PBS Kids
PBS Kids is the branding used for nationally distributed children's programming carried by the U.S. public television network PBS. The brand encompasses a daytime block of children's programming carried daily by most PBS member stations, a 24-hour channel carried on the digital subchannels of PBS member stations, and its accompanying digital platforms.
PBS Kids programming typically targets children between the ages of 2 and 8, with a focus on live-action and animated series featuring educational and informative components; some of its programs were developed under grants with the Corporation for Public Broadcasting as part of PBS and CPB's "Ready-to-Learn" initiative. From 2004 to 2013, a late-afternoon sub-block known as PBS Kids Go! broadcast programming targeting elementary school-aged viewers 6 to 8; the brand was discontinued in 2013 to focus more on the main PBS Kids brand.
PBS Kids was first introduced in 1999, succeeding a precursor—PTV—which was first introduced in 1993 on selected PBS stations as a blanket branding for the network's array of existing children's programming. The introduction of PBS Kids coincided with a larger investment into children's programming by the organization, and a PBS Kids channel that would be distributed via a mixture of cable, satellite, and digital terrestrial television platforms. However, the channel proved unsuccessful and shut down in 2005.
From 2005 to 2013, PBS partnered with Comcast, HIT Entertainment, and Sesame Workshop to operate an ad-supported cable network known as PBS Kids Sprout; Comcast would later acquire the network outright in 2013 via its NBCUniversal division. PBS Kids would later relaunch its 24-hour channel in 2017, operating via digital terrestrial television and streaming.
The PBS Kids block originally ran throughout the morning and afternoon on the network's national schedule; in February 2023, the block was cut from 13 to 8 hours per-day, citing shifts towards PBS Kids' digital platforms, as well as member stations who had cut back on the block to schedule more afternoon programming targeting adult viewers.
History
PTV block
PBS had historically aired programs for children such as Sesame Street, Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, and Reading Rainbow; prior to 1993, these programs aired under general PBS branding. In August 1993, PBS introduced new branding for their children's programs featuring the "P-Pals", animated characters shaped like the PBS "P-head" logo who encouraged skills such as gathering information, self-esteem, cooperation and achieving goals in specially developed interstitials.The framework for PBS Kids was established as part of PBS' "Ready to Learn" initiative, a project intended to facilitate access of early childhood educational programming to underprivileged children. On July 11, 1994, PBS repackaged their existing children's educational programming as a new block titled "PTV", airing on 11 member stations at launch. In addition to scheduled educational programming, PTV also incorporated interstitial content with the P-Pals in their fictional world "PTV Park" for younger children. Older children were targeted with live-action and music video interstitials.
Apple Computer provided a $1.5 million grant to PTV and became its first national underwriter on June 26, 1995, as part of their "Bring Learning Home" corporate initiative. A "Ready To Learn" grant unveiled on January 8, 1996, supported the development of Dragon Tales and Between the Lions, which premiered in 1999 and 2000, respectively, as well as their online activities and outreach efforts. By September 1996, 95 PBS stations reaching three quarters of the United States were carrying the PTV service. Starting on October 7, 1996, PBS packaged their programs for school-aged children into the block The Game, airing on 31 stations by the end of the year.
PBS Kids
On January 18, 1999, PBS announced that it would launch the PBS Kids Channel, meant to be the centerpiece of a larger initiative, in September. On June 9, PBS revealed a wide rebranding of its children's programs and services, known as PBS Kids, at its annual meeting in San Francisco. PBS would also increase its children's programming budget by 25% and commit to two new series: Caillou and Anne of Green Gables: The Animated Series.The rebranding to "PBS Kids" first took effect on September 6, 1999, when PBS launched the 24-hour PBS Kids Channel. The new PBS Kids branding elements began rolling out on PBS stations in October; PBS provided grants to stations who adopted the new branding early. Brand designers incorporated a thought bubble concept across the brand packaging, intended to associate "imagination, thinking and using your head" with PBS Kids. Included with the new on-air appearance was a bright green logo featuring iconic boy and girl mascot characters Dash and Dot. The PBS Kids website was relaunched with some new areas on February 1, 2000.
The PBS Kids Channel was unsuccessful; in 2005, PBS entered into a commercial joint venture with Comcast, HIT Entertainment, Sesame Workshop to launch a replacement known as PBS Kids Sprout, which would be a 24-hour channel targeting a preschool audience. In the early-2010s, the partners sold their stakes in Sprout to Comcast, who assumed full ownership of the channel in 2013.
In October 2004, PBS Kids launched a late-afternoon sub-block known as PBS Kids Go!; this block featured programming directed at school-aged children within oldest subset of the existing PBS Kids demographic. PBS had also planned to launch a dedicated PBS Kids Go! channel as a digital network in October 2006, but was later cancelled before launch. In October 2013, PBS Kids Go! was discontinued as part of a rebranding of the PBS Kids block, citing market research finding that the PBS Kids brand was more recognizable than PBS Kids Go!, and that a number of programs across both brands were being viewed widely by both preschool and school-aged viewers—making the need for a second block redundant.
PBS revived the PBS Kids Channel on January 16, 2017, this time being structured as an over-the-top and digital multicast television network with an online livestream of the channel on the PBS Kids website and video app, in addition to utilizing largely the same distribution methods that had been used for the original channel. At the time of launch, no changes were made to the main PBS Kids block on PBS. The block is counter programmed from the channel, thus the same show would not be shown at the same time on the channel and block.
In November 2020, PBS Kids, in association with the main PBS service, became the terrestrial television home of select specials from the Peanuts animated library, under a sub-licensing agreement with Apple TV+. The agreement allowed both PBS and the PBS Kids Channel to air It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, and A Charlie Brown Christmas over the air, once per year. After the 2021 holiday season, the agreement with PBS ended, and since then, the Peanuts specials have not aired on American broadcast television.
On July 19, 2022, PBS Kids introduced a new brand identity by Lippincott; the rebranding incorporates aspects of the current PBS branding also developed by Lippincott, changing its logo to an electric blue circle with a tweaked version of the existing PBS Kids wordmark, set in green and white. The Dash mascot was discontinued, but supplanted by a new system of customizable cartoon characters seen in promos. The characters have customizable facial features, skin tones, and disability aids to reflect a diverse youth audience and how they portray themselves.
In February 2023, a major shift in program scheduling reduced the duration of the daytime PBS Kids block on local PBS stations significantly. Previously, the PBS Kids block encompassed a much larger portion of the daytime schedule, with the national schedule consisting of 13 hours of programming both before- and after-school hours throughout the morning and afternoon. The cuts would reduce its duration to eight hours. Many PBS stations had already begun transitioning to shorter morning blocks, but this change pushed nearly all stations to shorten their daytime children's schedules to morning hours only. PBS cited changes in viewing behaviors, and decided that it was advantageous to focus their children's programming in the mornings and cater to more general audiences in the afternoons, while continuing to grow their audience on the 24/7 kids service.
Streaming and on-demand video
As online streaming began to increase in popularity, PBS launched the PBS Kids Go! video player on its website on September 8, 2008. This federally funded, innovative video streaming platform featured video clips from a number of PBS Kids Go! shows which rotated on a weekly basis and linked to interactive online games. The video player later expanded to include all PBS Kids programming, and the entire platform evolved into the PBS Kids Video app, which initially became publicly available for free on May 12, 2011. The PBS Kids Video app is currently the primary source for free streaming of on-demand video clips and full episodes of PBS Kids programming. The app also features a free live stream of the 24/7 PBS Kids Channel.On May 8, 2013, PBS Kids programming was added to the Roku streaming player.
On July 1, 2016, Amazon Prime Video and PBS Distribution entered into a multi-year agreement which saw several PBS Kids series on other streaming services move to Amazon Prime Video. The PBS Kids subscription allows children and families to stream nearly all PBS Kids programs currently broadcast on air; however, notable exceptions include Sesame Street, which streams on Max, and Curious George, which streams on NBCUniversal's Peacock. The PBS Kids add-on service also includes several older series, such as Reading Rainbow, Kratts' Creatures, and It's a Big Big World.
On April 23, 2024, The Roku Channel added PBS Retro, a free ad-supported streaming channel, which consists of older PBS Kids programming, such as Mister Rogers' Neighborhood and Reading Rainbow.