Universal Kids

## Introduction

Universal Kids (is an American pay television channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through its Cable Entertainment Group subsidiary.

The channel first launched on September 26, 2005, originally a joint venture between PBS, Comcast, Sesame Workshop, and HIT Entertainment, devoted to children's television programming aimed at a preschool audience. Following Comcast's purchase of NBCUniversal, the company gradually bought out the remaining owners' shares in the channel, reaching full ownership in 2013. The network's operations were subsequently relocated from Philadelphia to New York City, and the "PBS Kids" name was dropped from its branding.

On September 9, 2017, the network rebranded as Universal Kids (derived from sister film studio Universal Pictures), and began to devote its evening and primetime lineup to programming targeting a youth audience, including DreamWorks Animation content, unscripted programming (including game shows, and youth spin-offs of reality series from its sister networks, such as *American Ninja Warrior* and *Top Chef*), and imported series from other countries. Universal Kids continues to air preschool-oriented programming throughout its daytime schedule.

As Sprout, it was available to approximately 56 million American pay television households (48.2% of households with television) in the United States as of January 2016.

## Background

Universal Kids traces its origins to the PBS Kids network (referred to as the PBS Kids Channel in press materials), which launched on September 6, 1999 coinciding with the rebranding of PTV, PBS’ children's programming block, to PBS Kids that day. The PBS Kids feed was available on high-tier subscription providers, and was also offered to PBS member stations for use on a "cablecast" service (a subscription-based local channel provided by the member station) or for use on the member station's free-to-air analog channel to provide a portion of the daytime PBS Kids programming on the station. Participating stations were required to pay an annual fee of $1,000 to use the feed. At launch, 32 PBS member stations had signed up to use the service. The channel was partly created to compete against Nick Jr. and its sister network Noggin; at the time, Noggin was co-owned by the Children's Television Workshop (the production company behind *Sesame Street*) and Nickelodeon. Because the pay-TV rights to the Children's Television Workshop's programs were owned by Noggin, the channel did not broadcast any CTW programming, including longtime PBS staple *Sesame Street*, with the exception of *Dragon Tales* (which premiered during the PTV era).

The channel was unsuccessful and had only reached 9 million households as of 2002, compared to Noggin's 23.3 million households at the time. Once the channel shut down on September 26, 2005 (alongside PBS YOU), many member stations which had been using the PBS Kids channel on their cablecast channels or free-to-air digital subchannels continued to operate their children's channels as local services scheduled independently of a satellite feed, while other member stations shut down their kids channels entirely and redirected viewers of those channels to the newly launched PBS Kids Sprout. PBS later revived the PBS Kids Channel on January 16, 2017, this time being structured as a multi-platform service with an online streaming option in addition to utilizing largely the same distribution methods that had been used for the original channel.

## Universal Kids

On May 1, 2017, NBCUniversal announced that Sprout would rebrand as Universal Kids on September 9, 2017. With the rebranding, the network revamped its evening and primetime programming to aim preteens aged 8–12. Universal Kids continues to broadcast preschool programming, initially retaining the Sprout brand, occupying 15 hours per-day of programming from 3:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. LT.

Network president Deirdre Brennan claimed that Universal Kids' new programming would be renowned from its competitors, stating that "we're offering something to 2 to 12 year olds that has a slightly different purpose — widening their eyes, opening their minds and celebrating many aspects of being a kid. We have great [shows] for the preschoolers, which is important, but we needed to grow up with the rest of the family." Universal Kids will initially focus on acquired programs and unscripted series (such as *Top Chef Junior*, a spin-off of the Bravo reality franchise *Top Chef*), with plans for scripted original programming in the future. NBCUniversal intended to make "significant" investments in original content for Universal Kids over the next three years. The launch lineup included a large number of international acquisitions, particularly from the U.K., Australia, and Canada; Brennan acknowledged that since youth audiences had become "globally aware", the network wanted to showcase foreign series that had not yet aired in the United States.

Universal Pictures' acquisition of DreamWorks Animation in 2016 would also be leveraged by Universal Kids to bolster its programming; industry observers felt that the DWA purchase and the launch of Universal Kids were meant to help NBCUniversal establish a viable multi-platform presence in children's media, and give the company a competitor to other major children's networks such as Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, and Disney Channel. Universal Kids has also aligned itself with Canada-based DHX Media and its Family, Family Chrgd and Family Jr. television channels by acquiring and co-producing a number of series together. DHX had previously signed a partnership with DreamWorks.

The channel has seen a significant decrease in viewership since the relaunch, with Michael Schneider (then of IndieWire) reporting a 30% decline in 2017, followed by a 73% drop in 2018. Brennan was replaced by Frances Berwick as network president in February 2019.

On April 12, 2019, Universal Kids unveiled a new logo and branding designed by the design agency Kill 2 Birds.

On June 19, 2019, it was reported that in a bid to ensure long-term viability, Universal Kids had ceased developing new original series, leaving it to focus on acquired content, and productions from DWA. The network's then-upcoming original shows, such as the new series *Powerbirds*, *Where's Waldo?* and *Norman Picklestripes* would air as scheduled, along with other upcoming originals such as the DHX co-commissioned *Bajillionaires*, *Create the Escape*, and *Top Chef Junior: Remix*.

## Mustangs FC

Universal Kids are the US distributors of Mustangs FC.