Sky Kids is an upcoming British

pay television Pay television, also known as subscription television, premium television or, when referring to an individual service, a premium channel, refers to subscription-based television services, usually provided by multichannel television providers, b ...

channel, due to launch in February 2023. The channel will be owned and operated by

Sky Group Sky Group Limited is a British media and telecommunications conglomerate, which is a division of Comcast, and headquartered in London. It has operations in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Italy. Sky is Europe's ...

, a subsidiary of Comcast.

History

The concept of a Sky-branded

children's television Children's television series (or children's television shows) are television programs designed for children, normally scheduled for broadcast during the morning and afternoon when children are awake. They can sometimes run during the early evenin ...

channel was first proposed in 1986 as part of

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's bid for the national

direct broadcast satellite Satellite television is a service that delivers television programming to viewers by relaying it from a communications satellite orbiting the Earth directly to the viewer's location. The signals are received via an outdoor parabolic antenna comm ...

franchise, won

British Satellite Broadcasting British Satellite Broadcasting (BSB) was a television company, headquartered in London, that provided direct broadcast satellite television services to the United Kingdom. They started broadcasting on 25 March 1990. The company was merged with ...

(BSB and Sky plc would merge in 1990 into

British Sky Broadcasting Sky UK Limited is a British broadcaster and telecommunications company that provides television and broadband Internet services, fixed line and mobile telephone services to consumers and businesses in the United Kingdom. It is a subsidiary of ...

The Children's Channel The Children's Channel, also known as TCC, was a British-based pan-European children's television channel in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, which was owned by Flextech in London, England, UK. It began broadcasting on the original Eutelsat ...

eventually was taken up by the platform, and after a failed attempt to acquire a half-stake in TCC, Sky launched Fox Kids in 1996, a stake eventually reduced over time and completely bought out in 2009 by

The Walt Disney Company The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Disney Stud ...

, by which time it was known as Disney XD. Sky also held a 40% stake in Nickelodeon UK Ltd. and carried the Nickelodeon suite of children's networks from launch in 1993;

MTV Networks International Paramount International Networks (PIN) is the international division of Paramount Global. The division oversees the production, broadcasting and promotion of key Paramount's brands outside of the United States. These brands include Paramount Net ...

held the majority 60% stake. Prior to the launch of Sky Kids, a Sky Kids Magazine was briefly available for subscribers of

Sky Magazine Sky Magazine (or 'Sky Mag') was a magazine distributed to subscribers of the BSkyB satellite service Sky Digital. Availability The magazine was available to subscribers of the Variety Pack or all packs of entertainment. Content The magazines ...

. A Sky Kids app was launched in

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featuring On Demand content specifically for children, for Sky customers. On 31 October 2022, Sky sold their full stake in Nickelodeon UK Ltd. to

Paramount Networks EMEAA Paramount Networks Europe, Middle East, Africa & Asia (EMEAA) is a division of Paramount International Networks which is fully owned by Paramount Global. The unit's headquarters are in Berlin, with additional offices in Madrid, Lisbon, Paris, Am ...

; the Nickelodeon agreement had contained a non-compete clause that otherwise restricted Sky and Comcast from launching a children's television network while still holding a stake in Nickelodeon UK Ltd. On 22 November 2022, Sky UK announced the launch of a linear Sky Kids channel some time in February 2023.

Programming

Original programmes for the channel announced at launch include ''My Friend Misty'', a series executive produced by

Fearne Cotton Fearne Wood ( Cotton; born 3 September 1981) is an English broadcaster and author''.'' She began her career in the late 1990s presenting various children's television shows for GMTV, CITV and CBBC. In 2007, she presented '' The Xtra Factor'', a ...

, and ''Ready, Eddie, Go!'' These are complemented by acquired programmes including '' Trolls: TrollsTopia'', '' Where's Wally'', and '' Madagascar: A Little Wild'', and existing content commissioned for Sky such as ''MC Grammar: Wonder Raps'' and ''The Brilliant World of Tom Gates''.

References

{{Sky Group Sky Group Children's television networks Children's television channels in the United Kingdom English-language television stations in the United Kingdom Preschool education television networks Television channels and stations established in 2023 Television channels in the United Kingdom 2023 establishments in the United Kingdom