Discovery Kids (Latin American TV channel)

Discovery Kids (stylized as DK) is a Latin American subscription television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery and headquartered in Miami, Florida, which started as a programming block on the Latin American version of Discovery Channel. It launched on 1 November 1996, with programming aimed for older children and preschoolers. It was owned by Discovery Networks Latin America and is one of two Discovery Kids-branded channels that remains airing (the other being Discovery Kids India). The programming is entirely in either Spanish or Portuguese, depending on the region.

Discovery Kids
The channel's current logo since 7 April 2021, depicting a green lowercase K with a yellow D enclosed on a blue sphere.
CountryLatin America
Broadcast areaChile
Mexico
Argentina
Venezuela
Colombia
Brazil
Puerto Rico
Caribbean
HeadquartersMiami, Florida
Programming
Language(s)Spanish
Portuguese[lower-alpha 1]
English[lower-alpha 2]
Picture format1080i HDTV
(downscaled to 16:9 480i/576i for the channel's SDTV feeds)
Ownership
OwnerWarner Bros. Discovery Americas
Sister channelsCartoon Network
Cartoonito
Tooncast
History
Launched1 November 1996 (1996-11-01)
Former namesDiscovery Kids Channel (1996–1998)
Links
WebsiteDiscovery Kids Latin America
Discovery Kids Brazil
Availability
Streaming media
OneLink CommunicationsChannel 60

The channel is divided into six live feeds: Pan-regional, Colombia, Southern (plus a Chilean subfeed), Mexico and Brazil, each with their own HD simulcast feeds. Until 2019, the channel had an HD version of the channel with different schedules broadcasting to all of Latin America. The network is also available in the Caribbean and Puerto Rico, alongside several islands in the Americas, such as Barbados, Grenada, and Jamaica.

History

The Beginning era (1996–2002)
The first logo of a Latin American TV channel. It depitcs a yellow stick figure jumping out.
Logo used between 1996–1998.

On 1 November 1996, the channel launched and programming was aimed for older children and preschoolers. Preschool programming aired in the mornings, while shows for older children aired in the afternoons-evenings. The channel was originally named Discovery Kids Channel, but was shortened to simply Discovery Kids in official promos and bumpers. Its slogan was "Discovery Kids is not an infants channel, it's a kids channel!".[lower-alpha 3] The logo originally showed a white stick figure jumping on a red background.

In 1998, Discovery Kids changed its name, with the word "channel" getting dropped. The logo got updated, now being a planet with a ring underneath it. Its new slogan "Baterías incluidas"[lower-alpha 4] made its debut.

The Rainbow era (2002–2005)
The logo of a Latin American children's TV channel, showing a planet followed by the word "Discovery" in a white font and the word "Kids" in yellow.
Logo used between 2002 and 2009, notable for being the only logo to be used in more than one era.

In March, 2002, preschool programming began airing around the clock on weekdays, while shows for older children only aired around the clock on weekends. The channel's current slogan "¡Aquí, en Discovery Kids!"[lower-alpha 5] also made its debut.

In January, 2003, the channel changed its programming to target preschoolers, removing all shows for older children, which furthermore, changed its demographic to children under 8 years of age.[1]

In the early-to-mid 2000s, a website for the channel was launched, titled Tu Discovery Kids.[lower-alpha 6][2]

The Preschool era[lower-alpha 7] (2005–2009)

In February, 2005, Doki, the channel's mascot, was introduced, originally appearing in promos.[3][4] Several prototypes of the mascot were made on 28 October 2004.[5][6] His name is an abbreviation of the English term "A Dog for Kids".[7] It wasn't until March 2005 that the channel itself rebranded, which furthermore, also turned Doki into a standalone mascot. In 2006, the Doki Descubre shorts began airing on the channel, airing until the year 2010.

In 2008, a new mascot was introduced, named Mundi. Originally made to celebrate Earth Day, it later became one of the standalone mascots for the channel.

The Park era[lower-alpha 8] (2009–2013)
The logo of a Latin American children's TV channel, showing a green K circulated by a yellow ring with a blue D-sphere.
Two-dimensional logo used between 2009 and 2016.

In 2009, the channel received a new look. The logo now depicts a green K with a yellow D enclosed in a blue sphere, alongside a yellow ring in the K.[8][9][10] The channel also created specials based on several themes, such as ambience, reading, and sports. The programming was also changed to focus on shows for children with up to 10 years of age. Newer mascots also made their first appearance: Oto, Fico, Anabella, and Gabi. The change originally appeared in Mexico, Argentina, and Chile on 30 March, before expanding to other regions on 30 May, and eventually expanded to Discovery Familia in the year 2010.

In December, 2009, a TV series based on its mascots, named Las Aventuras de Doki,[lower-alpha 9] premiered, being produced by Nelvana

In 2010, the final Doki Descubre short aired on the channel.

The World era[lower-alpha 10] (2013–2016)

In April 2013, another TV series based on its mascots, simply titled Doki, premiered, being produced by Portfolio Entertainment.[11] The channel got rebranded as well, with the logo now being in 3D, rather than flat 2D. A high-definition feed also launched, with the D in the logo being replaced with the initials HD.[12]

In September, 2014, the entire channel started airing entirely in 16:9. Back then, the channel mostly aired in 4:3, with some 16:9 programs airing since the rise of HD TVs.

On 5 October 2015, Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures premiered on this channel, which was also the first program for older children to be premiered after January 2003, originally carrying a TV-Y7 rating in the United States. It was also the only TV show on the channel to be based on an arcade game. This era lasted until 1 April 2016 for every country in Latin America except Honduras, where it lasted until May 2017.

The New era (2016–2021)
The logo of a Latin American children's TV channel, showing a green K with a blue D speech bubble.
Three-dimensional logo for the 2016–2021 era.

On 1 April 2016, programming for older children returned after a 13-year hiatus for afternoons and evenings while preschool programming continues airing in the mornings. In Honduras, this era did not begin until May 2017, where a few shows aired prior to this "epoca" were delayed until this date. The logo was updated as well, replacing the "D" sphere with a speech bubble and removing the ring around the K. Doki characters were also removed from the bumpers, though its TV series is still airing until December 2019.

Many viewers began to notice an overexposure of the British TV program Peppa Pig during this era, where Discovery Kids began to create multiple marathons and long-term material for this program, causing many TV series, such as Doki, to cease airing. This also contributed to its so-called "decadencia" (Spanish word for "downfall"), as many viewers abandoned the TV channel following the situation.

On 2 January 2017, Angry Birds Toons premiered, making it the only TV show on the channel to be based on a mobile game.[13]

In December 2019, TV shows from the channel's older eras, such as Doki and The Backyardigans, stopped airing.

Current era (2021–present)

On 7 April 2021, the channel received a new logo, designed by Spanish design agency Dtmg.tv Studio, with the "D" speech bubble being changed back to a sphere, and the K becoming more lowercase.[14] Children also appear in promos.

Programming
Main article: List of programs broadcast by Discovery Kids (Latin American TV channel)

Website

Discovery Kids has a website that launched in the early-to-mid 2000s, with the app launching in the early-to-mid 2010s. A Brazilian version was also made, with all of its content being translated into Portuguese.

One common feature of the site are its online games, which originally required the Flash Player plugin.

The site offers games and formerly interactive books, and activities. At launch, the website was titled Tu Discovery Kids,[lower-alpha 11] with the app being simply titled Discovery Kids at launch.

In March 2005, the website received a major update. New games based on the channel's mascot were made, such as Saltando con Doki.[lower-alpha 12][lower-alpha 13]

In 2008, the website received another major update. A video player was added to its home page, alongside a Flash-based interface and the addition of minigames. Accounts were also implemented.

In 2011, the website received yet another major update, now featuring a 3D logo casting shadows in the banner. During this era, the app launched.

Between February 2012 and 2018, a webpage appeared on the website, title Kids en Control.[lower-alpha 14] Kids en Control allows children to vote for shows, similar to Cartoon Network's 'Votatoon' which was exclusive to Latin America. The show that have the most votes would air via marathons on Saturdays.

In April 2013, the website received a minor update. The background has been changed to the one from the new look at the time. The background has three variants depending on the hour set in the user's computer: day, noon, and night.

In July 2015, the website and app got rebranded as Discovery Kids Play, featuring the addition of protected content that could only be accessed via an account, as well as HTML5-based games.[15] Web browsers with Flash Player support are still able to play the old site's Flash games. The tudiscoverykids.com domain remained in use until late 2016, when it was changed to discoverykidsplay.com, originally used as a redirect following the launch of Discovery Kids Play.

In December 2019, the website and app was renamed to Discovery Kids Plus, with a new design.[16] The new website is also geo-blocked, being exclusive to Latin America. All of the Flash games from the old sites were also removed due to Adobe Flash Player's end-of-life. The Brazilian website was also updated to redirect to the Spanish website once accessed outside of Brazil.

In November 2022, tudiscoverykids.com and Discovery Kids Play now downloads a file with no format that once open in Notepad, read "all is well". On 12 December 2022, the site rebranded to simply Discovery Kids and removed all of its videos and episodes.

Audience composition

According to TGI Latina in 2003, most of the audience who received the channel were female, which represents a total of 56%, with the male audience at 44%.[17] Adult female aged between 25 and 49 years were also involved, as they are commonly the parents of children who guide at watching the channel, representing a total of 49%.[18]

Legacy

In 2021, fake VHS recordings from the channel became a minor trend in Latin America. On 31 October 2021, a project meant to revive the 2008-2011 website was announced, named Retro Kids, created by IanRandomer and co-created by Shimi Doki and his team.[19] Although initially cancelled, it was revived on 21 November 2021.[20] The app was based on ungoogled-chromium, which itself, is based on the open-source Chromium web browser. On 9 December 2021, the website was updated to use WordPress.[21] Before development on Retro Kids started, IanRandomer and Shimi Doki were known for finding and archiving lost media based on the Australian show Hi-5 and the channel's primary mascots.

Feeds

The channel is broadcast in 3 different feeds, plus one subfeed.[22] Each feed also has its own HD simulcast feed since 2013.

  • Pan-regional feed: broadcasting to most Latin American countries, including the Caribbean region and Peru. It uses the Colombian (UTC-5) and Argentine (UTC-3) time zones.
  • Mexican feed: broadcasting exclusively to that country, with different schedule and TV series. It uses the Mexico City time zone (UTC-6/UTC−5 DST).
    • Chilean subfeed: available in Chile with local advertisement. During winter time, it delays programming by one hour to match the country's time zone (turning itself into a +1 timeshift feed). It uses the Santiago time zone (UTC-4/UTC-3 DST). It is also an NTSC subfeed, as the original southern feed originally broadcast in the PAL-N television standard.
  • Brazilian feed: broadcasting exclusively to that country, with different schedule and TV series. Broadcasting in Portuguese, it uses the Brasilia time zone (UTC-3).

Live events
  • La Ronda de Discovery Kids:[lower-alpha 15] The channel organized live events, named La Ronda de Discovery Kids,[lower-alpha 16] where Doki, the channel's mascot, along with characters from the series visited some cities and made performances, originally made to celebrate the channel's 10th anniversary in 2006.[23] The last event with that name was in 2008. The channel still organizes events on Latin American cities from time to time. In 2009, a similar project, named Exploración,[lower-alpha 17] which dealt with the environment, was made. In 2010, a similar event, named En sus marcas, listos, ya,[lower-alpha 18] was made in Mexico.[10] In July, August, and September 2012, a new event, named Expreso Discovery Kids,[lower-alpha 19] was made in city of Mexico and Venezuela.[24]

See also

Notes
  1. Brazilian feed only
  2. Via SAP
  3. Spanish: ¡Discovery Kids no es un canal infantil, es un canal para niños!
  4. Literally Batteries included.
  5. Literally "Here, on Discovery Kids!"
  6. Literally Your Discovery Kids
  7. Also known as "the Doki era".
  8. Also known as "the preschool era 2.0".
  9. Literally The Adventures of Doki
  10. Also known as "the preschool era 3.0".
  11. Literally Your Discovery Kids
  12. Literally Jumping with Doki
  13. Known in Brazil as Pulando com Doki
  14. Literally Kids in Control
  15. Originally, "Ciranda Discovery Kids" in Brazil.
  16. Literally The Discovery Kids Tour
  17. Literally Exploration
  18. Literally In your marks, get set, go!
  19. Literally Discovery Kids Express

References
  1. "Discovery Kids Latin America bulks up on preschool to gain ground in kids pay-TV". Kidscreen. 1 May 2003. Retrieved 5 November 2021.
  2. "Tu Discovery Kids". Archived from the original on 24 March 2004. Retrieved 4 January 2022.
  3. "Doki, una imagen nueva para Discovery Kids" [Doki, a new image for Discovery Kids]. El Tiempo (in Spanish). 13 April 2005. Archived from the original on 27 August 2021. Retrieved 27 August 2021.
  4. Soy Doki Bonus Track #01 - Primer aparición (Video) (in Spanish). 13 October 2021.
  5. Soy Doki - Mis Prototipos - Capitulo 01 (Video) (in Spanish). 19 September 2021.
  6. Soy Doki Bonus Track #03 - Prototipos de Id's (Video) (in Spanish). 18 October 2021.
  7. Soy Doki - El Origen de mi nombre - Capitulo 02 (Video) (in Spanish). 23 September 2021.
  8. G. Manuel, Alberto (7 April 2009). "Mi Discovery Kids es su Discovery Kids". Brand New. Armin. Archived from the original on 4 January 2022. Retrieved 4 January 2022.
  9. "Discovery Kids actualiza su imagen". Ideas Frescas. 8 April 2009. Archived from the original on 5 January 2022. Retrieved 5 January 2022.
  10. "Discovery Kids renueva su imagen". TotalMedios. 29 March 2009. Archived from the original on 5 January 2022. Retrieved 5 January 2022.
  11. "Doki: La serie llega a Discovery Kids con una serie animada con nuevos amigos". Estereofonica. 4 March 2013. Archived from the original on 21 June 2018. Retrieved 5 January 2022.
  12. "Discovery Kids HD se lanza en Latinoamérica". www.prensario.net (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 31 December 2016. Retrieved 5 December 2021.
  13. "Angry Birds Toons llega a la pantalla de Discovery Kids para entretener a grandes y chicos". Latam Noticias (in Spanish). 30 December 2016. Archived from the original on 5 December 2021. Retrieved 23 January 2022.
  14. "Dkids New Brand - Toolkit 2021". Behance. 8 April 2021. Archived from the original on 5 January 2022. Retrieved 5 January 2022.
  15. "Discovery Latinoamérica anuncia el lanzamiento de Discovery Kids Play". Multipress. 29 September 2015. Archived from the original on 21 September 2020. Retrieved 4 January 2022.
  16. "DISCOVERY CONSOLIDA SU POSICIONAMIENTO EN EL SEGMENTO DE APP PARA NIÑOS". Totalmedios. 22 June 2020. Archived from the original on 7 January 2022. Retrieved 4 January 2022.
  17. TGI Latina, Discovery Kids llega a los niños más pequeños de la región y a sus madres, 2003
  18. IBOPE Media, Filtro: Multinacional; Cable 4-11, 2003
  19. Retro Kids - Trailer (Video) (in Spanish). 31 October 2021.
  20. Como Instalar Retro Kids - WINDOWS 11/10/7/8/8.1 (Video) (in Spanish). 21 November 2021.
  21. "Hola Mundo! :D". Retro Kids. 9 December 2021. Archived from the original on 9 December 2021. Retrieved 5 January 2022.
  22. "Programming". Discovery Kids Plus (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 15 October 2019. Retrieved 14 July 2017.
  23. "RONDA DISCOVERY KIDS, EN COLOMBIA". El Tiempo (Colombia). 24 April 2007. Archived from the original on 5 December 2021. Retrieved 5 December 2021.
  24. "Expreso Discovery Kids en Galerias Valle Oriente". YouTube. Archived from the original on 20 December 2021. Retrieved 6 September 2016.
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