Fox Kids

Fox Kids (originally known as Fox Children's Network and later as the Fox Kids Network) was an American children's programming block and branding for a slate of international children's television channels. Originally a joint venture between the Fox Broadcasting Company (Fox) and its affiliated stations, it was later owned by Fox Family Worldwide.[1]

This article is about the former television programming block in the United States. For the former Finnish programming block broadcast on Fox, see Fox (Finland) § Fox Kids. For other uses, see Fox Kids (disambiguation).
Fox Kids
NetworkFox
LaunchedSeptember 8, 1990 (1990-09-08)
ClosedSeptember 7, 2002 (2002-09-07)
(replaced by FoxBox on September 14, 2002)
Country of originUnited States
OwnerFox Family Worldwide Inc. The Walt Disney Company
Key peopleHaim Saban (CEO, Saban Entertainment)
Formerly known as
  • Fox Children's Network (1990–1991)
  • Fox Kids Network (1991–1998)
FormatChildren's programming
Original language(s)American English
Official websiteOfficial website

Fox Kids originated as a programming block that aired on the Fox network from September 8, 1990 to September 7, 2002. The block aired on Saturday mornings throughout its existence (Sunday mornings in Canada), with an additional block on Monday through Friday afternoons airing until January 2002. Fox Kids is the only form of daytime television programming, outside of sports, aired by the Fox network to date.[2][3] Following then-Fox parent News Corporation's sale of Fox Kids Worldwide to The Walt Disney Company in July 2001, Fox put the remaining Saturday morning timeslot up for bidding, with 4Kids Entertainment winning and securing the rights to program that period. The Fox Kids block continued to air until September 7, 2002, and was replaced the following week (on September 14) by the 4Kids-programmed FoxBox.[4]

Outside the United States, the first Fox Kids-branded television channel launched on October 1, 1995, on Foxtel in Australia. Beginning in 2004, the international and Latin American channels were gradually relaunched under the Jetix brand following Disney's acquisition of Fox Family Worldwide.

History

According to James B. Stewart's book DisneyWar, Fox Kids' history is intertwined with that of the syndicated children's program block The Disney Afternoon. DuckTales, the series that served as the launching pad for The Disney Afternoon, premiered in syndication in September 1987, airing on Fox's owned-and-operated stations as well as various Fox affiliates in many markets. This may have been due to the fact that the Walt Disney Company's chief operating officer at the time, Michael Eisner, and his then-Fox counterpart, Barry Diller, had worked together at ABC and at Paramount Pictures.[5]

In 1988, Disney purchased independent television station KHJ-TV in Los Angeles, changing its call letters to KCAL-TV the next year. The station's new owners wanted DuckTales to be shown on KCAL, effectively taking the local television rights to the animated series away from Fox-owned KTTV. Furious at the breach of contract, Diller pulled DuckTales from all of Fox's other owned-and-operated stations in the fall of 1989. Diller also encouraged the network's affiliates to do the same,[6] though most did not initially. As Disney went forward in developing The Disney Afternoon, Fox (whose schedule at the time was limited to prime time programming on Saturday and Sunday nights) began the process of launching its own children's programming lineup.

Fox Kids was launched on September 8, 1990, as the Fox Children's Network, a joint venture between the Fox Broadcasting Company and its affiliates.[1] Originally headed by division president Margaret Loesch, its programming aired for 30 minutes per day on Monday through Fridays, and for 3 hours on Saturday mornings.

In September 1991, the block was rebranded as the Fox Kids Network, with its programming expanding to 90 minutes on weekdays and 4 hours on Saturday mornings. The weekday editions of the block grew to 3 hours the following year.

Scheduling

By fall of 1992, Fox Kids increased its schedule to 3 hours on Monday through Fridays, airing usually from 2:00 PM to 5:00 PM local time (making Fox the first network to air programming in the 4:00 p.m. hour since 1986), and 4 hours on Saturdays from 8:00 AM to noon Eastern and Pacific Time (7:00 AM to 11:00 AM Central and Mountain). Many stations split the weekday lineup programming into a one-hour block in the morning and a two-hour block in the afternoon (though this varied slightly in some markets), when network programs intertwined with syndicated children's lineups. Other stations aired all three hours combined in the afternoon due to their carriage of local morning newscasts and/or syndicated talk shows; stations that aired such programming in this case had dropped children's programs acquired via the syndication market, moving them to other "independent" stations. Very few Fox stations aired all three hours of the weekday block in the morning.

In 1992, Fox Kids began holding a "TV Takeover" event on Thanksgiving afternoon.[7]

Broadcasting ambiguities

When Fox Kids launched, virtually all of Fox's owned-and-operated stations and affiliates carried the block, with few (if any) declining to carry it. The first Fox station to drop the block was Miami affiliate WSVN, the network's first station to maintain a news-intensive format, in 1993 (the station had been a Fox affiliate since January 1989 as a result of NBC purchasing and moving its programming to longtime CBS affiliate WTVJ in a three-station ownership and affiliation swap in the Miami market).

The following year, in May 1994, Fox signed a multi-station affiliation agreement with New World Communications to switch that company's CBS, ABC and NBC affiliates to the network between September 1994, and July 1995,[8] in order to improve its affiliate coverage in certain markets after the National Football League awarded Fox the contract to the National Football Conference television package.[9] Many of the stations owned by New World (which later merged with Fox's then-parent company News Corporation in July 1996[10]) declined to carry the block in order to air syndicated programs aimed at older audiences or local newscasts. In certain cities with an independent station, or beginning with the launches of those networks in January 1995, affiliates of UPN and The WB, Fox contracted the Fox Kids block to air on one of these stations if a Fox owned-and-operated station or affiliate chose not to carry it. In some cases, Fox Kids would be carried on the same station as one of its two competing children's blocks, The WB's Kids' WB and UPN's UPN Kids block (the latter of which was replaced in 1999 by Disney's One Too).

Between 1995 and early 1996, Fox acquired three former ABC-affiliated stations (WHBQ-TV/Memphis, KTVI/St. Louis, and WGHP/High Point). Meanwhile, SF Broadcasting (a joint venture between Savoy Pictures and Fox) acquired three former NBC affiliates and one ABC affiliate during the summer of 1994 (which were later sold to Emmis Communications in 1996). Those stations all aired early evening local newscasts, but wanted to continue to run general entertainment syndicated programming to lead into their news programs instead of cartoons; these stations opted to run Fox Kids one hour early, from 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM. WGHP stopped airing the block in March 1996 after the station agreed to move it to WBFX (which aired the block for the remainder of its run). In August 1995, religious independent station KNLC assumed the rights to Fox Kids from KDNL-TV (which became an ABC affiliate); however, due to the station's decision to air public service messages from its owner's ministry about controversial topics in lieu of local advertisements, Fox pulled the block from KNLC in mid-1996. As a result, KTVI became the only Fox station that was involved in the network's 1994 deal with New World Communications to carry the block.

Much of the Fox Kids lineup's early programming was produced by Warner Bros. Animation, calling Fox Children's Network a "one-stop shop," essentially pulling out of the children's syndication market by signing a $100-million deal with Fox in May 1991. This meant they moved all their existing programming to Fox Kids.[11] Two of Fox Kids' most popular programs, Animaniacs (following a heated dispute with Fox after it ceded the program's timeslot to carry Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, which became one of the block's highest-rated programs when it debuted in 1993) and Batman: The Animated Series, moved to The WB after that network launched in January 1995. Both Animaniacs and Batman served as the linchpin of The WB's new children's block, Kids' WB, when it launched in September of that year (Tiny Toon Adventures, another early Fox Kids program that Warner Bros. produced and also aired on Kids' WB in reruns, had already ended its run).

In 1996, after having established a "strategic alliance" with Fox, Saban Entertainment merged with Fox Children's Network to form a new company, Fox Kids Networks Worldwide, with aims to become a public company and pursue international expansion.[12] In 1997, the venture was renamed Fox Family Worldwide after it acquired International Family Entertainment—owner of the cable network The Family Channel, seeking a cable outlet for the Fox Kids programs to compete with services such as Cartoon Network (owned by Time Warner) and Nickelodeon (owned by Viacom).[13][14]

In 1998, Fox bought out its affiliates' interest in Fox Kids as part of a deal to help pay for the network's NFL package.[1] The Fox Kids weekday block was reduced to two hours, and in an effort to help its affiliates comply with the recently implemented educational programming mandates defined by the Children's Television Act, reruns of former PBS series The Magic School Bus were added to the lineup.[15] In 2000, affiliates were given the option of pushing the block up one hour to air from 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM rather than 3:00 PM to 5:00 PM In the six or so markets where a Fox affiliate carried Fox Kids and carried an early evening newscast at 5:00 PM (such as St. Louis and New Orleans), the station was already running the block an hour early by 1996. Some affiliates (such as WLUK-TV) would tape delay the block to air between 10:00 AM and 1:00 PM, one of the lowest-rated time periods on U.S. television (and when virtually all children 5 years of age and older are at school). A few only aired The Magic School Bus in this sort of graveyard slot as an act of malicious compliance with the Children's Television Act. Fox Kids fought vehemently against the E/I rule during its development.[16]

End of Fox Kids

By 2001, members of the Fox affiliate board had felt they were on much more even footing with the "Big Three" networks and wanted to take back the time allocated to the Fox Kids programming blocks to air their own programming. Saturday mornings, long the only province of children's programming, had become a liability as the other networks started to extend their weekday morning news programs to weekends.

Fox Kids, which had been the top-rated children's program block among the major networks since 1992, had been overtaken in the ratings by ABC's One Saturday Morning block in 1998,[17] then by Kids' WB a year later with the stronger animation block backed by Warner Bros. that included shows such as Pokémon and Yu-Gi-Oh!. ABC and UPN aired mostly comedy-based cartoons at this time, with the exception of live-action teen-oriented sitcoms Lizzie McGuire and Even Stevens (both originated on Disney Channel as part of what would be a gradual takeover of ABC's Saturday morning lineup by the cable channel's programming), while CBS aired E/I compliant preschool programming from Nick Jr., and NBC was airing teen-oriented sitcoms (later to be replaced the following year by E/I-compliant programming sourced from Discovery Kids), splintering the audience. The added factor of Nickelodeon's aggressive schedule that outrated all of the broadcast networks among children on Saturday mornings[18] left Fox Kids behind, and the programmers could find no way to catch up and stand out in this crowded field. Fox Family, despite good reviews, had a 35% audience decline, which led to Fox Kids Worldwide and Fox Family Worldwide (along with Saban Entertainment) being sold to The Walt Disney Company in 2001.

After Fox Family Worldwide was sold to The Walt Disney Company in July 2001, Fox Kids was placed under the oversight of Fox Television Entertainment and moved its programming operations to Fox's headquarters on the 20th Century Fox studio lot;[1] Fox discontinued daytime children's programming in December 2001, giving the time back to its affiliates.[19] In addition, from September 2001 until the weekday block was discontinued, network flagship stations WNYW and KTTV deferred it to their UPN-affiliated sister stations while continuing to air the block on Saturday mornings.[19] Fox put its children's programming block up for bidding, and 4Kids Entertainment, then-producers of the English dub of Pokémon, purchased the remaining four-hour Saturday time period. Fox Kids maintained a Saturday morning-only schedule until September 7, 2002, a week before it gave the time to 4Kids Entertainment.[4]

Fox Kids was replaced by the 4Kids Entertainment-produced FoxBox on September 14, 2002. The block, renamed 4Kids TV on January 22, 2005, ran until December 27, 2008, marking Fox's complete withdrawal from children's programming. It was not until 2014 that Fox would reverse course and return to carrying children's programming with the launch of an E/I programming block called Xploration Station, which is produced by Steve Rotfeld Productions.

After Fox Kids

While Fox Kids ended its existence on broadcast television in the United States, Disney instituted a two-hour morning lineup on its newly acquired ABC Family cable channel (known as the "ABC Family Action Block") that was programmed similarly to Fox Kids and featured content originated on the block. Internationally, Disney temporarily retained the Fox Kids brand for the international channels in Europe, Israel and Latin America acquired through the purchase of Fox Kids Worldwide (which became ABC Family Worldwide after the sale was completed). In 2004, Disney began branding its action and adventure programming from the Fox Kids library as Jetix; the new name was first used in the United States on the ABC Family morning block and a new prime-time lineup on Toon Disney.

The Fox Kids name was used again for the web series Fox Kids Movie Challenge, produced by 20th Century Studios for the Fox Family Entertainment YouTube channel.[20]

Programming
Main article: List of programs broadcast by Fox Kids

Radio

In addition to the program block, Fox Kids had its own radio program in the United States, the Fox Kids Radio Countdown. This two-hour broadcast was hosted by Chris Leary of ZDTV and TechTV fame and consisted of contests and gags, with sound effects incorporated throughout the program. It was later renamed as Fox All Access (growing up with it's orginial audience technically) and served primarily as a promotional vehicle for Fox television programs, current artists, and films in its later years, before eventually ending its run in 2012.

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See also
  • 4Kids TV – successor children's program block to Fox Kids, running from September 2002 to December 2008, produced by 4Kids Entertainment.
  • Jetix – action-oriented children's program block on ABC Family and Toon Disney, and international cable channels owned by The Walt Disney Company, operating from 2004 to 2009. Jetix incorporated series from the Saban Entertainment program library.
  • Vortexx – children's program block produced by Saban Brands for The CW from August 2012 to September 2014.

References
  1. Michael Schneider; Melissa Grego (September 9, 2001). "Fox Kids net adopted by Fox TV Ent". Variety. Archived from the original on December 3, 2013. Retrieved August 13, 2009.
  2. Heather Tomlinson (July 28, 2001). "Murdoch parts with the Power Rangers and the preacher man". The Independent. London. Retrieved August 20, 2010.
  3. Daniel Cerone (February 20, 1993). "Animated Series Has Helped Fox Challenge the Other Networks on Saturday Mornings". Los Angeles Times. Times Mirror Company. Retrieved October 15, 2010.
  4. Paula Bernstein (January 18, 2002). "4Kids buys 4 hours from Fox Kids". Variety. Retrieved August 13, 2009.
  5. James B. Stewart (2005). Disney War. New York City, New York: Simon & Schuster. pp. 94–95. ISBN 0-6848-0993-1.
  6. Michael Cieply (February 22, 1990). "Disney, Fox Clash Over Children's TV Programming". Los Angeles Times. Times Mirror Company. Retrieved May 11, 2011.
  7. "HOLIDAY TV : Zoning Out on Turkeys, Pigskins, Parades". Los Angeles Times. 1993-11-25. Retrieved 2019-07-22.
  8. "Fox Gains 12 Stations in New World Deal". Chicago Sun-Times. Sun-Times Media Group. May 23, 1994. Archived from the original on October 11, 2013. Retrieved June 1, 2013 – via HighBeam Research.
  9. "CBS, NBC Battle for AFC Rights // Fox Steals NFC Package". Chicago Sun-Times. Sun-Times Media Group. December 18, 1993. Archived from the original on November 5, 2012 – via HighBeam Research.
  10. Brian Lowry (July 18, 1996). "New World Vision : Murdoch's News Corp. to Buy Broadcast Group". Los Angeles Times. Times Mirror Company. Retrieved June 22, 2012.
  11. CERONE, DANIEL. "Fox Goes on a Children's Crusade : Television: Fox is aggressively targeting young viewers, programming on weekdays as well as Saturdays". Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved July 2, 2018.
  12. Barry Hillier (November 1, 1996). "Fox Kids Worldwide is born". Kidscreen. Retrieved November 21, 2010.
  13. Katz, Richard (July 10, 1998). "Fox Family squeezes 'Club' in youthful sked". Variety. Retrieved 2009-08-13.
  14. Connie Bruck (May 10, 2010). "The Influencer". The New Yorker. Condé Nast.
  15. Cynthia Littleton (December 3, 1997). "'Bus' rolling to Fox Kids". Variety. Retrieved August 13, 2009.
  16. Wharton, Dennis (October 30, 1995). "NAB, FCC square off over kidvid". Variety. Retrieved July 13, 2018.
  17. Katz, Richard (May 8, 1998). "ABC kids block tops Fox on Saturday". Variety. Retrieved July 14, 2018.
  18. "NICK RETAINS SATURDAY CROWN". Broadcasting &Cable. June 18, 2001. Archived from the original on November 6, 2013. Retrieved October 30, 2013.  – via HighBeam (subscription required)
  19. Michael Schneider (November 7, 2001). "Fox outgrows kids programs". Variety. Retrieved August 13, 2009.
  20. "Fox Kids Movie Challenge". YouTube. Fox Family Entertainment. Retrieved 28 March 2019.
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