The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster which specializes in educational programming for adults and kids. PBS Kids launched as PTV in 1994, but received its current name in 1999 with the launch of a 24/7 channel, which sailed its ship in 2005, but returned in 2017. Along with HiT Entertainment, Sesame Workshop, and Comcast, PBS was one of the four founders of Sprout. The "PBS Kids" name was in the channel until November 2013.
PBS aired a wide variety of shows from its archive library on Sprout. Through a convoluted streak of buyouts, this company distributes shows from HiT, Sesame Workshop, and from themselves.
History with Sprout
2005-2017
Following the failure of the original 24/7 PBS Kids Channel launched in 1999, PBS entered a joint partnership with HiT, Sesame Workshop, and Comcast to create an all new kids' channel entitled PBS KIDS Sprout. It started out as an on-demand service, but eventually evolved into a cable TV channel. PBS held one position (occupied by chief operating officer (COO) Wayne Godwin) on the Board of Sprout.[1] It replaced the original PBS KIDS Channel. PBS KIDS' own show Boohbah (which it didn't actually produce) was the very first show to air on Sprout. Once the then-new channel launched, critics attacked PBS for putting its name into a commercial network,[2] while stations refused to affiliate with Sprout, leaving 90 stations to join with Sprout for content and marketing arrangements.
Sprout aired reruns of many old and new PBS Kids programs. Some of these shows, such as Angelina Ballerina, hadn't been seen on PBS for years, while others, such as Sesame Street, were still making new episodes and were airing on both networks.
In 2009, when Sprout rebranded, the PBS Kids branding only appeared in the channel's screenbugs as opposed to several bumpers and online.
In 2012, NBC Kids launched and PBS became concerned about branding confusion.[3] That same year, Sesame Workshop sold its interest in Sprout to Comcast, which in turn later acquired Apax and PBS's shares in the network on March 19, 2013 and November 13, 2013 respectively, thus giving Comcast full ownership. Its operations were then merged into its NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment Group subsidiary, and, starting the first week of December, the "PBS Kids" branding was dropped from the network's name (leaving it as simply Sprout, though many acquired shows from PBS continued air until Sprout’s 10th anniversary in 2015) and operations were moved from Philadelphia to New York City. With this, Sprout was thus fully owned by NBCUniversal, but closed on September 9, 2017 since Universal Kids took over Sprout's channel space.
Commercials and promos for Sprout aired on PBS stations in its early years, including ones based on the Sprout Please commercials.
On Sprout's 10th anniversary on September 26, 2015, the network received a brand refresh and shifted focus towards original shows, such as Nina's World, and phased out older acquired shows from PBS such as Barney & Friends (which later aired on Universal Kids starting in 2018), Thomas & Friends, and Super WHY!, due to the network's licenses for these shows expiring and were replaced with newer acquired shows such as Maya the Bee and Sydney Sailboat. Only two PBS shows that have been on the channel since its launch, Caillou and The Berenstain Bears, remained intact. Caillou continued to air on the network until March 31, 2019, while The Berenstain Bears continued to air on the network until the channel rebranded into Universal Kids. Sesame Street (which is a PBS show that is also on HBO) wasn't removed from the network until November 17, 2015, unlike the other shows, which were deleted on September 26. Space Racers, which aired on select PBS stations, premiered on Sprout in 2016.
2017-present
Despite Sprout / Universal Kids losing the rights to many beloved PBS programs, especially since PBS actually revived the 24/7 PBS Kids Channel in January 2017, they managed to get back the rights to Barney & Friends and Bob the Builder. This may be because PBS already lost the rights to those two shows, so that could have made Universal Kids free to air it. Caillou survived the 10th anniversary, as well as the Universal Kids rebranding, but was eventually removed at the end of March 2019. The Berenstain Bearswas another survivor of the 10th anniversary fallout, but didn't make it to the Universal Kids transition. To this day, it is unknown why those two PBS shows stayed on the air as long as they did.
PBS Kids programs broadcast by Sprout
See PBS library.
External links
Sources
- ↑ Getler, Michael. More About Melanie August 3, 2006 Retrieved December 11, 2024
- ↑ "The Real Toy Story: Inside the Ruthless Battle for Britain's Youngest Consumers" by Eric Clark, page 226
- ↑ PBS KIDS Sprout expands its reach