Discovery Kids (Canadian TV channel)
Discovery Kids was a Canadian English language specialty television channel owned by Corus Entertainment and Discovery Communications.
 | |
| Country | Canada |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | National |
| Headquarters | Toronto, Ontario |
| Ownership | |
| Owner | Corus Entertainment (80% & managing partner) Discovery Communications (20%) |
| Sister channels | YTV Treehouse TV |
| History | |
| Launched | September 3, 2001 |
| Closed | November 2, 2009 |
| Replaced by | Nickelodeon (most cable providers) |
It was a Canadian version of the U.S. channel of the same name (now known as Discovery Family), which aired children's programming oriented towards nature, science, and technology subjects. It was aimed at kids aged four to eight.
History
In December 2000, Corus Entertainment, on behalf of an organization to be incorporated, was granted approval by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to launch Discovery Kids, described as "a national English-language Category 2 specialty television service that offers children of all ages a fun, entertaining way to satisfy their natural curiosity with stimulating, imaginative programming that asks the questions of how? and why? and awakens the power of the mind."[1]
The channel was launched on September 3, 2001,[2] with the Earth Science for Children episode "All About Fossils" being the first program to air on the network. Discovery Communications purchased a minority stake in the service either prior to or shortly after the channel's launch.
In September 2009, Corus confirmed it would shut down the channel, with no reason being given.[3] The channel was replaced on most service providers on November 2 with a Canadian version of Nickelodeon, which however, operates under a licence originally intended for a "YTV OneWorld" network. Because it operates under a separate licence, cable and satellite companies that carried Discovery Kids would not automatically receive the new channel unless they negotiated for carriage.[4] Discovery had announced that it would also relaunch the U.S. version of the network in a joint venture with Hasbro.[5][6]
References
- Government of Canada, Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) (2000-12-14). "ARCHIVED - Decision CRTC 2000-525, Discovery Kids". crtc.gc.ca. Retrieved 2023-05-22.
- DISCOVERY KIDS LAUNCHES WITH A UNIQUE BLEND OF “EDU-TAINMENT” Archived 2015-09-23 at the Wayback Machine Corus Entertainment press release 2001-08-08
- Corus optimistic for fiscal 2010; The Hollywood Reporter; 2009-09-28
- Corus is shuttering Discovery Kids, they will re-brand the Sex TV and Drive-In Classics channels Archived 2012-02-25 at the Wayback Machine; Cartt.ca; 2009-09-30
- Flint, Joe (January 14, 2010). "Discovery and Hasbro Name New Kids Channel "The Hub"". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved September 23, 2014.
- Schneider, Michael (April 30, 2009). "Hasbro Nabs Discovery Kids Stake". Variety. Archived from the original on June 30, 2012. Retrieved July 12, 2017.
See also
- Discovery Kids (U.S.)
- Discovery Kids (UK)