 | |
| Network | The CW |
|---|---|
| Launched | August 25, 2012 (2012-08-25) |
| Closed | September 27, 2014 (2014-09-27) |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Owner | Saban Brands |
| Format | Saturday morning cartoon block |
| Running time | 5 hours (7:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.) |
| Original language | English |
| Official website | Official website (Archive link) |
Vortexx was an American Saturday morningchildren's televisionprogramming block that aired onThe CW from August 25, 2012 to September 27, 2014. Programmed bySaban Brands, it replacedToonzai, a block that was programmed by4Kids Entertainment until itsbankruptcy. The Vortexx block primarily featured animated programs, although it also featured several live-action series, including theLost Galaxy installment of thePower Rangers franchise (which had been re-acquired by Saban), and theWWEwrestling seriesSaturday Morning Slam.
The block came to an end on September 27, 2014, and was replaced the following week with a live-action E/I block fromLitton Entertainment namedOne Magnificent Morning, marking the end of traditional Saturday morning children's programming on broadcast television untilKidsClick was launched in July 2017.
On April 6, 2011, following a lawsuit involving theYu-Gi-Oh! franchise, 4Kids Entertainment, which programmedTheCW4Kids/Toonzai block for the network, filed forChapter 11 bankruptcy protection.[1] On May 1, 2012, Kidsco Media Ventures, an affiliate ofSaban Capital Group, placed a bid to acquire some of their assets. On June 26, 2012, after competition from 4K Acquisition Corp, a subsidiary ofKonami, the deal was finalized, with 4K Acquisition receiving the U.S. rights to theYu-Gi-Oh! franchise and Saban receiving all other assets, including the programming rights to The CW's Saturday morning block.[2] On July 2, 2012, it was announced thatSaban Capital Group, via Kidsco Media Ventures, would begin programming the block that fall.[3][4][5][6] On July 12, 2012, it was announced that the block would be named Vortexx, which launched on August 25, 2012.[7][8]
On June 5, 2014, The CW announced that it had entered into a programming agreement with Litton Entertainment to launch a new Saturday morning E/I block replacing Vortexx. The block would be replaced on October 4, 2014 byOne Magnificent Morning, a block produced by Litton Entertainment (nowHearst Media Production Group) that features live-action documentary and lifestyle programs aimed at pre-teens and teenagers similarly to ablock also introduced by Litton for CW sister channelCBS the previous year. The move came as part of a shift by broadcast television networks towards using their Saturday morning lineup solely to comply with theeducational programming requirements mandated by theFederal Communications Commission (FCC), along with the cultural shift towardscable and onlinevideo on demand viewing of children's and animated programming.[9] Vortexx aired for the final time on September 27, 2014.[10] It was the last conclusive Saturday morning block across the major American broadcast television networks that primarily featured non-educational programming aimed at children.[10][11] On July 1, 2017, theKidsClick block fromSinclair Broadcast Group launched on both Sinclair stations andThis TV, but had no association with a traditional broadcast network otherwise, KidsClick eventually closed on March 29, 2019.
Officially the network preferred the block to air from 7:00 a.m. to noon in eachtime zone, though there were local scheduling variances in some areas that may have moved it to different hours, to Sundays, or split the lineup between Saturday or Sunday, along with local pre-emptions of select shows.The CW Plus stations in theCentral,Mountain, andAlaska time zones time zones also aired the block one hour earlier or later, depending on the local time zone, as The CW Plus operates separate feeds based on the network'sEastern andPacific time zone scheduling for primetime shows.San Antonio CW affiliateKMYS split the Vortexx block over two days, between early Sunday and early Monday mornings before 5:00 a.m. due to an existing arrangement to airFox'sWeekend Marketplacepaid programming block in lieu of sister stationKABB.WTVW inEvansville, Indiana (which quickly become a CW affiliate on January 31, 2013, due to themarket'sformer affiliategoing dark) was unable to schedule the block when it initially began its affiliation with the network, due to contractual obligations topaid programming slots and existing syndicatedE/I programming on Saturday mornings through March 2013. The station began carrying Vortexx in its network-recommended timeslot on April 6, 2013, with the station's acquired E/I programming moving to Sunday afternoons.[12][13]
On April 29, 2013,Saban Brands announced a separate partnership withKabillion to add programming from the Vortexx block to the existing Kabillionvideo on demand service for cable providers. The programs were listed on the service without any separate Vortexx subdivision under their individual show titles, with Vortexx promotional advertising.[14] The shows currently remain on Kabillion with other advertising, even after the closure of Vortexx.
Most of the block's programming aired inhigh definition, with olderstandard definition content presented in4:3 orwidescreen with stylizedpillarboxing andwindowboxing.
Vortexx only ran an hour of programming that met the FCC'seducational programming guidelines; as a result, The CW's affiliates handled the responsibility of filling the remaining two hours,The CW Plus cable-subchannel affiliates had E/I-compliant programs not acquired from thesyndication market built into the national schedule, alleviating stations carrying CW network programming though that feed from the responsibility of purchasing the local rights to such programs.
| Title | Premiere date | End date |
|---|---|---|
| Power Rangers[a] | August 25, 2012 | January 12, 2013 |
| Digimon[b] | January 25, 2014 | September 27, 2014 |
| Title | Premiere date | End date |
|---|---|---|
| Cubix: Robots for EveryoneE/I†‡ | August 25, 2012 | September 27, 2014 |
| Yu-Gi-Oh!†‡ | ||
| Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal‡ | ||
| Sonic X‡ | October 6, 2012 |
| Title | Premiere date | End date |
|---|---|---|
| Rescue HeroesE/I† | August 25, 2012 | August 23, 2014 |
| Iron Man: Armored Adventures | November 24, 2012 | |
| Justice League Unlimited | August 23, 2014 | |
| WWE Saturday Morning Slam | May 11, 2013 | |
| Dragon Ball Z Kai‡ | September 27, 2014 | |
| Transformers: Prime | December 8, 2012 | June 1, 2013 |
| The New Adventures of NanoboyE/I | March 9, 2013 | August 10, 2013 |
| Bolts & Blip | July 13, 2013 | September 27, 2014 |
| The Adventures of Chuck and FriendsE/I | August 17, 2013 | February 8, 2014 |
| B-Daman Crossfire | January 18, 2014 | |
| The Spectacular Spider-Man†‡ | September 27, 2014 |
| Title | Initial broadcast date |
|---|---|
| Tiny Toon Adventures† | October 27, 2012 |
| November 24, 2012 |
† - Program transitioned from Kids' WB
‡ - Program transitioned from The CW4Kids/Toonzai
Links to related articles | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||||||||||
