Petalboy Channel

**Petalboy Channel** is an American free-to-air television channel owned by ANAJAYMAY via the Petalboy Television Stations Group division. The channel was launched on September 6, 2005, and is aimed mainly at children and teenagers between ages 5 and 19. Its programming consists of original first-run television series, theatrical and home media-exclusive movies, and select other third-party programming.

As of December 2021, Petalboy Channel covers 96% of the United States.

## History

### Development

On February 14, 2005, following the merger between Petalboy Productions (which specialized in Video Games and animated programming, former Nintendo division) and Cute Momorio (which owned mostly Fox and NBC stations, former Viacom asset), newspaper publisher and broadcaster Weigel Broadcasting announced its plans to join forces and launch a new broadcast channel focused on families as a response to Pax's failure. On May 23, 2005, its name was revealed to be Petalboy Channel, a nod to it's predecessor, Petalboy Productions, and the block *Toon Zone*, a Saturday morning cartoon block, was also announced. It was also reported that they would acquire its animated programming from different studios.

### 2005-2008

On September 6, 2005, Petalboy Channel was launched and was hit success. Launching with the Disney movie The Lion King, the network boasted first place for the night. With CBS gaining second, Fox gaining third, NBC gaining fourth, ABC gaining fifth, The WB gaining sixth, UPN gaining seventh, and I (Ion) gaining last place. Its first major success was *Toon Zone*, which was a launchpad for various original programming and a Saturday morning block. The channel hit increasing ratings, such as competition from Nickelodeon, The Disney Channel, and Cartoon Network. But despite being free-to-air, it only won third place in terms of ratings after the September 6 launch.

The channel made its first hit series *The New Adventures of Petalboy* (a reboot to the 1989 series by DIC Entertainment) in November 2005, which became an instant success and made it a household name for viewers. Additionally, it introduced the Petalboy cast as mascots. In March 2006, the channel followed *New Adventures* with *Peach Girl*, a superhero show aimed at girls. This was also the same time when Petalboy Channel partnered with Fox for a new block based on Petalboy Channel for their new network MyNetworkTV, which was set to launch later that year. The channel achieved further success in in March 2007 with two other hit shows being *The Afternoon Show with Lilly*, a talk show aimed at kids and *Ribbon Larva*, a sci-fi show aimed at preteens.

### 2008-2013

In 2008, the channel premiered the smash series *Rainbow Kids*, a sitcom-style show which made Gingo a hit among children and other viewers. That same year, it launched two programming blocks: Petalboy Junior, which targeted preschoolers and was created due to e/i regulations requiring major local channels to have at least three hours of e/i programming, and Petalboy Night Owl, a nighttime block devoted to filmation shows.

In 2009, following MyNetworkTV's conversion to a syndication service, it's Saturday morning block on those stations were discontinued and as of a result, it gained a ratings boost during those hours to many surprise. That same year, *Shiroevil, Wielder of Chaos*, a more mature show aimed at young adults (and the first series with a "TV-14" rating) premiered on the network. As a result, the show got a ratings boot with the 18-34 audiences despite being a kids network. This showed that Petalboy Channel wasn't just a kids channel. And to add more, the network also added The Simpsons and King of the Hill later in 2010 as a part of it's Night Owl block.

In 2011, Petalboy Channel partnered with Tribune to air a new syndicated block by the name of Petalboy's Kids Zone, a syndicated block aimed at 5-19 year olds. And then, on June 17, 2011, the channel released it's first movie: *Rainbow Kids the Big City*, the film was distributed by Paramount Pictures. It received overwhelmingly positive reviews and became the highest grossing non-Disney animated movie for four years until it was beaten by Minions in 2015.

In 2012, the channel got into a deal with Bandai Namco to air some anime produced by the studio. *Tamagotchi!* (which had an English dub pitched to Disney Channel but was rejected) and Anpanman (which previously aired on Qubo). Later that year, The New Adventures of Petalboy and Rainbow Kids were discontinued due to the writers running out of ideas and they didn't want to resort to trendy fads. To make up for the losses, the channel aired a new original series: Butters the Butterfly Cocoon (comedy) and acquired the rights to the anime series Squid Girl.

### 2014–present

In 2014, Petalboy Channel revamped its programming identity, with the new slogan "Flower Power!". Also, the channel debuted several new programming for the 2014-15 season. Such as *Veggie Girl* (Superhero show), *Animal World* (a reboot to the Timbuctoo series), *Candy Girl* (A slice-of-life), and *Red and Blue: Adventures of Teenage Larvae* (an adventure series aimed at Teens). In September 2015, the network rebranded it's already popular Toon Zone block to Kartoons and spun it off to a brand new Diginet, joining Petalboy Junior. In December 2015, Petalboy Channel successfully purchased the North American rights to the *Digimon* anime and *Power Rangers* to target a male demographic. This was also around the same time where they launched Club Anime, a channel meant to target young adults.

In 2017, Petalboy Channel started to air content from it's competitors such as Babar, Madeline, SpongeBob SquarePants, Bill Nye the Science Guy, Jakers! The Adventures of Piggly Winks, Cyberchase, and The Amazing World of Gumball and new original series *Cave Buffoon* (their second TV-14 rated show). That same year, *Candy Girl* and *Ribbon Larva* ended. The success led to the network to greenlight two new shows and acquire one. *Pixel Pals* (A show based on Video Games) and *Little Byte Blob* (A parody of Tamagotchi!) with Greeny Phantom airing on the channel for a few months. in March 2018. Also, *Peach Girl* finished its run on the network. Making The Afternoon Show with Lilly the only show from the 2000s (aside from Shiroevil, Wielder of Chaos, which is at it's last season) still in production.

In 2022, Kartoons block was replaced by Toon Petalboy following a merger between Kartoons and Club Anime to create male-oriented Petalboy Xtreme.

## Programming

Main article: List of programs broadcast by Petalboy Channel
Programming on Petalboy Channel includes original series such as *The Afternoon Show with Lilly*, *Veggie Girl*, *Shiroevil: Wielder of Chaos* (Night Owl), *Rainbow Kids (2021 series)*, *Animal World*, *Cave Bufoon*, *Red and Blue: Adventures of Teenage Larvae*, *Butters the Butterfly Cocoon*, and *Club Princess*, as well as acquired programming from other studios, which as of February 2022 includes *Babar*, *Madeline (1993 series)*, *The Simpsons*, *Tamagotchi!*, *Anpanman*, *Sally Star*, *Funniest Pets and People*, *Bill Nye the Science Guy*, *The Amazing World of Gumball*, *Cosmic Quantum Ray*, *Digimon Adventure:*, *Blue Peter*, and *Rescue Heroes*.

### Programming blocks

#### Current

* ***Petalboy Junior*** – A programming block aimed at preschoolers and kindergarteners ages 18 months to 6. The majority of the programming found in the block are e/i (educational and informational) and airs weekdays from 6 AM to 2 AM and weekends from 6 AM to 9 AM. During the Summer, the block only airs on Fridays from 8 to 11 AM only to comply with the FCC and encourages viewers to watch the channel instead.
* ***Petalboy Night Owl*** – a late-night block targeting teens and young adults ages 14 to 34. The programming seen in the block are often described as "mischievous" and "full of surprises" for both teens and adults. It airs on weekdays from Midnight to 6 AM and features classic shows from the Filmation library and original programs Shiroevil, Wielder of Chaos and Cave Buffon. On Sundays, the block is unbranded and airs the network's original programming.
* ***Toon Petalboy*** – An animated block targeting children and teens ages 6 to 17. It features predominantly animated programming from cable networks and airs weekends from 9 AM to 12 PM.
* ***Petalboy Xtreme*** – A Saturday night action block targeting young men. It features action and anime from Toonami.

#### Former

* ***Kartoons*** - A Saturday morning block that launched in early 2007. The block concluded on Feburary 20, 2022 following the block's merger with Club Anime to produce Petalboy Xtreme.