Discovery Family for its third season. On February 7, 2022, Hasbro CFO Deborah Thomas stated that

5159-697: Was acquired by DreamWorks in 2012, the latter let the agreement with Qubo for the Filmation library lapse August 2013, and the block was restructured to feature a mixture of animated and live-action series sourced only from the remaining distribution partners. The block was discontinued on January 8, 2019 as Ion Media decided to reduce the amount of religious and paid programming on Ion Television and Ion Plus by shifting those hours to Qubo's overnight schedule between 1:00 to 6:00 a.m. Eastern. As of November 2015 , Qubo had current and pending affiliation agreements with 67 television stations encompassing 34 states and

5236-545: Was being abandoned by its competitors in favor of tweens ) but also planned to feature a prime-time block with family-oriented programming; it was originally targeted at preteens and teenagers aged 9–14. Launch programming included the game show Family Game Night , animated television series Pound Puppies , My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic – a new animated entry in the My Little Pony franchise developed by Lauren Faust , and Deltora Quest alongside reruns of

5313-425: Was carried by only a select few cable television providers. In 2001, the channel was shortened to Discovery Kids and late in that year, it was carried in at least 15 million homes. In September 2001, a Canadian version of Discovery Kids was launched in partnership with Corus Entertainment . In December 2001, Discovery Kids announced a partnership with NBC , in which it would produce a new Saturday morning block for

5390-536: Was chosen because it had a "fun" sound, and the root word, " cube ", was nearly crosslingual in both English and Spanish ( cubo ). Qubo launched on September 9, 2006, with the premiere of weekend morning blocks on NBC (which aired exclusively on Saturday mornings, replacing Discovery Kids on NBC , a weekly block programmed by the Discovery Kids cable network) and Telemundo (which aired on both Saturday and Sunday mornings, replacing Telemundo Kids ). This

5467-510: Was edited out of the original VeggieTales broadcasts on Qubo at the request of NBC's standards and practices department. The move, however, drew criticism from the conservative watchdog group Parents Television Council , which filed a complaint against NBC. A representative for NBC replied in a statement that the editing conformed to guidelines within the network's broadcast standards "not to advocate any one religious point of view". VeggieTales creator Phil Vischer also expressed discontent with

5544-601: Was followed by the September 15 introduction of a daytime block on Ion Television (then known as i: Independent Television), which initially aired on Friday afternoons. At launch, its programming included the first-run animated series Dragon (produced by Scholastic), Jacob Two-Two , Babar , and Jane and the Dragon (produced by Canada-based animation studio Nelvana ), alongside VeggieTales and its spin-offs 3-2-1 Penguins! , Larryboy: The Cartoon Adventures (produced by Classic Media subsidiary Big Idea ) – marking

5621-550: Was looking for a business partner to draw the improved types of advertisers on the channel. In July 2009, the joint venture appointed veteran television executive Margaret Loesch as its chief executive officer ; prior to this, Loesch had led Fox Kids , and served as president and CEO of Marvel Productions from 1984 to 1990, assisting in the production of several Hasbro-tie-in series such as G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero , My Little Pony 'n Friends , and The Transformers . In January 2010, Discovery and Hasbro announced that

5698-421: Was named the master toy licensee of Care Bears and Strawberry Shortcake in 2008. The channel has also acquired new series unrelated to properties of Hasbro, The Hatchery and American Greetings, including Animal Mechanicals , The Aquabats! Super Show! , Cosmic Quantum Ray , Majors & Minors , Sabrina: Secrets of a Teenage Witch , Secret Millionaires Club , and SheZow . During its years as

5775-451: Was preceded by a marathon of Kenny the Shark (broadcast under the @DK block), running from 6:00 to 10:00 a.m. ET . Immediately after, the channel was rebranded as The Hub with "Sneak Peek Sunday", a sampler lineup of programs set to air on the channel in the coming months. The Twisted Whiskers Show was the first program to air of the channel, followed by episodes of Dennis and Gnasher , Cosmic Quantum Ray , Atomic Betty , and

5852-773: Was renewed to run until March 31, 2025, though this was filed months before Hasbro spun off its non-children's entertainment assets and instituted layoffs. According to Warner Bros. Discovery's 2022 annual report, neither that company nor Hasbro took any action regarding the latter's 40% interest in Discovery Family within the 2022 calendar year, when the decision was originally due. The majority of Discovery Family's daytime programs are animated and live-action series tied to media franchises owned by Hasbro itself, with newer series previously produced through its subsidiary Hasbro Studios (later known as Allspark ), such as Pound Puppies and Transformers: Rescue Bots , and later through Entertainment One (which Hasbro acquired in 2019), alongside

5929-628: Was to be "vibrant" and "diverse" in its programming, that the channel would not purely be a marketing vehicle for Hasbro products, and pointed out that the animated series not commissioned by toy companies would have its toys released anyway. Loesch also said that Hasbro was partnering with Discovery Communications for the channel, and declared "we have programming from them and are using their DNA". To promote The Hub, sneak peeks of Cosmic Quantum Ray , The Twisted Whiskers Show , and Family Game Night aired on Science Channel , Animal Planet , and TLC respectively. Discovery Kids' re-launch as The Hub

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