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PBS Kids (stylized as PBS KIDS) is the branding used for nationally distributed
children's programming Children's television series (or children's television shows) are Television show, television programs designed specifically for Child, children. They are typically characterised by easy-going content devoid of sensitive or adult themes and are ...
carried by the U.S.
public television Public broadcasting (or public service broadcasting) is radio, television, and other electronic media outlets whose primary mission is public service with a commitment to avoiding political and commercial influence. Public broadcasters receive f ...
network
PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...
. The brand encompasses a
daytime Daytime or day as observed on Earth is the period of the day during which a given location experiences Daylight, natural illumination from direct sunlight. Daytime occurs when the Sun appears above the local horizon, that is, anywhere on the ...
block Block or blocked may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Block programming, the result of a programming strategy in broadcasting * W242BX, a radio station licensed to Greenville, South Carolina, United States known as ''96.3 ...
of children's programming carried daily by most PBS member stations, a 24-hour
channel Channel, channels, channeling, etc., may refer to: Geography * Channel (geography), a landform consisting of the outline (banks) of the path of a narrow body of water. Australia * Channel Country, region of outback Australia in Queensland and pa ...
carried on the
digital subchannels In broadcasting, digital subchannels are a method of transmitting more than one independent program stream simultaneously from the same digital radio or television station on the same radio frequency channel. This is done by using data compressi ...
of PBS member stations (sometimes called the PBS Kids Channel or PBS Kids 24/7), and its accompanying digital platforms. PBS Kids programming typically targets children between the ages of 2 and 8, with a focus on live-action and animated series featuring
educational Education is the transmission of knowledge and skills and the development of character traits. Formal education occurs within a structured institutional framework, such as public schools, following a curriculum. Non-formal education also fol ...
and informative ( E/I) components; some of its programs were developed under grants with the
Corporation for Public Broadcasting The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB; stylized as cpb) is an American publicly funded non-profit corporation, created in 1967 to promote and help support public broadcasting. The corporation's mission is to ensure universal access to ...
as part of PBS and CPB's "
Ready-to-Learn The Ready-to-Learn (RTL) Act was a project funded by PBS and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) to supply educational programming and materials for preschool and elementary school children. Created in 1992 and running until its termina ...
" initiative. From 2004 to 2013, a late-afternoon sub-block known as
PBS Kids Go! PBS Kids Go! was an American educational television brand used by PBS for programs aimed at school-age children ages 6 to 8, in contrast to the preschool target demographic of PBS Kids. Most PBS member stations aired the PBS Kids Go! block o ...
broadcast programming targeting
elementary school A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ...
-aged viewers 6 to 8; the brand was discontinued in 2013 to focus more on the main PBS Kids brand. PBS Kids was first introduced in 1999, succeeding a precursor—PTV—which was first introduced in 1994 on selected PBS stations as a blanket branding for the network's array of existing children's programming (such as ''
Mister Rogers' Neighborhood ''Mister Rogers' Neighborhood'' (sometimes shortened to ''Mister Rogers'') is an American half-hour educational children's television series that ran from 1968 to 2001. It was created and hosted by Fred Rogers. Its original incarnation, the se ...
'' and ''
Sesame Street ''Sesame Street'' is an American educational television, educational children's television series that combines live-action, sketch comedy, animation, and puppetry. It is produced by Sesame Workshop (known as the Children's Television Worksh ...
''). The introduction of PBS Kids coincided with a larger investment into children's programming by the organization, and a PBS Kids channel that would be distributed via a mixture of cable, satellite, and
digital terrestrial television Digital terrestrial television (DTTV, DTT, or DTTB) is a technology for terrestrial television, in which television stations broadcast television content in a digital signal, digital format. Digital terrestrial television is a major technologica ...
platforms. However, the channel proved unsuccessful and shut down in 2005. From 2005 to 2013, PBS partnered with
Comcast Comcast Corporation, formerly known as Comcast Holdings,Before the AT&T Broadband, AT&T merger in 2001, the parent company was Comcast Holdings Corporation. Comcast Holdings Corporation now refers to a subsidiary of Comcast Corporation, not th ...
,
HIT Entertainment HIT Entertainment Limited (stylised as HiT) was a British-American entertainment company founded in 1982 as Henson International Television, the international distribution arm of The Jim Henson Company, by Jim Henson, Peter Orton, and Sophie Turn ...
, and
Sesame Workshop Sesame Workshop (SW), originally known as the Children's Television Workshop (CTW), is an American nonprofit organization and Television station, television company that has been responsible for the production of several educational children's ...
to operate an ad-supported cable network known as
PBS Kids Sprout Universal Kids was an American children's cable channel owned by the NBCUniversal Media Group division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. The channel launched on September 26, 2005, as PBS Kids Sprout, a preschool-oriented offshoot of PBS ...
; Comcast would later acquire the network outright in 2013 via its
NBCUniversal NBCUniversal Media, LLC (abbreviated as NBCU and Trade name, doing business as NBCUniversal or Comcast NBCUniversal since 2013) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational mass media and Show business, entertainment conglomerate (comp ...
division. PBS Kids would later relaunch its 24-hour channel in 2017, operating via digital terrestrial television and
streaming Streaming media refers to multimedia delivered through a network for playback using a media player. Media is transferred in a ''stream'' of packets from a server to a client and is rendered in real-time; this contrasts with file downl ...
. The PBS Kids block originally ran throughout the morning and afternoon on the network's national schedule; in February 2023, the block was cut from 13 to 8 hours per-day, citing shifts towards PBS Kids' digital platforms, as well as member stations who had cut back on the block to schedule more afternoon programming targeting adult viewers.


History


PTV block

PBS had historically aired programs for children such as ''
Sesame Street ''Sesame Street'' is an American educational television, educational children's television series that combines live-action, sketch comedy, animation, and puppetry. It is produced by Sesame Workshop (known as the Children's Television Worksh ...
'', ''
Mister Rogers' Neighborhood ''Mister Rogers' Neighborhood'' (sometimes shortened to ''Mister Rogers'') is an American half-hour educational children's television series that ran from 1968 to 2001. It was created and hosted by Fred Rogers. Its original incarnation, the se ...
'', and ''
Reading Rainbow ''Reading Rainbow'' is an American educational children's television series that originally aired on PBS and afterward PBS Kids from July 11, 1983 to November 10, 2006, with reruns continuing to air until August 28, 2009. 155 30-minute episodes ...
''; prior to 1993, these programs aired under general PBS branding. In August 1993, PBS introduced new branding for their children's programs featuring the "P-Pals", animated characters shaped like the
PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...
"P-head" logo who encouraged skills such as gathering information, self-esteem, cooperation and achieving goals in specially-developed interstitials. The framework for PBS Kids was established as part of PBS' "
Ready to Learn Ready to Learn (RTL) is a zero-tolerance behaviour policy template used in some British secondary schools. Under RTL, students receive a warning for any minor infraction; on committing a second minor infraction, they are sent to an "isolation" ...
" initiative, a project intended to facilitate access of early childhood educational programming to underprivileged children. On July 11, 1994, PBS repackaged their existing children's educational programming as a new block titled "PTV", airing on 11 member stations at launch. In addition to scheduled educational programming, PTV also incorporated interstitial content with the P-Pals in their fictional world "PTV Park" for younger children. Older children were targeted with live-action and music video interstitials.
Apple Computer Apple Inc. is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, in Silicon Valley. It is best known for its consumer electronics, software, and services. Founded in 1976 as Apple Computer Co ...
provided a $1.5 million grant to PTV and became its first national underwriter on June 26, 1995, as part of their "Bring Learning Home" corporate initiative. A "
Ready To Learn Ready to Learn (RTL) is a zero-tolerance behaviour policy template used in some British secondary schools. Under RTL, students receive a warning for any minor infraction; on committing a second minor infraction, they are sent to an "isolation" ...
" grant unveiled on January 8, 1996, supported the development of ''
Dragon Tales ''Dragon Tales'' is an animated educational television, educational Fantasy fiction, fantasy children's television series created by Jim Coane and Ron Rodecker, developed by Coane, Wesley Eure, Jeffrey Scott, Cliff Ruby and Elana Lesser, and pr ...
'' and ''
Between the Lions ''Between the Lions'' is an American animated/live-action/puppet educational children's television series designed to promote reading. The show is a co-production between WGBH in Boston, Sirius Thinking, Ltd., in New York City, and Mississipp ...
'', which premiered in 1999 and 2000, respectively, as well as their online activities and outreach efforts. By September 1996, 95 PBS stations reaching three quarters of the United States were carrying the PTV service. Starting on October 7, 1996, PBS packaged their programs for school-aged children into the block ''The Game'', airing on 31 stations by the end of the year.


PBS Kids

On January 18, 1999, PBS announced that it would launch the PBS Kids Channel, meant to be the centerpiece of a larger initiative, in September. On June 9, PBS revealed a wide rebranding of its children's programs and services, known as PBS Kids, at its annual meeting in San Francisco. PBS would also increase its children's programming budget by 25% and commit to two new series: ''
Caillou ''Caillou'' ( ; , stylized in lowercase) is an animated educational children's television series that aired on Teletoon (both English and French versions) with the first episode airing on the former channel on September 15, 1997 until the fou ...
'' and '' Anne of Green Gables: The Animated Series''. The rebranding to "PBS Kids" first took effect on September 6, 1999, when PBS launched the 24-hour PBS Kids Channel. The new PBS Kids branding elements began rolling out on PBS stations in October; PBS provided grants to stations who adopted the new branding early. Brand designers incorporated a
thought bubble Speech balloons (also speech bubbles, dialogue balloons, or word balloons) are a graphic convention used most commonly in comic books, comics, and cartoons to allow words (and much less often, pictures) to be understood as representing a charac ...
concept across the brand packaging, intended to associate "imagination, thinking and using your head" with PBS Kids. Included with the new on-air appearance was a bright green logo featuring iconic boy and girl mascot characters Dash and Dot. The PBS Kids website was relaunched with some new areas on February 1, 2000. The PBS Kids Channel was unsuccessful; in 2005, PBS entered into a commercial joint venture with
Comcast Comcast Corporation, formerly known as Comcast Holdings,Before the AT&T Broadband, AT&T merger in 2001, the parent company was Comcast Holdings Corporation. Comcast Holdings Corporation now refers to a subsidiary of Comcast Corporation, not th ...
,
HIT Entertainment HIT Entertainment Limited (stylised as HiT) was a British-American entertainment company founded in 1982 as Henson International Television, the international distribution arm of The Jim Henson Company, by Jim Henson, Peter Orton, and Sophie Turn ...
,
Sesame Workshop Sesame Workshop (SW), originally known as the Children's Television Workshop (CTW), is an American nonprofit organization and Television station, television company that has been responsible for the production of several educational children's ...
to launch a replacement known as
PBS Kids Sprout Universal Kids was an American children's cable channel owned by the NBCUniversal Media Group division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. The channel launched on September 26, 2005, as PBS Kids Sprout, a preschool-oriented offshoot of PBS ...
, which would be a 24-hour channel targeting a preschool audience. In the early-2010s, the partners sold their stakes in Sprout to Comcast (via subsidiary
NBCUniversal NBCUniversal Media, LLC (abbreviated as NBCU and Trade name, doing business as NBCUniversal or Comcast NBCUniversal since 2013) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational mass media and Show business, entertainment conglomerate (comp ...
), who assumed full ownership of the channel in 2013. In October 2004, PBS Kids launched a late-afternoon sub-block known as
PBS Kids Go! PBS Kids Go! was an American educational television brand used by PBS for programs aimed at school-age children ages 6 to 8, in contrast to the preschool target demographic of PBS Kids. Most PBS member stations aired the PBS Kids Go! block o ...
; this block featured programming directed at school-aged children within oldest subset of the existing PBS Kids demographic (generally ages 6 to 8). PBS had also planned to launch a dedicated PBS Kids Go! channel as a digital network in October 2006, but was later cancelled before launch. In October 2013, PBS Kids Go! was discontinued as part of a rebranding of the PBS Kids block, citing market research finding that the PBS Kids brand was more recognizable than PBS Kids Go!, and that a number of programs across both brands were being viewed widely by both preschool and school-aged viewers—making the need for a second block redundant. PBS revived the PBS Kids Channel on January 16, 2017, this time being structured as an
over-the-top Over the top may refer to: Music * "Over the Top", a 2017 song by Hey! Say! JUMP * ''Over the Top'' (Cozy Powell album), 1979 album by British drummer Cozy Powell * ''Over the Top'' (Infinite album), 2011 album by South Korean band Infinite * ...
and
digital multicast television network A digital multicast television network, also known as a diginet or multichannel, is a type of national television service designed to be broadcast terrestrially as a supplementary service to other stations on their digital subchannels. Made possib ...
with an online livestream of the channel on the PBS Kids website and video app, in addition to utilizing largely the same distribution methods that had been used for the original channel. At the time of launch, no changes were made to the main PBS Kids block on PBS. The block is counter programmed from the channel, thus the same show would not be shown at the same time on the channel and block. In November 2020, PBS Kids, in association with the main PBS service, became the terrestrial television home of select specials from the ''Peanuts'' animated library, under a sub-licensing agreement with
Apple TV+ Apple TV+ is an American subscription over-the-top streaming service owned by Apple. The service launched on November 1, 2019, and it offers a selection of original production film and television series called Apple Originals. The service w ...
. The agreement allowed both PBS and the PBS Kids Channel to air ''
It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown ''It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown'' is a 1966 American animated Halloween television special based on the comic strip ''Peanuts'' by Charles M. Schulz. The third ''Peanuts'' special, and the second holiday-themed special, to be created, i ...
'', ''
A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving ''A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving'' is the tenth prime-time animated television special based upon the comic strip ''Peanuts,'' by Charles M. Schulz. It originally aired on the CBS network on November 20, 1973, and won an Emmy Award the following ...
'', and ''
A Charlie Brown Christmas ''A Charlie Brown Christmas'' is a 1965 animated television special. It is the first TV special based on the comic strip ''Peanuts'', by Charles M. Schulz, and features the voices of Peter Robbins, Christopher Shea, Kathy Steinberg, Tracy Str ...
'' over the air, once per year. After the 2021 holiday season, the agreement with PBS ended, and since then, the ''Peanuts'' specials have not aired on American broadcast television. On July 19, 2022, PBS Kids introduced a new
brand identity A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's goods or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognition and, importantly, to create and ...
by Lippincott; the rebranding incorporates aspects of the current PBS branding also developed by Lippincott, changing its logo to an electric blue circle with a tweaked version of the existing PBS Kids
wordmark A wordmark or word mark is a text-only statement of the name of a product, service, company, organization, or institution which is used for purposes of identification and branding. A wordmark can be an actual word (e.g., Apple), a made-up term ...
(which was maintained in order to preserve brand recognition for younger viewers), set in green and white. The Dash mascot was discontinued, but supplanted by a new system of customizable cartoon characters seen in promos. The characters have customizable facial features, skin tones, and disability aids to reflect a diverse youth audience and how they portray themselves. In February 2023, a major shift in program scheduling reduced the duration of the daytime PBS Kids block on local PBS stations significantly. Previously, the PBS Kids block encompassed a much larger portion of the daytime schedule, with the national schedule consisting of 13 hours of programming both before- and after-school hours throughout the morning and afternoon. The cuts would reduce its duration to eight hours. Many PBS stations had already begun transitioning to shorter morning blocks, but this change pushed nearly all stations to shorten their daytime children's schedules to morning hours only. PBS cited changes in viewing behaviors, and decided that it was advantageous to focus their children's programming in the mornings and cater to more general audiences in the afternoons, while continuing to grow their audience on the 24/7 kids service.


Streaming and on-demand video

As online streaming began to increase in popularity, PBS launched the PBS Kids Go! video player on its website on September 8, 2008. This federally-funded, innovative video streaming platform featured video clips from a number of PBS Kids Go! shows which rotated on a weekly basis and linked to interactive online games. The video player later expanded to include all PBS Kids programming, and the entire platform evolved into the PBS Kids Video app, which initially became publicly available for free on May 12, 2011. The PBS Kids Video app is currently the primary source for free streaming of on-demand video clips and full episodes of PBS Kids programming. The app also features a free live stream of the 24/7 PBS Kids Channel. On May 8, 2013, PBS Kids programming was added to the
Roku Roku ( ) is a brand of consumer electronics that includes streaming players, smart TVs (and their operating systems), as well as a free TV streaming service. The brand is owned by Roku, Inc., an American company. As of 2024, Roku is the U ...
streaming player. On July 1, 2016,
Amazon Prime Video Amazon Prime Video, known simply as Prime Video, is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming television service owned by Amazon. The service primarily distributes films and television series produced or co-produced by ...
and PBS Distribution entered into a multi-year agreement which saw several PBS Kids series on other streaming services move to Amazon Prime Video. The PBS Kids subscription allows children and families to stream nearly all PBS Kids programs currently broadcast on air; however, notable exceptions include ''
Sesame Street ''Sesame Street'' is an American educational television, educational children's television series that combines live-action, sketch comedy, animation, and puppetry. It is produced by Sesame Workshop (known as the Children's Television Worksh ...
'', which streams on
Max Max or MAX may refer to: Animals * Max (American dog) (1983–2013), at one time purported to be the world's oldest living dog * Max (British dog), the first pet dog to win the PDSA Order of Merit (animal equivalent of the OBE) * Max (gorilla) ...
, and ''
Curious George Curious George is a fictional monkey who is the title character of a series of popular children's picture books written and illustrated by Margret and H. A. Rey. Various media, including films and TV shows, have been based upon the original ...
'', which streams on
NBCUniversal NBCUniversal Media, LLC (abbreviated as NBCU and Trade name, doing business as NBCUniversal or Comcast NBCUniversal since 2013) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational mass media and Show business, entertainment conglomerate (comp ...
's
Peacock Peafowl is a common name for two bird species of the genus '' Pavo'' and one species of the closely related genus '' Afropavo'' within the tribe Pavonini of the family Phasianidae (the pheasants and their allies). Male peafowl are referred t ...
. The PBS Kids add-on service also includes several older series, such as ''
Reading Rainbow ''Reading Rainbow'' is an American educational children's television series that originally aired on PBS and afterward PBS Kids from July 11, 1983 to November 10, 2006, with reruns continuing to air until August 28, 2009. 155 30-minute episodes ...
'', ''
Kratts' Creatures ''Kratts' Creatures'' is a half-hour children's television series that originally ran on PBS during the summer of 1996. The first in a series of programs produced by the Kratt Brothers, Chris and Martin Kratt, ''Kratts' Creatures'' was made to b ...
'', and ''
It's a Big Big World ''It's a Big Big World'' is an American children's television series that aired on PBS Kids from January 2, 2006, to January 8, 2010. The series was created by Mitchell Kriegman, the creator of the Muppet television series ''Bear in the Big Bl ...
''. On April 23, 2024,
The Roku Channel The Roku Channel is an over-the-top video streaming service available in the U.S., Canada, Mexico and the UK. The service was launched in 2017, and is owned and operated by Roku, Inc. It is the most popular free ad-supported streaming televisio ...
added ''PBS Retro'', a free ad-supported streaming channel, which consists of older PBS Kids programming, such as ''
Mister Rogers' Neighborhood ''Mister Rogers' Neighborhood'' (sometimes shortened to ''Mister Rogers'') is an American half-hour educational children's television series that ran from 1968 to 2001. It was created and hosted by Fred Rogers. Its original incarnation, the se ...
'' and ''
Reading Rainbow ''Reading Rainbow'' is an American educational children's television series that originally aired on PBS and afterward PBS Kids from July 11, 1983 to November 10, 2006, with reruns continuing to air until August 28, 2009. 155 30-minute episodes ...
''.


International distribution

A selection of PBS Kids brand programming is available outside of the United States through PBS Distribution, PBS International and GBH, who jointly offer a PBS Kids subscription channel and on-demand video services to international audiences. PBS Distribution partnered with
MultiChoice MultiChoice is a South Africa, South African company that operates DStv, a major satellite television service in Sub-Saharan Africa. The company also operates GOtv Africa, GOtv, a minor satellite TV service operating in 9 countries, and Showmax, ...
to launch PBS Kids on May 22, 2019, on DStv and
GOtv GOtv is a pay television terrestrial service in sub-Saharan Africa owned by broadcaster MultiChoice and launched on 5 September 2011. It mainly consists of African and international programming. History The terrestrial TV service was founded ...
platforms across its
Sub-Saharan Africa Sub-Saharan Africa is the area and regions of the continent of Africa that lie south of the Sahara. These include Central Africa, East Africa, Southern Africa, and West Africa. Geopolitically, in addition to the list of sovereign states and ...
footprint. The channel was discontinued by the end of August 2024. PBS Distribution partnered with
Foxtel NXE Australia Pty Ltd, trading as the Foxtel Group, is an Australian pay television company that operates cable television, direct-broadcast satellite, direct broadcast satellite television, and IPTV streaming services. It was formed in April ...
to launch PBS Kids on July 1, 2021, in Australia. The channel was discontinued two years later on July 1, 2023.


Programming

''For list of all PBS Kids programs, see
List of programs broadcast by PBS Kids This is a list of programs currently or formerly broadcast on public television by PBS Kids on local PBS stations and the 24/7 channel in the United States. Current programming * 1 Co-distributed by Amazon Prime Video, the official streaming ...
.''


Programming blocks


Current

* ''PBS Kids Family Night'' (April 21, 2017 – present) – an evening programming block airing encores of PBS Kids movies and specials, and themed mini-marathons, typically from 7 to 9 pm on Saturdays and Sundays (formerly also on Fridays). Exclusive to the 24/7 PBS Kids Channel.


Former

* ''The Game'' (October 7, 1996 – September 6, 1999) – an afternoon programming block aimed at children ages 6 to 8. Aired on PTV. * ''
PBS Kids Bookworm Bunch The PBS Kids Bookworm Bunch was a preschool television block co-produced by Canada-based animation studio Nelvana Limited that aired on PBS from September 30, 2000 to September 5, 2004. It typically aired on weekend mornings, depending on statio ...
'' (September 30, 2000 – September 5, 2004) – a Saturday morning block consisting of six animated series produced by the Canadian animation studio,
Nelvana Limited Nelvana Limited (; also known as Nelvana Enterprises, Nelvana International or Nelvana Digital; commonly known as Nelvana; stylized as "nelvana") is a Canadian animation studio and entertainment production company owned by Corus Entertainment s ...
. * ''
PBS Kids Go! PBS Kids Go! was an American educational television brand used by PBS for programs aimed at school-age children ages 6 to 8, in contrast to the preschool target demographic of PBS Kids. Most PBS member stations aired the PBS Kids Go! block o ...
'' (October 11, 2004 – October 7, 2013) – an afternoon programming block aimed at children ages 6 to 8. * ''PBS Kids Preschool Block'' (September 4, 2006 – October 7, 2013) – a morning programming block aimed at preschoolers.


Critical reception

''PBS Kids'' programming has historically received generally positive reviews from television critics and parents of young children. ''
L.A. Story ''L.A. Story'' is a 1991 American satirical romantic comedy film written by and starring Steve Martin and directed by Mick Jackson. The plot follows a weatherman (Martin) trying to find love in Los Angeles. It was released on February 8, 1991, ...
'' (a division of Blogspot) wrote, "Great for any little explorer!" Rob Owen of ''
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette The ''Pittsburgh Post-Gazette'', also known simply as the PG, is the largest newspaper serving Greater Pittsburgh, metropolitan Pittsburgh in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. Descended from the ''Pittsburgh Gazette'', established in 1786 as the fi ...
'' wrote, "Best children's entertainment available". Valerie Williams of ''
Scary Mommy Scary Mommy is a website that produces content targeting mothers, specifically focusing on parenting, motherhood, current events, and pop culture Popular culture (also called pop culture or mass culture) is generally recognized by members of a ...
'' wrote, "A wonderful gift". Steve Aquino of ''
Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...
'' wrote, "Making learning accessible in the coronavirus age".


24/7 network

The PBS Kids Channel (also known as PBS Kids 24/7) is an American
digital broadcast Digital broadcasting is the practice of using digital signals rather than analogue signals for broadcasting over radio frequency bands (radio broadcasting). Digital television broadcasting (especially satellite television) is widespread. Digital ...
and online
television network A television broadcaster or television network is a telecommunications network for the distribution of television show, television content, where a central operation provides programming to many television stations, pay television providers or ...
operated by the Public Broadcasting Service. The network features a broad mix of live action and animated children's programs distributed to PBS by independent companies and select member stations, which are designed for improving the early literacy, math, and social-emotional skills of young children ages 3 to 9. Some PBS member stations, most notably
KLCS KLCS (channel 58) is a tertiary PBS member television station in Los Angeles, California, United States. Owned by the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), it is one of eight television stations in the U.S. that are operated by a local sc ...
in
Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
and
WDCQ-TV WDCQ-TV (channel 19), branded Delta College Public Media, is a PBS member television station licensed to Bad Axe, Michigan, United States, serving the Flint– Tri-Cities television market. The station is owned by Delta College in University ...
in
Bad Axe, Michigan Bad Axe is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the county seat of Huron County in the Thumb region of the Lower Peninsula. The population was 3,021 at the 2020 census, making it the largest community in Huron County and second largest in t ...
, maintain their own locally programmed PBS Kids feed that is independent from the nationally sourced feed. The PBS Kids Channel has had two iterations in the age of
digital television Digital television (DTV) is the transmission of television signals using Digital signal, digital encoding, in contrast to the earlier analog television technology which used analog signals. At the time of its development it was considered an ...
; one which existed between 1999 and 2005, and the current version which was launched in 2017.


Network history


Original channel (1999-2005)

On September 6, 1999, PBS launched a 24-hour PBS Kids network in several markets, in conjunction with the overall introduction of the PBS Kids brand to provide a unified branding for the service's children's programming offerings. The separate network (referred to as the PBS Kids Channel in press materials) 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. The channel was launched on over 30 PBS member stations with carriage methods ranging from a cable-only service, to a standard-definition digital subchannel, to analog simulcasts. Additional affiliates would pick up the channel later throughout the fall and winter of 1999. FCC requirements mandated
satellite A satellite or an artificial satellite is an object, typically a spacecraft, placed into orbit around a celestial body. They have a variety of uses, including communication relay, weather forecasting, navigation ( GPS), broadcasting, scient ...
providers to set aside 4% of their available channel space for noncommercial educational and informational programming. With these providers limited to offering one such service per programmer, PBS had put forth PBS Kids as a prospective channel to fulfill this mandate. The channel was largely funded by satellite provider
DirecTV DirecTV, LLC is an American Multichannel television in the United States, multichannel video programming distributor based in El Segundo, California. Originally launched on June 17, 1994, its primary service is a digital Satellite television, s ...
. It was partly created to compete against the
Nick Jr. Nick Jr. (sometimes disambiguated as Nick Jr. on Nickelodeon or Nick Jr. on Nick, and sometimes referred to as Nick, Jr.) is an American morning programming block that airs on Nickelodeon every weekday. It was launched on January 4, 1988. Nick ...
block and its sister network Noggin; at the time, Noggin was co-owned by the
Children's Television Workshop Sesame Workshop (SW), originally known as the Children's Television Workshop (CTW), is an American nonprofit organization and television company that has been responsible for the production of several educational children's programs—includin ...
(the production company behind ''
Sesame Street ''Sesame Street'' is an American educational television, educational children's television series that combines live-action, sketch comedy, animation, and puppetry. It is produced by Sesame Workshop (known as the Children's Television Worksh ...
'') and
Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (nicknamed Nick) is an American pay television channel and the flagship property of the Nickelodeon Group, a sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on April 1, 1979, as the first ca ...
. Because the pay-TV rights to the Children's Television Workshop's programs were owned by Noggin, the channel did not broadcast CTW programming, including longtime PBS staple ''Sesame Street'', though an exception was made with the CTW-produced ''
Dragon Tales ''Dragon Tales'' is an animated educational television, educational Fantasy fiction, fantasy children's television series created by Jim Coane and Ron Rodecker, developed by Coane, Wesley Eure, Jeffrey Scott, Cliff Ruby and Elana Lesser, and pr ...
'' (which premiered on the same day as the launch of the PBS Kids Channel). 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. In the aftermath of DirecTV's decision not to renew its funding agreement with the channel, which ended in the third quarter of 2005, PBS decided to shut down the network on September 26 of that year. The PBS Kids Channel was effectively supplanted on that date by
PBS Kids Sprout Universal Kids was an American children's cable channel owned by the NBCUniversal Media Group division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. The channel launched on September 26, 2005, as PBS Kids Sprout, a preschool-oriented offshoot of PBS ...
, an advertiser-supported cable and satellite channel that PBS developed in a
joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acce ...
with
Sesame Workshop Sesame Workshop (SW), originally known as the Children's Television Workshop (CTW), is an American nonprofit organization and Television station, television company that has been responsible for the production of several educational children's ...
,
HIT Entertainment HIT Entertainment Limited (stylised as HiT) was a British-American entertainment company founded in 1982 as Henson International Television, the international distribution arm of The Jim Henson Company, by Jim Henson, Peter Orton, and Sophie Turn ...
and
Comcast Comcast Corporation, formerly known as Comcast Holdings,Before the AT&T Broadband, AT&T merger in 2001, the parent company was Comcast Holdings Corporation. Comcast Holdings Corporation now refers to a subsidiary of Comcast Corporation, not th ...
(the latter of which later bought full control of the network via
NBCUniversal NBCUniversal Media, LLC (abbreviated as NBCU and Trade name, doing business as NBCUniversal or Comcast NBCUniversal since 2013) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational mass media and Show business, entertainment conglomerate (comp ...
). PBS gave local stations an option to sign on PBS Kids Sprout promoters, providing them cross-promotional and monetary benefits in exchange for giving up the ability to carry a competing preschool-targeted channel. For example, PBS member station
WBGU-TV WBGU-TV (channel 27) is a PBS member television station licensed to Bowling Green, Ohio, United States. Owned by Bowling Green State University, it is sister to college radio station WBGU (88.1 FM). The two stations share studios at the Tucke ...
aired promotional spots for PBS Kids Sprout during their PBS Kids daytime block, thereby forfeiting their eligibility to air a children's channel locally. 80 stations, making up about half of the member stations participants, signed up to be promoters; most of the remaining stations opted to develop independent children's programming services featuring programs distributed by PBS and through outside distributors such as
American Public Television American Public Television (APT) is an American nonprofit organization and syndicator of programming for public television stations in the United States. It distributes public television programs nationwide for PBS member stations and indepen ...
to fill space on
digital subchannel In broadcasting, digital subchannels are a method of transmitting more than one independent program stream simultaneously from the same digital radio or television station on the same radio frequency channel. This is done by using data compress ...
s that formerly served as PBS Kids Channel members. Many of the member stations that launched children's-focused subchannel or cable-only services reduced the amount of sourced programming from PBS Kids carried on their primary channel to a few hours of their weekday daytime schedules, in order to program more adult-targeted fare during the afternoon.


Canceled replacement

The closure of the PBS Kids Channel left many local PBS stations with a vacancy on their multicast digital channel offerings, during a time when digital and high-definition broadcasts were increasing reach and gaining popularity. In April 2006, PBS announced plans for a replacement 24-hour digital multicast network called the PBS Kids Go! Channel. This would expand upon the afternoon
PBS Kids Go! PBS Kids Go! was an American educational television brand used by PBS for programs aimed at school-age children ages 6 to 8, in contrast to the preschool target demographic of PBS Kids. Most PBS member stations aired the PBS Kids Go! block o ...
block on PBS, with additional new content and reruns of returning programs, such as
HIT Entertainment HIT Entertainment Limited (stylised as HiT) was a British-American entertainment company founded in 1982 as Henson International Television, the international distribution arm of The Jim Henson Company, by Jim Henson, Peter Orton, and Sophie Turn ...
's ''
Wishbone Wishbone commonly refers to the furcula, a fork-shaped bone in birds and some dinosaurs Wishbone, Wish bone or Wish Bone may also refer to: * Wish-Bone, an American salad dressing and condiment brand * Wishbone formation, a type of offense in Ame ...
'' and ''
Kratts' Creatures ''Kratts' Creatures'' is a half-hour children's television series that originally ran on PBS during the summer of 1996. The first in a series of programs produced by the Kratt Brothers, Chris and Martin Kratt, ''Kratts' Creatures'' was made to b ...
''. Other exclusive content for this channel would include a one-hour Spanish-language block called "PBS Kids Vayan!" (Spanish for "Go!", which would air select shows in Spanish with English subtitles), an evening "Go! Family" block, and an educational "Go! Figure" school block. The PBS Kids Go! Channel was originally set to launch in October 2006. However, stations found that the sliding scale licensing fees were too high for what little exclusive programming they would have received, especially after spending additional funds for the PBS HD feed. With only one-third of PBS stations initially committing to carry the new network, the plans for the channel were ultimately withdrawn.


Revived channel (2017-present)

On February 23, 2016, PBS announced that the 24/7 PBS Kids channel would be revived after 11 years. PBS president and CEO
Paula Kerger Paula Kerger (born ) is an American media executive who has served as president and chief executive officer of PBS since 2006. Early life and education Kerger grew up outside Baltimore, Maryland, where her grandfather, a college physics profes ...
stated that during PBS's partnership with Comcast in their operations of Sprout, PBS had discovered the valuable position in children's programming during prime time. Originally set for a fall 2016 relaunch, the PBS Kids channel was officially relaunched on January 16, 2017. Structured as a multi-platform service, it was made available for distribution to digital subchannels of participating PBS member stations, initially launching on 73 member stations (counting those operated as subregional PBS member networks), with an additional 34 agreeing to begin carrying the network at a later date. A free online live stream of the PBS Kids Channel was also added to the PBS Kids website and video app upon the channel's debut, allowing viewers to toggle from the program being aired to a related educational game extending the interactivity introduced by ''Sesame Street''. The live stream also provides access to the 24/7 channel even in areas where some local PBS stations, such as WUFT in
Gainesville, Florida Gainesville is the county seat of Alachua County, Florida, United States, and the most populous city in North Central Florida, with a population of 145,212 in 2022. It is the principal city of the Gainesville metropolitan area, Florida, Gainesv ...
and
WEIU-TV WEIU-TV, virtual channel 51 (UHF digital channel 30), is a Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) member television station licensed to Charleston, Illinois, United States. Owned by Eastern Illinois University (EIU), it is a sister station to campus ...
in
Charleston, Illinois Charleston is a city in and the county seat of Coles County, Illinois, United States. The population was 17,286, as of the 2020 census. The city is home to Eastern Illinois University and has close ties with its neighbor, Mattoon, Illinois, Ma ...
, do not carry it on its subchannels. The PBS Kids Channel is also available on both
DirecTV DirecTV, LLC is an American Multichannel television in the United States, multichannel video programming distributor based in El Segundo, California. Originally launched on June 17, 1994, its primary service is a digital Satellite television, s ...
and
DirecTV Stream DirecTV Stream (formerly DirecTV Now and AT&T TV) is a premium streaming television, streaming Multichannel television in the United States, multichannel television service offered in the United States by DirecTV. The brand offers pay television ...
on channel 288. The PBS Kids channel is counterprogrammed from the PBS Kids block on PBS, so that the same program would not be shown on either simultaneously. It mainly features double-runs of existing series on PBS Kids' schedule (including some not carried on the primary channels of certain member stations); as such, no additional programs had to be acquired to help fill the channel's schedule. On April 21, 2017, the channel launched "PBS Kids Family Night," a weekly block on Friday evenings (with encore airings on Saturday and Sunday evenings) that showcase themed programming, premieres or special "movie-length" episodes of new and existing PBS Kids children's programs.


Affiliates


References


External links

*
Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:PBS Kids PBS Kids 1999 establishments in the United States American brands American children's websites
PBS Kids Channel PBS Kids (stylized as PBS KIDS) is the branding used for nationally distributed children's programming carried by the U.S. public television network PBS. The brand encompasses a daytime block of children's programming carried daily by most PBS ...
Children's television networks in the United States Crystal City, Virginia Preschool education television networks Public Broadcasting Service Television channels and stations established in 1999 Television networks in the United States Television programming blocks in the United States