September 7, 2007 (Central and Eastern Europe) January 8, 2008 (Asia, South Africa, Middle East)[1] April 10, 2008 (Africa) May 9, 2008 (Spain) May 12, 2008 (Hong Kong) November 15, 2009 (Australia) November 27, 2009 (Greece) May 1, 2010 (South Africa)
Closed
May 5, 2013 (Poland) June 30, 2013 (Austria) December 31, 2013 (rest of Europe) February 14, 2014 (remaining territories)
Links
Website
kidscotv.tv
KidsCo was an international children's television channel active from 2007 until 2014. It was a joint venture betweenCorus Entertainment,DIC Entertainment (later part ofCookie Jar Group) andNBCUniversal whose content was mainly commissioned by DIC and Corus subsidiaryNelvana. At its peak in 2011, it was available in at least 95 countries in 18 languages.[2]
In early 2014, it was shut down by its owners, in light of NBCUniversal's acquisition of US children's networkSprout and "growing challenges in the international children's television industry". The network was based in London at the time of its closure.[3][4]
The network, effectively astartup, depended on funding provided in the form of a joint venture betweenCorus Entertainment (the owner of Nelvana), DIC Entertainment andSparrowhawk Media Group.[2][5] Subsequently, its offering was said to have included "over 3,000" half-hour episodes each of DIC and Nelvana content, with a broadcast facility made available by Sparrowhawk Media in the United States.[6] Later in 2007, Sparrowhawk Media was purchased by media conglomerateNBCUniversal, while DIC was merged intoCookie Jar Group the following year.[7][8]
Although numerous claims had been made of an imminent UK launch throughout its existence,[9][10][11][12][13] the channel struggled to establish an official foothold there because market conditions at the time meant a launch would not be commercially viable.[2][14][15] Plans had also been discussed for a potential expansion throughout France, Germany, Italy and Latin America, but these did not transpire.[2][9][16] Robinson served as managing director of the network through 2011, after which he was succeeded by Hendrik McDermott.[17][4]
The channel was first launched in Central and Eastern Europe on September 7, 2007 and subsequently expanded to other Asia-Pacific andEMEA markets in the coming years.[18][19]
In May 2012, Cookie Jar's minority shares in KidsCo were bought by NBCUniversal and Corus, which saw the former obtain a controlling 51% stake while the latter increased its share to 43.8%.[20][21]
On January 8, 2013, KidsCo moved its broadcasting facilities toCorus Quay in Toronto, while also introducing a refreshed schedule, on-air look and website.[22][23] In February 2013, as part of a joint venture with the NBC-affiliatedSyfy network, it debuted a new programming block titledSyfy Kids.[24][25]
In November 2013, citing "growing challenges in the international children's television industry", and the addition of the competing USA channelSprout to NBC's portfolio due to its recent acquisition byComcast, KidsCo announced that it would shut down in early 2014.[26] KidsCo's European feeds ceased broadcasting on December 31, 2013, with the remaining feeds for Malaysia on 10 February 2014 and Asia, Australia and Sub-Saharan Africa following suit on Valentine's Day 2014.[4]
Availability
On January 1, 2008, KidsCo launched in thePhilippines onSkyCable and onShowtime Arabia on March 20, 2008.[27] In the first trimester of 2009 the channel was launched in Portugal on Optimus Clix. The channel become available also onVodafone Casa TV platform on July 25, 2010.[28]
On November 15, 2009, KidsCo launched on Australian platformFoxtel.[29] That same month, it launched inGreece on Conn-x TV[30] and inCyprus onCytaVision.[31] In November 2010 it additionally launched onIPTV in Greece.[32] It launched on South African platformsTopTV on May 1, 2010[33] andDStv on July 12, 2010.[34][35]
On June 23, 2012, KidsCo also launched onHyppTV platform.
On March 1, 2013, as part of the channel renumbering, KidsCo has moved to Channel 560.
KidsCo ceased broadcasting in Poland on May 5, 2013, having previously been removed from some Polish cable networks on April 30.[36][37] It was removed from the AustriaSat platform on June 30, 2013.[38]
Some of the assets listed above are majority-owned, wholly-owned, by Corus Entertainment, or are under license. Refer to fullasset list for detailed information.
