 | |
| Network | Fox |
|---|---|
| Launched | September 8, 1990 (1990-9-8) |
| Closed | September 7, 2002 (2002-9-7) (replaced byFoxBox on September 14, 2002) August 2004 (2004-8) (as a channel in Europe (excluding Finland) and Latin America, replaced byJetix)[1] January 6, 2019 (Finland) |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Owner | Fox Family Worldwide Inc. |
| Key people | Haim Saban (CEO,Saban Entertainment) |
| Headquarters | Los Angeles California, U.S. |
| Formerly known as |
|
| Sister network | Fox Children's Productions |
| Format | Children's programming |
| Original language(s) | American English |
| Official website | Official website |
Fox Kids (originally known asFox Children's Network and later as theFox Kids Network; stylized inall caps) was an American children'sprogramming block and branding for a slate of international children's television channels. Originally ajoint venture between theFox Broadcasting Company (Fox) and itsaffiliated stations, it was later owned byFox Family Worldwide.[2]
The Fox Kids brand originated on a programming block that launched on the Fox network from September 8, 1990, to September 7, 2002. The block aired on Saturday mornings throughout its existence (Sunday mornings in Canada), with an additional lineup on Monday through Friday afternoons airing until January 2002. Fox Kids is the only form ofdaytime television programming, outside ofsports, aired by the Fox network to date.[3][4] Following then-Fox parent News Corporation's sale of Fox Kids Worldwide toThe Walt Disney Company in July 2001, Fox put the remaining Saturday morning timeslot up for bidding, with4Kids Entertainment winning and securing the rights to program that period. The Fox Kids block continued to air until September 7, 2002, and was replaced the following week (on September 14) by the 4Kids-programmedFoxBox block.[5]
Fox Kids was best known for airing the most-popular programs on the network, such asBobby’s World and thePower Rangers series, with the latter dominating the block's schedule with increased ratings and creating a franchise, resulting in Fox Kids frequently usingPower Rangers for its promotions due to the shows’ popularity.[6]
Outside the United States, the first Fox Kids-branded television channel was launched in Australia on October 1, 1995, on cable and satellite television providerFoxtel. It then expanded to the UK and Ireland, launching onBSkyB in 1996, and after that it started broadcasts in Latin America on November of that same year. The channel expanded between 1997 and 2001 in Europe andMiddle East,[7] and beginning in 2004, the international Fox Kids channels were gradually relaunched under theJetix brand followingDisney's acquisition of Fox Family Worldwide.[citation needed]
According to James B. Stewart's bookDisneyWar, Fox Kids' history is intertwined with that of thesyndicated children's program blockThe Disney Afternoon.DuckTales, the series that served as the launching pad forThe Disney Afternoon, premiered in syndication in September 1987, airing on Fox'sowned-and-operated stations as well as various Fox affiliates in many markets. This may have been due to the fact thatthe Walt Disney Company'schief operating officer at the time,Michael Eisner, and his then-Fox counterpart,Barry Diller, had worked together atABC and atParamount Pictures.[8]
In 1988, Disney purchasedindependenttelevision station KHJ-TV inLos Angeles, changing its call letters toKCAL-TV the next year. The station's new owners wantedDuckTales to be shown on KCAL, effectively taking the local television rights to the animated series away from Fox-ownedKTTV. Furious at thebreach of contract, Diller pulledDuckTales from all of Fox's other owned-and-operated stations in the fall of 1989. Diller also encouraged the network's affiliates to do the same,[9] though most did not initially. As Disney went forward in developingThe Disney Afternoon, Fox (whose schedule at the time was limited toprime time programming on Saturday and Sunday nights) began the process of launching its own children's programming lineup.
Fox Kids was launched on September 8, 1990, as theFox Children's Network, ajoint venture between the Fox Broadcasting Company and its affiliates.[2] Originally headed by division presidentMargaret Loesch, its programming aired for 30 minutes per day on Monday through Fridays, and for 3 hours on Saturday mornings.
In September 1991, the block was rebranded as theFox Kids Network, with its programming expanding to 90 minutes on weekdays and 4 hours on Saturday mornings. The weekday editions of the block grew to three hours the following year.
In 1994, the Fox Kids brand extended to home video, where Fox Video launched a line, Fox Kids Video, initially releasing titles based onBobby's World,[10] and it was extended in 1995 to add three more shows based on the three series on the same network,Eek! the Cat,The Tick andWhere on Earth Is Carmen Sandiego?.[11] Two years later, it was extended further in 1997 to add shows from theCBS,Marvel andSaban libraries.[12]
Throughout most of its history, Fox Kids aired several promos for its programs during commercial breaks, with no exact time slots announced for the shows. This was due to the programs airing at different times depending on the local Fox-affiliated station's schedule in the viewer's television market (i.e., if Fox Kids aired a promo for a show such asPower Rangers, it would not announce an exact Monday-Friday/Saturday time slot to viewers, forcing the viewers to check their local Fox station listings, such as theirTV Guide or newspaper, to search for the air time of the show, and some stations use voiceovers to announce the time slot, similar to those like first-run syndicated programs and/orPBS'PTV and later,PBS Kids block at the time).
By the fall of 1992, Fox Kids increased its schedule to three hours on Monday through Fridays, airing usually from 2:00 PM to 5:00 PM local time (making Fox the first network to air programming in the 4:00 p.m. hour since 1986),[citation needed] and four hours on Saturdays from 8:00 AM to noonEastern andPacific Time (7:00 AM to 11:00 AMCentral andMountain). Many stations split the weekday lineup programming into a one-hour block in the morning and a two-hour block in the afternoon (though this varied slightly in some markets), when network programs intertwined with syndicated children's lineups. Other stations aired all three hours combined in the afternoon due to their carriage of local morning newscasts and/or syndicated talk shows; stations that aired such programming in this case had dropped children's programs acquired via the syndication market, moving them to other "independent" stations. Very few Fox stations aired all three hours of the weekday block in the morning.[citation needed]
In 1992, Fox Kids began holding a "TV Takeover" event onThanksgiving afternoon.[13]
When Fox Kids launched, it was carried on virtually all of Fox's owned-and-operated stations and affiliates, with few (if any) declining to carry it. The first Fox station to drop the block wasMiami affiliateWSVN, the network's first station to maintain a news-intensive format, in 1993 (the station had been a Fox affiliate since January 1989 as a result ofNBC purchasing and moving its programming to longtime CBS affiliateWTVJ in a three-station ownership and affiliation swap in the Miami market).
The following year, in May 1994, Fox signed amulti-station affiliation agreement withNew World Communications to switch that company'sCBS, ABC and NBC affiliates to the network between September 1994, and July 1995,[14] in order to improve its affiliate coverage in certain markets after theNational Football League awarded Fox the contract to theNational Football Conference television package.[15] Many of the stations owned by New World (which later merged with Fox's then-parent companyNews Corporation in July 1996[16]) declined to carry the block in order to air syndicated programs aimed at older audiences or local newscasts. In certain cities with an independent station, or beginning with the launches of those networks in January 1995, affiliates ofUPN andThe WB, Fox contracted the Fox Kids block to air on one of these stations if a Fox owned-and-operated station or affiliate chose not to carry it. In some cases, Fox Kids would be carried on the same station as one of its two competing children's blocks, The WB'sKids' WB and UPN'sUPN Kids block (the latter of which was replaced in 1999 byDisney's One Too).
Between 1995 and early 1996, Fox acquired three former ABC-affiliated stations (WHBQ-TV/Memphis, KTVI/St. Louis, and WGHP/High Point). Meanwhile,SF Broadcasting (a joint venture betweenSavoy Pictures and Fox) acquired three former NBC affiliates and one ABC affiliate during the summer of 1994 (which were later sold toEmmis Communications in 1996). Those stations all aired early evening local newscasts, but wanted to continue to run general entertainment syndicated programming to lead into their news programs instead of cartoons; these stations opted to run Fox Kids one hour early, from 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM. WGHP stopped airing the block in March 1996 after the station agreed to move it toWBFX (which aired the block for the remainder of its run). In August 1995, religious independent stationKNLC assumed the rights to Fox Kids fromKDNL-TV (which became an ABC affiliate) afterKPLR-TV turned down;[17][18] however, due to the station's decision to air public service messages from its owner's ministry about controversial topics in lieu of local advertisements, Fox pulled the block from KNLC in mid-1996. As a result, KTVI became the only Fox station that was involved in the network's 1994 deal with New World Communications to carry the block.
Much of the Fox Kids lineup's early programming was produced byWarner Bros. Animation, calling Fox Children's Network a "one-stop shop," essentially pulling out of the children's syndication market by signing a $100-million deal with Fox in May 1991. This meant they moved all their existing programming to Fox Kids.[19] Two of Fox Kids' most popular programs,Animaniacs (following a heated dispute with Fox after it ceded the program's timeslot to carryMighty Morphin Power Rangers, which became one of the block's highest-rated programs when it debuted in 1993) andBatman: The Animated Series, moved toThe WB after that network launched in January 1995, thoughBatman: The Animated Series would remain on Fox Kids until 1997. BothAnimaniacs anda slightly revampedBatman served as the linchpin of The WB's new children's block,Kids' WB, when it launched in September of that year (Tiny Toon Adventures, another early Fox Kids program that Warner Bros. produced and also aired on Kids' WB in reruns, had already ended its run).
In 1996, after having established a "strategic alliance" with Fox,Saban Entertainment merged with Fox Children's Productions to form a new company,Fox Kids Worldwide, with aims to become apublic company and pursue international expansion.[20] In 1997, the venture was renamedFox Family Worldwide after it acquired International Family Entertainment—owner of the cable networkThe Family Channel, seeking a cable outlet for the Fox Kids programs to compete with services such asCartoon Network (owned byTime Warner) andNickelodeon (owned byViacom).[21][22]
In 1998, Fox bought out its affiliates' interest in Fox Kids as part of a deal to help pay for the network's NFL package.[2] The Fox Kids weekday block was reduced to two hours, and in an effort to help its affiliates comply with the recently implemented educational programming mandates defined by theChildren's Television Act, reruns of formerPBS seriesThe Magic School Bus were added to the lineup.[23] In 2000, affiliates were given the option of pushing the block up one hour to air from 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM rather than 3:00 PM to 5:00 PM In the six or so markets where a Fox affiliate carried Fox Kids and carried an early evening newscast at 5:00 PM (such as St. Louis and New Orleans), the station was already running the block an hour early by 1996. Some affiliates (such asWLUK-TV) would tape delay the block to air between 10:00 AM and 1:00 PM, one of the lowest-rated time periods on U.S. television (and when virtually all children 5 years of age and older are at school). A few only airedThe Magic School Bus in this sort ofgraveyard slot as an act ofmalicious compliance with the Children's Television Act. Fox Kids fought vehemently against the E/I rule during its development.[24]
By 2001, members of the Fox affiliate board had felt they were on much more even footing with the "Big Three" networks and wanted to take back the time allocated to the Fox Kids programming blocks to air their own programming. Saturday mornings, long the only province of children's programming, had become a liability as the other networks started to extend their weekdaymorning news programs to weekends.[citation needed]
Fox Kids, which had been the top-rated children's program block among the major networks since 1992, had been overtaken in the ratings by ABC'sOne Saturday Morning block in 1997,[25] then by Kids' WB a year later with the stronger animation block backed byWarner Bros. that included shows such asPokémon andYu-Gi-Oh!. ABC and UPN aired mostly comedy-based cartoons at this time, with the exception of live-action teen-oriented sitcomsLizzie McGuire andEven Stevens (both originated onDisney Channel as part of what would be a gradual takeover of ABC's Saturday morning lineup by the cable channel's programming), while Viacom-owned CBS aired E/I compliant preschool programming fromNick Jr., and NBC airedteen-oriented sitcoms (later to be replaced the following year byE/I-compliant programming sourced fromDiscovery Kids), splintering the audience. The added factor ofNickelodeon's aggressive schedule that outrated all of the broadcast networks among children on Saturday mornings[26] left Fox Kids behind, and programmers could not find a solution to catch up. Fox Family experienced a 35% audience decline, which led to Fox Family Worldwide, the stake in Fox Kids Europe, and Saban Entertainment being sold toThe Walt Disney Company in 2001.[citation needed] The success ofDigimon helped Fox Kids temporarily return to competitiveness with Nickelodeon and The WB in February 2001; by this point the rumors of a major restructure had already begun.[27]
After Fox Family Worldwide was sold to The Walt Disney Company in July 2001, Fox Kids was placed under the oversight ofFox Television Entertainment and moved its programming operations to Fox's headquarters on the20th Century Fox studio lot;[2] Fox discontinued daytime children's programming in December 2001, giving the time back to its affiliates.[28] In addition, from September 2001 until the weekday block was discontinued, network flagship stations WNYW and KTTV deferred it to their UPN-affiliatedsisterstations while continuing to air the block on Saturday mornings.[28] Fox put its children's programming block up for bidding, and4Kids Entertainment, then-producers of the English dub ofPokémon, purchased the remaining four-hour Saturday time period. Fox Kids maintained a Saturday morning-only schedule until September 7, 2002, a week before it gave the time to 4Kids Entertainment.[5]
Fox Kids was replaced by the 4Kids Entertainment-producedFoxBox block on September 14, 2002. The block, renamed4Kids TV on January 22, 2005, ran until December 27, 2008, marking Fox's complete withdrawal from children's programming, with the exception of educational programming acquired from the syndication market, most notablyXploration Station, which began airing primary on Fox stations in 2014.
While Fox Kids ended its existence onbroadcast television in the United States, Disney instituted a two-hour morning lineup on its newly acquired ABC Family cable channel (known as the "ABC Family Action Block") that was programmed similarly to Fox Kids and featured content originated on the block.
Internationally, Fox Kids Europe continued to operate the international channels in both Europe and Israel, while The Walt Disney Company themselves took over theLatin America channel. The original intention of The Walt Disney Company after the acquisition was to rebrand all Fox Kids operations outside of the US with Toon Disney, a channel that had very little distribution internationally,[29] but this was scrapped, with20th Century Fox Film Corporation granting a non-fixed term license for Fox Kids Europe to continue using the "Fox Kids" brand at no charge.[30]
On January 8, 2004, Fox Kids Europe, Fox Kids Latin America, and ABC Cable Networks Group announced the launch ofJetix, a brand that would take over the Fox Kids networks in Europe, Israel and Latin America, and operate as a block in all other territories, including North America.[31][32] Within the global launch of the brand, the Fox Kids Europe company was renamed asJetix Europe, with the first European Fox Kids network to make the rebranding being the French feed in August 2004, and ending with the German feed's rebranding in June 2005.
In 2010, former Fox Kids presidentMargaret Loesch was appointed the position of president andCEO of the then newly-launched children's networkThe Hub, which replacedDiscovery Kids.[33][34] A few shows that have once aired on Fox Kids, such asGoosebumps,Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation,Batman: The Animated Series,Tiny Toon Adventures, andAnimaniacs, were reran on The Hub. Loesch stepped down of her position as Hub Network president and CEO in late 2014, ahead of network's rebranding toDiscovery Family.[35][36][37]
The Fox Kids name was used again for the web seriesFox Kids Movie Challenge, produced by20th Century Fox for the Fox Family Entertainment YouTube channel despite having no affiliation with the brand.[38]
In addition to the program block, Fox Kids had its own radio program in the United States, theFox Kids Radio Countdown. This two-hour broadcast was hosted byChris Leary of ZDTV andTechTV fame and consisted of contests and gags, with sound effects incorporated throughout the program. It was later renamed asFox All Access (in effect, growing up with its original audience) and served primarily as a promotional vehicle for Fox television programs, current artists, and films in its later years, before eventually ending its run in 2012.[citation needed]
