Discovery Kids on NBC was an American

children's A child ( : children) is a human being between the stages of birth and puberty, or between the developmental period of infancy and puberty. The legal definition of ''child'' generally refers to a minor, otherwise known as a person young ...

programming block Block programming is the arrangement of programs on radio or television so that those of a particular genre, theme, or target audience are united. Overview Block programming involves scheduling a series of related shows which are likely to attra ...

that aired on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

from October 5, 2002 to September 9, 2006. The block was produced under a time-lease agreement with Discovery Kids, and features a mixture of live-action and animated series originated on the cable network that met

educational programming Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty. ...

requirements defined by the

Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdicti ...

History

In December 2001, NBC reached a partnership with

Discovery Communications Discovery, Inc. was an American multinational mass media factual television conglomerate based in New York City. Established in 1985, the company operated a group of factual and lifestyle television brands, such as the namesake Discovery Chan ...

, in which its cable channel Discovery Kids would produce a new three-hour Saturday morning block for the network that would feature programming that met the educational programming guidelines enforced by the

Children's Television Act The broadcast of educational children's programming by terrestrial television stations in the United States is mandated by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), under regulations colloquially referred to as the Children's Television Act (C ...

. The block would replace '' TNBC'', a block of live-action series aimed at a teenage audience whose creation was motivated by the success of its series ''

Saved by the Bell ''Saved by the Bell'' is an American television sitcom created by Sam Bobrick for NBC. The series premiered, in primetime, on August 20, 1989, a Sunday night. Targeted at kids and teens, ''Saved by the Bell'' was broadcast in the United States ...

''. By 2001, TNBC had been undergoing from declining viewership; according to

Nielsen Media Research Nielsen Media Research (NMR) is an American firm that measures media audiences, including television, radio, theatre, films (via the AMC Theatres MAP program), and newspapers. Headquartered in New York City, it is best known for the Nielsen rati ...

, the block was registering a median viewer age of 41. ''Discovery Kids on NBC'' premiered on October 5, 2002, with its original lineup incorporating three new original series (the '' Survivor''-style

reality Reality is the sum or aggregate of all that is real or existent within a system, as opposed to that which is only imaginary. The term is also used to refer to the ontological status of things, indicating their existence. In physical terms, re ...

competition series ''

Endurance Endurance (also related to sufferance, resilience, constitution, fortitude, and hardiness) is the ability of an organism to exert itself and remain active for a long period of time, as well as its ability to resist, withstand, recover from an ...

'', and the scripted series '' Scout's Safari'' and '' Strange Days at Blake Holsey High'') and one existing Discovery Kids program (''

Operation Junkyard ''Operation Junkyard'' is an American television series that aired from October 5, 2002 to February 15, 2003 on Discovery Family, Discovery Kids. Essentially a spin-off of TLC (TV channel), TLC's popular series ''Junkyard Wars'', OP/JY featured t ...

''); the following year, '' Trading Spaces: Boys vs. Girls'', a child-oriented spin-off of the TLC home renovation reality show ''

Trading Spaces ''Trading Spaces'' is an hour-long American television reality program that originally aired from 2000 to 2008 on the cable channels TLC and Discovery Home. The format of the show was based on the BBC TV series ''Changing Rooms''. The first ...

'' joined the lineup. The new block came about amidst growing children's programming synergies between broadcast and cable television networks. Prior to the Discovery agreement, CBS had launched a Nickelodeon-branded block in 2000 (following Nickelodeon parent Viacom's merger with CBS), while

The WB The WB Television Network (for Warner Bros., or the "Frog Network", for its former mascot, Michigan J. Frog) was an American television network launched on broadcast television on January 11, 1995, as a joint venture between the Warner Bros. ...

had begun combining programs from sister channel

Cartoon Network Cartoon Network (often abbreviated as CN) is an American cable television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. It is a part of The Cartoon Network, Inc., a division that also has the broadcasting and production activities of Boomerang, ...

onto its

Kids' WB Kids' WB (stylized as Kids' WB!) was an American children's programming service and brand of The WB that aired on the network from September 9, 1995, to September 16, 2006. The block moved to The CW (a result of the merger of Time Warner's The W ...

lineup as part of a growing cross-promotion arrangement between the cable channel and the block; in addition, one month before ''Discovery Kids on NBC'' premiered, ABC relaunched its Saturday morning block as ABC Kids, expanding upon a programming agreement established in 2001 with sister network

Disney Channel Disney Channel, sometimes known as simply Disney, is an American pay television channel that serves as the flagship property of Disney Branded Television, a unit of the Disney General Entertainment Content division of The Walt Disney Comp ...

that later included select programming from both

Toon Disney Toon Disney was an American multinational pay television channel owned by Disney Channels Worldwide, a subsidiary of Disney-ABC Television Group. The channel's target audience was children ages 2–11, and children ages 6–13 during the Jetix ...

and (in 2004) its own action-oriented block

Jetix Jetix (stylized as JETIX) was a children's entertainment brand owned by The Walt Disney Company. The brand was for a slate of action/adventure-related programming blocks and television channels. Jetix programming mainly originated from the ...

. On November 1, 2003, the block introduced educationally-oriented animated programs under the banner "Real Toons" – with two series, ''

Kenny the Shark ''Kenny the Shark'' is an American animated television series produced by Discovery Kids. The series was first premiered on Discovery Kids' Saturday morning block on NBC on November 1, 2003, and ended with the last episode on February 19, 2005. S ...

'' and ''

Tutenstein ''Tutenstein'' is an American animated television series, produced by Porchlight Entertainment for Discovery Kids based on the comics by Jay Stephens. The series premiered on November 1, 2003 and ended on October 11, 2008. It features young mumm ...

''; this marked the first time that NBC had aired animation as part of its children's programming lineup since August 1992.

Transition to Qubo

In March 2006, Discovery declined to renew its contract with NBC for its Saturday morning block, citing a desire to focus its children's programming efforts exclusively on the Discovery Kids cable channel; in May of that year, NBC and

Ion Media Networks Ion Media (formerly known as Paxson Communications Corporation and Ion Media Networks) was an American broadcasting company that owned and operated over 71 television stations in most major American markets (through its television stations group ...

unveiled a joint venture with Canada-based

Corus Entertainment Corus Entertainment Inc. is a Canadian mass media company. Formed in 1999 as a spin-off from Shaw Communications, it has prominent holdings in the radio, publishing, and television industries. It is headquartered at Corus Quay in Toronto, Ont ...

, Scholastic and

Classic Media Classic Media, LLC, doing business as DreamWorks Classics, is an American entertainment company owned by DreamWorks Animation, which is a subsidiary of Universal Pictures and a division of Comcast's NBCUniversal. It was founded as Classic Media ...

known as

Qubo Qubo ( ; stylized as qubo) was an American television network for children between the ages of 5 and 14. Owned by Ion Media, it consisted of a 24-hour free-to-air television network often mentioned as the "Qubo channel" (available as a digital ...

, which would aim to provide educational programming aimed at children between the ages of 4 and 8. The Qubo endeavor included a three-hour Saturday morning block on the network, which replaced ''Discovery Kids on NBC'' on September 9, 2006.

Programming

Although the ''Discovery Kids on NBC'' block regularly aired on Saturday mornings, affiliates in some parts of the country deferred certain programs within the lineup to Sunday morning timeslots to accommodate locally produced programs (such as weekend morning newscasts) or due to scheduling issues with regional or network sports broadcasts that start in time periods normally occupied by the block.

Final

Former

References