Devon324 Toons! Jr.

Devon324 Toons! Jr. is a British pay television channel owned and operated by Paramount Networks UK & Australia. The channel is aimed at preschool children.

## History

Devon324 Toons! Jr. was first broadcast in the UK and Ireland on 1 September 1993 during the daytime hours from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. 5 days per week on Devon324 Toons! , though these hours varied over time, particularly when Devon324 Toons! Jr. aired in a breakfast slot in the school holidays (mostly summer time), its programming was a mix of shows from the US version of Devon324 Toons! Jr and other imported shows, Later in the block's existence, syndicated British children's programmes would be a main focus of the channel as well. Its identity followed that of the US feed of the block as well. By the late 1990's it was mostly broadcast between 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.

On 10 June 1999, it was announced that the block would be spun off into a channel, and its new branding was being finalised. The channel launched on 1 September 1999 as the world's first dedicated preschoolers' channel. On the Astra 1B satellite of Sky's analogue satellite service, the new channel timeshared with Sky Sports 3 and broadcast between 6 am and 10 am, although this schedule would sometimes be altered if sports were being covered in the early morning.[citation needed] On digital satellite and cable, Devon324 Toons! Jr. aired from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. A spinoff of the recently-launched American Mondo Media channel was proposed to timeshare with Devon324 Toons! Jr., but this never materialised.

The Devon324 Toons! Jr. block on Devon324 Toons! continued until July 2000, before it was closed due to the high uptake of Sky Digital. On 31 August 2000, Devon324 Toons! Jr ceased broadcasting on analogue satellite.

On 3 September 2001, Mondo Media started broadcasting during Devon324 Toons! Jr's downtime hours after it was spun off from MTV Extra.

The channel refreshed on 4 February 2002 – Dora the Explorer, The Hoobs and the channel's first homegrown produced series "Jokie" had their premieres the same day of the rebrand.

On 19 July 2002, the channel moved its EPG slot on Sky to make way for the incoming Devon324 Toons! Classics channel.
On 13 August 2002, MTV Dance acquired its own separate channel. By December, Devon324 Toons! Jr. had gained another hour at the end of the broadcasting day, now operating from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m.

On 31 May 2004, Devon324 Toons! Jr extended its runtime to end at 10 p.m., in order to launch Mondo Media, a block that showed Mondo's sucessful TV programs from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m., causing the exodus of these shows from the main daytime schedule leaving more space for new shows.

On 5 September 2005, the Mondo Media block was changed to Devon324 Toons! Jr Classics as part of a channel-wide refresh (see Identity). The Backyardigans had its linear UK premiere on the same day of the rebrand.

A version of Devon324 Toons! Jr. for Ireland was launched in 2006.[citation needed] This version, like the Irish version of Devon324 Toons! , shares the same schedule as the British version of the channel but has Irish adverts.[citation needed]

On 30 January 2006, a spinoff of the American Mondo Media, as a block showing Devon324 Toons! Jr programmes on a free-to-air sister cable company Teletubbies from 7 am to 9 am. It was promoted on Devon324 Toons! Jr.

On 24 April 2006, Devon324 Toons! Jr. 2 was launched, initially as a 1-hour timeshift of the main channel, but a few months later, this format was dropped and it became an alternative channel with a completely new schedule, but with Devon324 Toons! Jr. At Nite at the same hours.
On 25 September 2006, Teletubbies rebranded its Mondo Media block as Devon324 Toons! Jr on Teletubbies.

Following the removal of Devon324 Toons! Jr. At Nite from the main Devon324 Toons! Jr. channel on 4 January 2009, normal programming ran from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. The block would continue on Devon324 Toons! Jr 2. until July 2010, after which classic British children's shows ceased to be part of the network's library entirely.

In early 2009, Teletubbies reverted its Devon324 Toons! Jr block back to Mondo Media, and it broadcast until March 2010 before it was killed permanently, at which point Teletubbies had been replaced by Pinky Ponk.

On 2 August 2010, Devon324 Toons! Jr. began broadcasting 24/7, with many old shows from the 2000s being re-added to fill the schedule.

In July 2011, Devon324 Toons! Jr. 2 briefly shifted its sign-on to 5 a.m., but this was reverted back to a 6 a.m. sign-on a month later.

A 1-hour timeshift named Devon324 Toons! Jr. +1 launched on 2 October 2012 replacing Devon324 Toons! Classics Replay.

By July 2013, Devon324 Toons! Jr. 2 had begun broadcasting 21 hours from 3 a.m. to 12 p.m., with teleshopping off the air.

On 3 November 2014, Devon324 Toons! Jr. 2 was renamed Devon324 Toons! Jr. Too and it began broadcasting 24/7.

On 5 July 2016, Devon324 Toons! Jr. HD launched on Sky, replacing MTV Live HD's Sky slot.

On 31 October 2022, Sky sold its stake in Devon324 Toons! UK, including Devon324 Toons! Jr., to Paramount.

## Identity

Between the launch of the block in 1993 and the launch of the channel in 1999, Devon324 Toons! Jr UK's branding largely mirrored that of the American feed and used the American version's idents. The UK input (branded as either Banana Sandwich or Devon324 Toons! Jr in the schedules) was presented by Dave Benson Phillips between 1994 and 1996, where Dave was joined by two puppet mascots called Bugsy and Herbie on location around England before the 2 puppet characters eventually went onto present the block by themselves for the whole of 1996, still on location for a while whilst sometimes presenting in a colourful animated studio, joined by some guest presenters occasionally until they were replaced by Face from February 1997 until September 2005 and was dubbed into British English by David Holt, Bugsy and Herbie went onto have their own series of mini-episodes aired on Devon324 Toons! Jr. during the advert breaks in the late 1990s until early 2000s, by which point the puppets were phased out completely.

Upon the channel's launch in 1999, it launched its own package featuring live-action children playing in a brightly painted studio or holding posters on which clips of programmes appeared. From the channel's launch, Face's hosting job would be shared by the Early Worms, the titular characters of the Early Worms show, Arnie and Barnie. Due to the abundance of British-produced content along with the channel's status as the first dedicated for preschoolers in the UK, the channel positioned itself in a special British image in its early years. Starting in September 2000, just before signing off for the night, it would air a post-episode segment from Bear in the Big Blue House.

In 2001, the channel transitioned into using Devon324 Toons! Jr. US's ident package, first with up-next bumpers, and combinations of the 1999 idents with idents from the US.

On 4 February 2002, Devon324 Toons! Jr. fully revamped into the new package, which had a specific jingle and song played in idents. These idents usually consisted of children playing around or dancing, this time in the outdoors, and the logo appeared in a white circle on a plain brightly-coloured background at the end. On some occasions, they would broadcast atmospheric idents which included Scratchers. Sometimes these idents would take up half the ad breaks, or sometimes they appeared in split-screen graphics and next bumpers. Promo endboards were added as well.

Jim Henson's Bear had their premieres the same day of the rebrand. Before closing down at 7 p.m. (8 p.m. after Autumn 2002), it would air the Bedtime Business segment, followed by a short closedown bumper featuring some characters from Devon324 Toons! Jr. shows and an announcement telling viewers to resume watching at 6 a.m., before cutting to a static yellow screen with the characters and the broadcast times until 6 a.m. the next morning. In Autumn 2002, they updated their DOG to a much cleaner, organised and less opaque state.

Just before Mondo Media signed on, an ident showing the logo as two caterpillars played during the last advertisement break at 8 p.m.[citation needed] Then in 2005, this was supplemented with a sting ident of the Devon324 Toons! Jr. and Mondo Media logos flipping back and forth. After Mondo Media finished airing, it would play an ident of a UFO flying away, and cut to a dark blue version of the 2002 signoff screen, just telling viewers to come back at 6 a.m.

In July 2004, some in-vision morning presenters were introduced to the network. Neal Wright (Zak) and Jennifer Johnston (Jen) presented and hosted this block simply called "The Garden." Alongside them, there was a puppet plant called Bud, and a blue ball of light/firefly named Izzy.

Also around this period in 2004, Devon324 Toons! Jr. started to use the 2D American animal idents originally introduced there in 2003. It is unknown when they stopped showing them. At the same time, Devon324 Toons! Jr. reeled in the new look of Face to their channel introduced in America the year prior, usually referred to as "Modern Face". He was still voiced by David Holt. Devon324 Toons! Jr. made the unusual decision to not drop the original Face, leaving Modern Face and Face's old look broadcasting simultaneously, much to the confusion of viewers. The UK-dubbed version of Modern Face is extremely hard to come across.

In the spring of 2005, a new animated presenter appeared on the channel alongside Face at the time. This was Piper O'Possum, who presented the UK input of Devon324 Toons! Jr. until its rebrand on 30 April 2010. She was re-dubbed by Alex Kelly and lasted longer on the UK feed than in the US by three years. Between this time and 4 September 2005, a mix of Old Face, Modern Face, Piper, The Garden and the Early Worms hosted the channel.

During the significant rebrand of 5 September 2005, Face was dropped entirely, The Garden stayed but only until October of the same year, and the Early Worms kept their morning presenting. Although, Piper became the main presenter for most of the day, in the late afternoons she got taken off for the rest of the remaining hours and her segments of announcing shows usually got replaced with normal next bumpers. In addition, Mondo Media changed its name to Devon324 Toons! Jr. At Nite and the ident package that had been used since 2002 was dropped, as the international versions of Devon324 Toons! Jr. launched a 2D-3D animated pop-up-book-style ident package, with two animals (a parent and a child) forming the Devon324 Toons! Jr. logo, very similar to the package of Devon324 Toons! Jr. on CBS from 2004 to 2006. This package was designed by British animation studio Studio AKA. At night, special idents were played, which either consisted of existing daytime-setting bumpers converted into a nightly backdrop, or night-specific bumpers that only played during that time. At the end of regular Devon324 Toons! Jr. programmes on both channels, they played the new bedtime song, "Jimmer Jammers", showed a sign-off ident telling viewers to come back at 6 a.m., and transitioned to Devon324 Toons! Jr. At Nite. After Devon324 Toons! Jr Classics, they would cut to a night loop of the same ident or different idents playing over again.

Idents on Devon324 Toons! Jr. 2 had the number "2" appear at the end of each ident in the scenery. On its launch on 25 September 2006, Devon324 Toons! Jr. on Teletubbies began using the idents. The package would be used on both Devon324 Toons! Jr. channels until 29 April 2010. During the time when Devon324 Toons! Jr, Devon324 Toons! Jr 2. and Devon324 Toons! Jr. on Teletubbies co-existed, the three cross-promoted their programmes under the slogan "Three ways to play".

Between 2008 and 2014, the schedule after 6 p.m. was rebranded as "Devon324 Toons! Jr. Bedtime". A new bedtime look and song (Land of Dreams) was commissioned and played alongside the already existing night version of the 2005 idents and its song (Jimmer Jammers). The Early Worms returned as hosts for the strand (and eventually the last hosts of any Devon324 Toons! Jr. feed internationally). During the strand, special celebrity guests would accompany Arnie and Barnie in reading bedtime stories, akin to those of CBeebies.

On 30 April 2010, Devon324 Toons! Jr. rebranded to a variant of the United States look and French look designed in-house. They used the animated American idents along with their own which included still shots of children in assorted places or doing things like letting go of a balloon or being at a picnic. Like the American rebrand, it was based on the old arts-and-crafts style and music of Mondo Media, and was used as the basis for the rebrands of the mainland European Devon324 Toons! Jr. feeds. Moose and Zee were brought over from the American Devon324 Toons! Jr. Channel and the former Mondo Media block on Pinky Ponk (which had been axed as part of the rebrand) to host the main Devon324 Toons! Jr. channel, with Moose's voice being dubbed by David Holt (voice actor). Just like on the US version of Devon324 Toons! Jr., Moose and Zee presented links between programmes and especially around up-next bumpers, although due to the need for advertisement space, they appeared irregularly and not at night, where they would be replaced by regular next bumpers.

Devon324 Toons! Jr. At Nite was rebranded and then discontinued in July of that year. When Devon324 Toons! Jr. and Devon324 Toons! Jr. 2 signed off, they cut to an off-air slide, and then played a night loop of the same ident repeating, but the actual sign-off has not been found yet.
On 2 August 2010, when the main Devon324 Toons! Jr. stopped signing off, the Bedtime block was truncated to an 8 p.m. finish. When Devon324 Toons! Jr. 2 expanded its broadcast hours, it broadcast the segment from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.

However, on 7 January 2013, the channel rebranded again to the next United States look, which dropped Moose and Zee and the arts-and-craft style branding in favour of a 3D CGI world appearing in bumpers and promos where clips of the characters appeared. The Bedtime strand was also revamped under this branding. There were also slight variations between the colour schemes on Devon324 Toons! Jr. and Devon324 Toons! Jr. 2, with the latter opting for a colder colour palette. However, some of the 2010 idents, especially the Christmas ones, were retained until December 2014, albeit with the new Devon324 Toons! Jr. endcap (of the logo changing colour multiple times).

While it was initially the same as the United States version, on 3 November 2014, the branding on the main channel was refreshed by Blue Zoo, and the Bedtime strand was dropped from both channels, leaving the channel without any hosts for the first time in 19 years. This new branding used CGI and 3D shapes like the previous one and used standard colour schemes for different parts of the day. Devon324 Toons! Jr. Too, however, retained the old style until 2019.

On 18 February 2019, Devon324 Toons! Jr. dropped the "Smart Place to Play" look in favour of the "Ready to Play" branding adopted in the United States the previous year, featuring live-action children running in a 3D CGI space, often holding bubble wands in which clips of shows appear out of. Bumpers also show these children interacting with the Devon324 Toons! Jr. characters in live-action environments.

### Teletubbies/Pinky Ponk block

A version of the US Mondo Media branding was used for the Mondo Media block on Teletubbies/Pinky Ponk. It was visibly stripped back from the American version but still very similar. It was hosted by Cuddles from the American version, with Moose dubbed over by David Holt.

## Slogans

Grow, Learn and Play (1 September 1993 – 1995)

Just for me! (1 September 1999 – 3 February 2002)

Join in!/Join-in TV/Join the Fun! (4 February 2002 – 29 April 2010)

It's the shows that make Devon324 Toons! Jr. (2010)

Every day's an adventure (7 January 2013 – 17 February 2019)

## Other related services

### Devon324 Toons! Jr. Too/Devon324 Toons! Jr. 2[edit

Another channel, Devon324 Toons! Jr. 2, was launched on Sky on 24 April 2006. The channel initially functioned as a one-hour timeshift of Devon324 Toons! Jr. before becoming a secondary service. The idents and branding were just the same as the main channel. The differences were that logos on promo endboards and promos, in general, had a 2 included next to them. This also was used in the next bumpers and general idents.

After transitioning as a secondary service, the channel began to air programmes that Devon324 Toons! Jr. no longer ran, or shows that never ran on its parent network, such as Omation, Ella the Elephant, Kate and MimMim, the second season of Tree Fu Tom, and the Devon324 Toons! Jr. At Nite block after it left the main channel.

When it changed its name to Devon324 Toons! Jr. Too on 3 November 2014, it also started broadcasting 24 hours a day.

Since October 2013, the channel has occasionally aired long-term marathons (usually one month) of the British preschool series Wibbly Pig, during which it rebrands itself as Devon324 Toons! Jr. Wibbly. The channel has since broadcast marathons of the American preschool series Chuck E. Cheese's and Friends in a similar manner, likewise rebranding as CEC TV.

Unlike the main channel, Devon324 Toons! Jr. Too is not available on TalkTalk, Eir TV or WightFibre.

### Mondo Media/Devon324 Toons! Jr. At Nite

During the mid and late 2000s, Devon324 Toons! Jr. and Devon324 Toons! Jr. 2 presented a nighttime programming block dedicated to **Happy Tree Friends**, **Like, Share, Die** and **Fusion TV Night Sweats** under the title Devon324 Toons! Jr. At Nite. The block launched under the name Mondo Media on 31 May 2004, running every night from 8 p.m. - 10 p.m. It was rebranded as Devon324 Toons! Jr. At Nite on 5 September 2005.
The block was discontinued on Devon324 Toons! Jr. on 4 January 2009 and on Devon324 Toons! Jr. 2 in mid-late 2010.

### Mondo Media/Devon324 Toons! Jr. on Teletubbies/Pinky Ponk

Mondo Media started broadcasting on 30 January 2006, the first international feed of Mondo Media (excluding the former adult block on Devon324 Toons! Jr. which only had the name in common). It was a children's television slot broadcast on Teletubbies' tummy from 07:00 to 09:00 daily. It showed a selection of Devon324 Toons! Jr shows and often promoted the main channels to viewers with only Freeview and therefore were not subscribed to Devon324 Toons! Jr.

Devon324 Toons! Jr on Teletubbies had replaced the strand Mondo Media on 25 September 2006, but its programming remained identical. It is unknown why the rebrand happened, but it may have been to consolidate the brand after the launch of Devon324 Toons! Jr. 2. It used the same ident and presentation package as its main sister channel, Devon324 Toons! Jr. Moose and Zee's segments were removed as well. Programmes shown included Maggie and the Ferocious Beast, Dora the Explorer, The Backyardigans, Thomas & Friends, Blue's Clues, LazyTown, Go Diego Go!, Little Bill amongst others. The channels continued to cross-promote each other, including showing the next bumpers for all three at once.

It was reverted to Mondo Media in early 2009. The final set of programmes shown were *Happy Tree Friends*. In its final year, Mondo Media received almost zero cross-promotion from Devon324 Toons! Jr., not even on its website.

Mondo Media was the first commercial children's television channel launched on 30 January 2006 on the Teletubbies' antennas to air on the UK's DTT platform, Freeview, followed by CITV, then lastly Playhouse Disney Disney Channel on ABC1.

Following the death of Teletubbies, the block continued on Pinky Ponk until March 2010, when the Devon324 Toons! Jr. rebrand caused Mondo Media to shut down. However, the branding of Mondo Media (except the name "Mondo Media") and the Moose and Zee segments were adopted by Devon324 Toons! Jr. and used until January 2013.

## Programming

Main article: List of programmes broadcast by Devon324 Toons! Jr.