Children's programming on NBC: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 00:49, 13 August 2025

Latest revision as of 00:55, 13 August 2025

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{{main|NBC Kids}}

[[File:NBC Kids.svg|thumb|200x200px]]

On March 28, 2012, NBC announced that the three-hour children's programming time period allocated by the network on Weekend mornings would be taken over by [[Sprout (TV network)|Sprout]] (which had become a sister television property to NBC following parent company NBCUniversal's 2010 majority purchase by [[Comcast]]; NBC later took full ownership of the network, whose owners previously included [[Sesame Workshop]] and [[HIT Entertainment]]) and launch a new Weekend morning block called [[NBC Kids]], which is aimed at preschoolers and grade school-aged children ages 2 to 9. A similarly programmed block would also launch on Telemundo under the name MiTelemundo.<ref name="Weisman">{{cite news|title=NBC to launch Saturday kids block|url=https://variety.com/2012/tv/news/nbc-to-launch-saturday-kids-block-1118052022/|first=Jon|last=Weisman|periodical=Variety|publisher=[[PMC (company)|Penske Media Corporation]]|date=March 28, 2012|access-date=March 27, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120519174046/http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118052022?refCatId=14|archive-date=May 19, 2012|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Rubino">{{cite news|title=NBC, With Assist From Sprout, to Launch Saturday Morning Preschool Block|url=http://www.multichannel.com/article/482478-NBC_With_Assist_From_Sprout_to_Launch_Saturday_Morning_Preschool_Block.php|first=Lindsay|last=Rubino|periodical=Multichannel News|date=March 28, 2012|access-date=March 27, 2015}}</ref>

NBC Kids debuted on July 7, 2012, one week after the Qubo block ended its run on NBC on June 30, (whichfollowed by Telemundo on July 1. This left [[Ion Television]] (and later [[Ion Plus]]) as the only network to retain a Qubo-branded children's block up, until theQubo closureChannel ofceased the Qubo Channeloperations on February 28, 2021, as the [[E.W. Scripps Company]] is now the owner of [[Ion Media]], which they acquired on January 7, 2021).<ref name="MarketWatch">{{cite news|title=NBC Will Launch NBC Kids, a New Saturday Morning Preschool Block Programmed by Sprout®, Saturday, July 7|url=http://www.marketwatch.com/story/nbc-will-launch-nbc-kids-a-new-saturday-morning-preschool-block-programmed-by-sprout-saturday-july-7-2012-03-28|work=[[MarketWatch]]|date=March 28, 2012|access-date=March 27, 2015}}</ref>

Between both 2014 and 2015, several [[PBS Kids]] programs were being removed from both the block and the Sprout Channel due to PBS quitting the channel and continuing with its own children's programming separately. Then on both February 24, 2016 and March 1, 2016, NBC announced that NBC Kids would shut down and succeeded on October 8, 2016, by [[The More You Know (TV programming block)|The More You Know]], a block produced by [[Litton Entertainment]] that would feature live-action documentary and lifestyle programs aimed at preteens and teenagers, similarly to a block also introduced by Litton for [[NBC]]'s co-owner [[The CW|CW]] for the past two years. The move came as part of a shift by broadcast television networks towards using their Weekend morning lineup solely to comply with the educational programming requirements and when Sprout changed its name to [[Universal Kids]] on September 9, 2017 (closed down eight years later). NBC Kids quietly went to the ''[[Noodle and Doodle]]'' end credits shortly before [[NBC Sports]] on September 25, 2016.