Telemundo Kids
Telemundo Kids was an American children's programming block that debuted on October 6, 2001 on the Spanish-language television network Telemundo. The three-hour block, which aired on Saturday and Sunday mornings from 7:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time and Pacific Time, featured live action and animated series aimed at children between the ages of 2 and 14.
Programs featured on the block consisted of a mixture of series originally produced in Spanish and dubbed versions of series that were originally produced and broadcast in English. All shows featured on Telemundo Kids were designed to meet federally mandated educational programming guidelines defined by the Federal Communications Commission through the Children's Television Act. Telemundo Kids closed on September 3, 2006. The following week, the block's successor Qubo en Telemundo debuted.
History
Launch (2001–2003)
In October 2001, Telemundo announced that it would launch Telemundo Kids, which served as a revival to Telemundo Infantil which aired from 1995 to 1998. The block served as a replacement to Nickelodeon en Telemundo which was discontinued on September 30, 2001, after Telemundo's program supply deal with Nickelodeon had expired. Telemundo Kids featured some programs complaint with Federal Communications Commission and educational programming requirements. The three-hour block typically ran on Saturday and Sunday mornings from 7:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. Eastern and Pacific Time. All other time periods were filled with infomercials. The introduction a new logo with font text with the orange line with the original 2000 "Telemundo" font, alongside bumpers and promos and controlled by Telemundo Network Group, LLC..The block included a three-hour lineup that consisted mainly of dubbed versions of American, Canadian, European animated series the network opted to fully program was mix of acquired from various programming production companies and distributors, this included partnerships with Sony Pictures Television and Sesame Workshop with Dragon Tales, the Japanese-based animation studio Toei Animation, the European-based animation studio BRB International and the Canadian-based animation studio Nelvana. The block was divided across Sábados de Fantasía and Domingos de Aventura. The block's initial lineup consisted mainly of shows originally produced and broadcast in English included Ni Ni's Treehouse, Men in Black: The Series, Dragon Tales, Jackie Chan Adventures and Max Steel, as well as the Japanese anime series such as Dragon Ball Z.
Rerurn of Nickelodeon programming (2004–2006)
On October 2, 2004, Nickelodeon-produced shows returned to Telemundo three years after Nickelodeon en Telemundo's closure. Programming featured on the block included Rugrats, Hey Arnold!, and Dora the Explorer, along with All Grown Up!. Three Canadian shows also joined the lineup, consisting of Wimzie's House from CBC, Monster by Mistake and the Nelvana-produced show, Jacob Two-Two from YTV. At the time, Nelvana began combining production shows of the agreement with Telefutura by acquiring programs for the network’s own children's programming block, Toonturama, featuring seven shows as part of the growing cross-promotion aired from 2002 to 2005.Discontinuation and transition to Qubo
Following the sale of Telemundo to NBC back in 2001 and CBS and Viacom's split in early 2006, in May of that year, NBCUniversal and Ion Media Networks unveiled a joint venture with Corus Entertainment, Scholastic, Classic Media known as Qubo, which would aim to provide educational programming aimed at children between the ages of 4 and 8. This multi-platform programming endeavor would comprise children's programming blocks consisting of two English versions on NBC and Ion Media's i: Independent Television respectively, as well as a Spanish version on Telemundo. The endeavor would also include a separate 24-hour digital multicast channel on i’s owned-and-operated stations, a video on demand service, and a branded website.For Telemundo, the Qubo endeavor included a three-hour morning block divided into two 90-minute blocks airing on both Saturdays and Sundays. It would be the network's first and only children's block to offer English subtitles via the CC3 caption channel, which Telemundo normally uses for its weeknight prime time lineup. Conversely, the companion blocks on both NBC and i, as well as the standalone Qubo Channel, would all utilize the CC3 track to transmit Spanish subtitles. Qubo Channel would further support Spanish-speaking audiences with the inclusion of a Spanish audio track accessible via the second audio program feed.
Telemundo Kids was officially discontinued on September 3, 2006, and was replaced by Qubo en Telemundo the following week on September 9. While Jacob Two-Two transitioned to the new block the following day on September 10, all other prior programming, including the Nickelodeon shows, was dropped from Telemundo’s lineup. The overall launch of the Qubo brand marked the first time that VeggieTales was broadcast as a television program, although the religious content was edited out at the request of NBC's standards and practices department. The launch of the companion Qubo on NBC block also facilitated the first English-language broadcast of Jacob Two-Two on American television.
Due to Discovery declining to renew its contract with NBC for its Saturday morning Discovery Kids on NBC block after March 2006, the discontinuation of Telemundo Kids occurred concurrently with the discontinuation of Discovery Kids on NBC, citing a desire to focus its children's programming efforts exclusively on the Discovery Kids cable channel.
Transferring of Nickelodeon programs to other networks
Though Telemundo dropped Nickelodeon programming from its lineup, some Nickelodeon programs would move to other children's programming blocks.When rival network Univision launched its Planeta U block on April 5, 2008, the inaugural lineup included two Nick Jr. shows, Dora the Explorer and its spin-off Go, Diego, Go!, as well as Pinky Dinky Doo from Nickelodeon’s sister network Noggin. Contrary to Telemundo’s broadcasts of Dora ''the Explorer, Univision incorporated on-screen captions of the Spanish words spoken in English. Another Nick Jr. show, The Backyardigans would later join the lineup on June 25, 2011. On September 3 of that year, Pinky Dinky Doo was pulled from the lineup, being replaced by PBS Kids' Maya & Miguel the following week. A major programming shift occurred on May 24, 2014, when Dora the Explorer and Go, Diego, Go! were pulled together from the lineup to accommodate the launch of the “Disney Junior en Univision” sub-block, which added Spanish dubs of both Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Handy Manny. The final Nick Jr. holdover, The Backyardigans, was eventually pulled on July 25, 2015.
In addition to Univision, for a short time between July and October of 2010, Tr3s, another sister network to Nickelodeon, aired a daily block of Spanish-dubbed Nick Jr. programs under the name Tr3s Jr. to meet E/I requirements for its broadcast affiliates. Shows like Blue's Clues and Wonder Pets! were featured in the block, with SpongeBob SquarePants also being broadcast outside of the Tr3s Jr.'' schedule.
Programming
Schedule issues
Due to regulations defined by the Children's Television Act that require stations to carry E/I compliant programming for three hours each week at any time between 7:00 a.m. and 10:00 p.m. local time, some Telemundo stations defered certain programs aired within its Saturday morning block to Sunday daytime or earlier Saturday morning slots, or Saturday afternoons as makegoods to comply with the CTA regulations.Although the Telemundo Kids block regularly aired on Saturday and Sunday mornings, affiliates in some parts of the country deferred certain programs within the lineup to Sunday morning time slots to accommodate locally produced programs or due to scheduling issues with regional or network sports broadcasts that start in time periods normally occupied by the block.
Telemundo Kids had concerns about commercial limits during its programming to its affiliates, including KTEL-TV in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
The six Telemundo Kids animated and live-action Spanish-dubbed shows including Jackie Chan Adventures, Dragon Tales, Juana la Iguana, Las Tres Mellizas, Nico and Dragon Ball Z were having a changed schedule for a weekend as the Sábados de Fantasía block aired on every Saturday, but the six shows were still included with Domingos de Aventura in scheduled and changing the time at 6:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. ET/PT on Telemundo since October 25, 2003 with the paid programming continued with Telemundo Kids in the next schedule time clock area on weekends.
However, other shows were removed or changed in the schedule on October 19, 2003, while the schedule was changed again when Nickelodeon programming return to air four shows and some Canadian shows with Spanish-dubbed in Telemundo Kids premiered on October 2, 2004.
Not only were changing schedules and commercial limits had concerns on the children programming block, they were also delays on programming premieres. Men in Black: The Series was originally scheduled to premiere on the block on November 11, 2001. However, it was delayed for one week due to scheduling issues with Dragon Tales on Telemundo at 7:30 a.m. Men in Black: The Series was rescheduled to November 18, 2001.