KidsCo

World Screen Weekly, March 20, 2008

LAUNCH DATE: September 7, 2007

COUNTRIES: Poland, Hungary, Romania, Turkey, Russia, Ukraine and the Middle East. The channel just recently launched in the Philippines, South Korea, Singapore and Palau. Continuing through the summer and to the end of the year, further rollouts are expected in Asia, Europe and Africa.

OWNERSHIP: A joint venture between NBC Universal (formerly Sparrowhawk Media), DIC Entertainment and Corus Entertainment’s Nelvana Enterprises.

DESCRIPTION: KidsCo provides content targeted at 6- to 10-year-old girls and boys, with preschool shows during the day.

PRESIDENT, NBC UNIVERSAL GLOBAL NETWORKS

& CHAIR, KIDSCO: Roma Khanna

MANAGING DIRECTOR: Paul Robinson

DIRECTOR, BROADCAST: Sara Wookey

PROGRAMMING STRATEGY: With the global children’s broadcasting arena dominated by channels owned by The Walt Disney Company, Viacom and Turner Broadcasting System, the start-up kids’ network KidsCo is positioning itself as an alternative in both its content and business model. “The vision basically is to create a new fourth kids’ network in international markets, and to do so in a way that fills a gap in the market, and also gives platforms an additional choice for their consumers,” says the channel’s managing director, Paul Robinson.

As the studios and animation outfits that produce children’s content are focusing more on merchandising, KidsCo is seeing a new opportunity for a children’s network that takes no stake in a program’s merchandising or licensing rights. The value of KidsCo for distributors is in enabling them to "build their brands and leverage their position for their merchandising and licensing programs.” He adds, “Effectively, our job is to get the eyeballs, build the television network and deliver the eyeballs to the rights holders.”

To do that, you need good programming, and KidsCo is carving a niche for itself with a diverse range of globally oriented content made for a broad kids demographic. “We’ve lined ourselves up with all the independent kids’ content creators around the world,” says Robinson. “So whether it’s Asian content or European content or Canadian content or U.S. content, we’re going to [offer it]. There will be a range of different voices, and different styles and different backgrounds.” Robinson contrasts this to Disney’s tween girl-targeted content, or Cartoon Network and Jetix’s boy-skewed programming. “We’re positioning ourselves as a family-friendly channel for kids 6-to-10 with preschool [programming] during the day. And that is relatively undersupplied in all the markets internationally.”

The channel is aided in its mission by shareholders DIC Entertainment and Nelvana Enterprises, which account for almost two-thirds of KidsCo’s blend of animated and live-action television series, says Robinson. “It’s an extremely evolving library of new shows coming in all the time, which means that we can keep it very, very fresh,” Robinson notes.

With no original programming of its own, the channel fills out its schedule from third-party suppliers. Currently onboard are Entertainment Rights, TV-Loonland, Sesame Workshop, DECODE, PorchLight and the Korean animation outfit Iconix Entertainment.

KidsCo continues to keep an eye out for distributors that can supply content for preschool, kids 6 to 10 and family movies, and that can match its non-gender-skewing, globally focused lineup.

“We have to do a good job,” states Robinson. “We have to make sure our marketing, scheduling and programming are strong because the standard is high. Kids as a consumer group are a fantastic bunch, but they are also quite demanding. They’re very aware of technology, they’re very aware of the options they have and the alternatives they have and if they don’t like a particular show or a particular channel they have choices, they have options and they will switch.”

WHAT’S NEW: Executives at the channel are busy preparing for the latest phase in the young network’s rollout. The channel just recently went on the air in the Philippines, South Korea, Singapore and Palau. This follows its successful January launch in the Middle East. Later this summer, KidsCo programming will hit the air in Spain, Indonesia and South Africa. According to Robinson, the channel expects to announce launch dates soon for Malaysia, France and possibly Germany, as well as a continental feed for Latin America towards November.

New shows added to this year’s programming lineup include Madeline and Babar for preschoolers, Ned’s Newt, Rescue Heroes, 6teen and The New Adventures of Ocean Girl for older kids; the family series S Club 7 and 100 Deeds for Eddie McDowd; and the family movies Alice in Wonderland and Snow White.

On the digital front, the KidsCo website will see growth in its content, which already includes program information, background stories, downloads, games and a parents section. Plans are also in the works for a retail section of the site that, at first, will offer KidsCo-branded merchandise, such as the KidsCo robot that serves as part of the on-air navigation device, as well as KidsCo hats, schoolbags and more. Robinson says the “next stage beyond that is to link with our content partners to [make] their merchandise [available]. That is stage two if we get good take-up for the initial batch of items that are going to go into the shop.”

WEBSITE: www.kidscotv.tv

—By Ned Berke