Sprout (TV network)

Sprout
Launched September 26, 2005 (2005-09-26)
Owned by NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment Group
(NBCUniversal)
(Comcast)
(Children's Network, LLC.)
Picture format
Slogan Free to Grow
Country United States
Language English
Broadcast area Nationwide
Headquarters Comcast Building, Rockefeller Center, New York City
Formerly called PBS Kids Sprout (2005-13)
Replaced PBS Kids Channel (first generation; on most providers)
Sister channel(s)
Website www.sproutonline.com
Availability
Satellite
DirecTV 295 (HD/SD)
C-Band
  • AMC 11 - 55 (4DTV Digital)
  • AMC 18 - 55 (H2H 4DTV)
Cable
Time Warner Cable 255 (HD)
IPTV
AT&T U-verse
  • 337 (SD)
  • 1337 (HD)
Verizon FiOS 263 (SD)
Google Fiber Check local listings for channels
Streaming media
PlayStation Vue Internet Protocol television
DirecTV Now Internet Protocol television
YouTube TV Internet Protocol television
Hulu Live TV Internet Protocol television

Sprout (stylized as sprout) is an American digital cable and satellite television network that is owned by the NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment Group subsidiary of NBCUniversal, all owned by Comcast. The channel, which also maintains a complimentary video-on-demand (VOD) service and website, features a mix of preschooler-oriented children's programs acquired from the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) and original programming exclusive to the network. The network's live programming and wraparound segments are produced at NBC Studios at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in New York City. The channel's operations relocated from Philadelphia to New York City in 2014.[1][2] The channel launched in 2005 as PBS Kids Sprout as a joint venture between PBS, Comcast, Sesame Workshop, and HiT Entertainment.

On September 9, 2017, the network will re-brand as Universal Kids, which will add primetime programming targeted towards family viewing. Preschool programming under the Sprout brand will continue to air on the network outside of primetime.

As of January 2016, Sprout is available to approximately 56 million pay television households (48.2% of households with television) in the United States.[3]

Background

Sprout traces its origins to the PBS Kids network (referred to as PBS Kids Channel in press materials), which launched on September 6, 1999 coinciding with PBS Kids' rebrand that day. The PBS Kids feed was available on digital cable and satellite television, and was also offered to PBS member stations for use on a "cablecast" service (a cable-only local channel provided by the member station) or for use on the member station's over-the-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 created, in part, to compete against Nick Jr. and its sister network Noggin (which now shares its name with the Nick Jr. block).[4][5] Because the cable rights to the Children's Television Workshop's program library were owned by Noggin (which CTW owned a 50% interest in at the time), the channel did not broadcast any CTW programming, including Sesame Street, a long staple of PBS' children's programming lineup. The CTW-produced Dragon Tales, which premiered on the same day as the launch of the PBS Kids Channel, was the only exception to this.

The channel was not successful and had only reached 9 million households as of 2002, compared to Noggin's 23.3 million households at the time.[6] Once the channel shut down, many member stations which had been using the PBS Kids channel on their cablecast channels or over-the-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 with an online streaming option in addition to utilizing largely the same distribution methods that had been used for the original channel.[7]

History

Former logo used from September 26, 2005 to November 13, 2013.

On October 20, 2004, PBS announced that it had entered into a joint partnership with cable provider Comcast, and production companies HIT Entertainment and Sesame Workshop to launch a then-unnamed cable and satellite television channel aimed at preschool children.[8] On April 4, 2005, Comcast announced that the network's video on demand service, which would be named PBS Kids Sprout, would launch that day, and that the linear television network would launch later on September 1, 2005; the launch date for the television service was later delayed three weeks to September 26. When Sprout launched on September 26, it replaced the PBS Kids channel on some providers – helping give it an initial reach of 16.5 million pay television subscribers; the first program to be broadcast on the network was Boohbah, airing at 6:00 a.m. Eastern Time.

Takeover by NBCUniversal

Comcast acquired a 51% majority stake of NBC Universal in January 2011 (and would assume full ownership of the company on March 19, 2013). As a result, Comcast's interest in Sprout was turned over to the company. When Apax Partners sold HIT Entertainment to Mattel on October 24, 2011, HIT's ownership interest in Sprout was not included in the deal and was retained by Apax Partners.[9] In 2012, Sesame Workshop sold its interest in Sprout. On November 13, 2013, Comcast acquired Apax and PBS's shares in the network, giving the company full ownership of the network, with its operations being merged into its NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment Group subsidiary.[10] As a result, the "PBS Kids" branding was dropped from the network's name, leaving it as simply Sprout.[11][12]

In January 2017, Deirdre Brennan, formerly of Corus Entertainment, was named the new president of Sprout.[13]

Universal Kids

On May 1, 2017, it was announced that Sprout would be re-launched as Universal Kids on September 9, 2017. The re-branded network will revamp its evening and primetime programming from 6:00 p.m. to 3:00 a.m. ET to target youth and family viewing, with plans to incorporate new original series targeting the demographic (such as Top Chef Junior), as well as other international imports (such as the Australian series Nowhere Boys and the Canadian series The Next Step). Universal Pictures' recent acquisition of DreamWorks Animation will also be leveraged by Universal Kids to bolster its programming; critics 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 to directly compete with those of Disney and the Nickelodeon division of Viacom. The remainder of the network's programming will continue to consist of preschool programming under the Sprout brand, occupying 15 hours per-day of programming.[14][13][15][14][16][17]

Programming

Sprout's current schedule consists of three programs carried by PBS (Caillou, The Berenstain Bears, and Space Racers), acquired programming (such as The Jungle Bunch, Maya the Bee, and Ruff-Ruff, Tweet and Dave), and originally produced programming (such as Pajanimals, Nina's World, and The Chica Show). From its launch until 2015, Sprout aired programs (which are packaged into two 11-minute segments) that only lasted one segment. Sprout also airs programming blocks that fill most of the network's schedule, except between 12:00 and 6:00 p.m. and 3:00 and 7:00 a.m. Eastern Time (3:00 and 9:00 a.m. Eastern Time only on weekends).

In July 2012, Sprout began to produce a Saturday morning cartoon/live-action block for NBC aimed at preschoolers, NBC Kids (along with MiTelemundo, a Spanish-dubbed version of the block airing on sister network Telemundo that airs on both Saturdays and Sundays), which replaced a similarly formatted block – which itself was produced in conjunction with NBCUniversal – called Qubo, which had been airing on NBC and Telemundo since September 2006 (Qubo continues to exist as a Friday morning block for Ion Television, which is now aired on Sunday mornings and now called the Qubo Kids Corner, whose parent Ion Media Networks now wholly owns the block's companion digital multicast network).[18][19] With NBC Kids being replaced with Litton Entertainment's The More You Know E/I block on NBC by September 25, 2016, MiTelemundo retained on television with the same programming from the former NBC Kids block.

Since NBCUniversal took over management of Sprout in 2011, following its acquisition by the network's original managing partner Comcast, Sprout has evolved from its initial intent to serve as a home for archived content produced by the partners and has invested more heavily in original programming, in order to better compete with fellow preschool-oriented cable networks, Nick Jr. and Disney Junior. Under NBCUniversal, programs seen on the network such as The Chica Show have gained increased visibility airing on NBC as part of the NBC Kids block.[20]

Despite PBS' divestiture of the channel in 2013, Sprout continued to air several PBS Kids programs until their contract with PBS expired on the channel's 10th anniversary, September 26, 2015. As of 2017, The Berenstain Bears, Caillou, and Space Racers remain on the schedule from the PBS era.

Programming blocks

Current blocks

Former blocks

Sprout HD

Sprout HD is a high definition simulcast feed of the Sprout channel that was first announced in May 2010 and began broadcasting on September 1, 2010.[24] All programs filmed in HD are presented in 16:9 widescreen, whereas programs that are not filmed in high definition are presented in a 4:3 pillarboxed format. It is currently available on DirecTV, Comcast, AT&T U-verse, Cox Communications, Charter Communications, and Time Warner Cable.

Sprout On Demand

Sprout On Demand is the channel's video-on-demand service which launched on April 4, 2005 on Comcast, six months prior to launch of the linear Sprout channel. The service offers 50 hours of programs a month, with 25% of the programs updated every two weeks.

References

  1. ↑ "Governor Cuomo Announces that NBCUniversal's Sprout the First 24-Hour Preschool Network Will Relocate to New York City". Retrieved October 26, 2014.
  2. ↑ "Sprouting her wings". Philadelphia Inquirer. June 8, 2014. Retrieved June 9, 2014.
  3. ↑ "Cable Network Coverage Area Household Universe Estimates: January 2016". Broadcasting & Cable. January 31, 2016. Retrieved January 24, 2017.
  4. ↑ "Multi-purpose PBS Kids takes flight next week". Current.org. Retrieved November 19, 2015.
  5. ↑ "PBS launches kids network". Variety. Retrieved November 19, 2015.
  6. ↑ "Sesame quits Noggin network". Current.org. Retrieved November 19, 2015.
  7. ↑ http://deadline.com/2016/02/pbs-launch-kids-channel-live-stream-1201707522/
  8. ↑ "Comcast, HIT Entertainment, PBS and Sesame Workshop Announce Plans to Launch Ground-breaking 24-hour Preschool Children's Television Channel" (Press release). Arlington, VA: PBS. 2004-10-20. Retrieved 2013-08-03.
  9. ↑ Braude, Jonathan (October 24, 2011). "Apax sells Hit Entertainment to Mattel". The Deal. Retrieved August 3, 2013.
  10. ↑ Jensen, Elizabeth. "NBCUniversal Takes Full Ownership of Sprout Cable Network". New York Times. Retrieved 10 February 2014.
  11. ↑ Nordyke, Kimberly (November 13, 2013). "NBCUniversal Acquires Ownership of Kids' Channel Sprout". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved April 13, 2014.
  12. ↑ Hagey, Keach (November 13, 2013). "NBCUniversal Buys Remainder of Sprout Network". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved November 14, 2013.
  13. 1 2 Getzler, Wendy (May 1, 2017). "A new age: Sprout to become Universal Kids". Kidscreen. Retrieved May 1, 2017.
  14. 1 2 Steinberg, Brian (May 1, 2017). "NBCU’s Sprout Grows Up: Universal Kids to Debut in September". Variety. Retrieved May 8, 2017.
  15. ↑ Barnes, Brooke (April 30, 2017). "NBCUniversal is Building Its Own Children's Channel". The New York Times. Retrieved May 1, 2017.
  16. ↑ "NBCU EVP Duccio Donati Takes on DreamWorks Channel". Animation Magazine. August 3, 2017. Retrieved August 4, 2017.
  17. ↑ "Duccio Donati tapped for new kids role at NBCUniversal". Kidscreen. August 4, 2017.
  18. ↑ "NBC Will Launch NBC Kids, a New Saturday Morning Preschool Block Programmed by Sprout®, Saturday, July 7". MarketWatch. March 28, 2012. Retrieved July 15, 2013.
  19. ↑ Rubino, Lindsay (March 28, 2012). "NBC, With Assist From Sprout, to Launch Saturday Morning Preschool Block". MultiChannel News. Retrieved July 15, 2013.
  20. ↑ Jensen, Elizabeth. "NBC Universal Takes Full Ownership of Sprout Cable Network". The New York Times. Retrieved 10 February 2014.
  21. 1 2 3 4 Ball, Ryan (October 8, 2007). "New Blocks for PBS KIDS Sprout". Animation Magazine. Retrieved April 8, 2016.
  22. ↑ "Michele Lepe NBCUniversal Media Village". NBCUniversal.
  23. ↑ "The Chica Show cast". Screener.
  24. ↑ "24-HOUR PRESCHOOL TELEVISION CHANNEL SPROUT® TO LAUNCH IN HD". SproutOnline.com. May 10, 2010.
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