Anyone find it sad how the state of kids' cable channels has been?

[Stumpos]

Looking at how these cable channels for kids are doing:

• Cartoon Network: Moved all their new originals to Adult Swim and more or less just a rerun house plus being in terrible shape for years (at least around 2015) even before Zaslav joined to continue the downward spiral.
• Nickelodeon: Pretty much reliant on SpongeBob since the late 2000s with Loud House being the only other show they care about and Nick Jr block as their only regular content outside those two with other cartoons getting little to no airtime. They haven't even been airing live action sitcoms anymore either aside from The Really Loud House.
• Disney Channel: Probably the best of these right now and having actual stuff in production for the channel. Not perfect given how they treated Owl House, Molly McGee, and Hailey's On It, but still higher than the other kids cable networks.
• The Hub/Discovery Family: Stopped doing original shows after Pony Life and Rescue Bots Academy ended in 2021. And it's clear Zaslav doesn't care enough to add new original shows and pretty much has it as a discount Boomerang with only the Hasbro cartoons distinguishing it from Boomerang (even then, their contract with Hasbro ends on March 31st of next year so they'll pretty much lose that and truly become "Boomerang but with live action Discovery on primetime and late night hours").
• Universal Kids: No one even remembers that it exists and pretty much no one knows or cares about the shows they're currently airing reruns of.

And that doesn't even cover the other channels that are subsidiaries of the main cable channels such as Nicktoons, Disney XD, Disney Junior, Nick Junior, Boomerang, Freeform, and Teen Nick.

Makes one wonder if kids cable is even gonna to have any value in a decade from now. Can kids cable ever be saved at all by now with the shape it's in right now? Or is it going to be shut down soon thanks to streaming killing it?

It does remind me of what happened with Saturday Morning blocks back in the late 1990s and 2000s where increasing kids cable competition led to Saturday Morning blocks on broadcast networks being canned with UPN Kids in 1999, Fox Kids in 2002, Disney's One Too in 2003, Discovery Kids on NBC and Nickelodeon on CBS in 2006, Kids WB and Fox Box/4KidsTV in 2008, Disney's One Saturday Morning/ABC Kids in 2011, Qubo and The CW4Kids/Toonzai in 2012, Cookie Jar TV in 2013, and Vortexx in 2014. Is it possible the same thing is gonna happen with kids' cable channels too where now streaming competition will kill them all?

 

[aegisrawks]

Everyone does, but there has never been ONE singular thread for it.

 

[The Overlord]

Looking at how these cable channels for kids are doing:

• Cartoon Network: Moved all their new originals to Adult Swim and more or less just a rerun house plus being in terrible shape for years (at least around 2015) even before Zaslav joined to continue the downward spiral.
• Nickelodeon: Pretty much reliant on SpongeBob since the late 2000s with Loud House being the only other show they care about and Nick Jr block as their only regular content outside those two with other cartoons getting little to no airtime. They haven't even been airing live action sitcoms anymore either aside from The Really Loud House.
• Disney Channel: Probably the best of these right now and having actual stuff in production for the channel. Not perfect given how they treated Owl House, Molly McGee, and Hailey's On It, but still higher than the other kids cable networks.
• The Hub/Discovery Family: Stopped doing original shows after Pony Life and Rescue Bots Academy ended in 2021. And it's clear Zaslav doesn't care enough to add new original shows and pretty much has it as a discount Boomerang with only the Hasbro cartoons distinguishing it from Boomerang (even then, their contract with Hasbro ends on March 31st of next year so they'll pretty much lose that and truly become "Boomerang but with live action Discovery on primetime and late night hours").
• Universal Kids: No one even remembers that it exists and pretty much no one knows or cares about the shows they're currently airing reruns of.

And that doesn't even cover the other channels that are subsidiaries of the main cable channels such as Nicktoons, Disney XD, Disney Junior, Nick Junior, Boomerang, Freeform, and Teen Nick.

Makes one wonder if kids cable is even gonna to have any value in a decade from now. Can kids cable ever be saved at all by now with the shape it's in right now? Or is it going to be shut down soon thanks to streaming killing it?

It does remind me of what happened with Saturday Morning blocks back in the late 1990s and 2000s where increasing kids cable competition led to Saturday Morning blocks on broadcast networks being canned with UPN Kids in 1999, Fox Kids in 2002, Disney's One Too in 2003, Discovery Kids on NBC and Nickelodeon on CBS in 2006, Kids WB and Fox Box/4KidsTV in 2008, Disney's One Saturday Morning/ABC Kids in 2011, Qubo and The CW4Kids/Toonzai in 2012, Cookie Jar TV in 2013, and Vortexx in 2014. Is it possible the same thing is gonna happen with kids' cable channels too where now streaming competition will kill them all?

Kids embrace technological change faster than adults. Why would kids want to wait until Wednesday at 4 PM to watch an episode of show on Cartoon Network or Nickelodeon, when almost every animated show or movie ever is available to them 24/7?

If these kids networks don't appeal to kids anymore, what purpose do they serve?

 

[Checkerboard]

Definitely. Globally. But streaming is not the main factor. Social media changed everything. However, in Europe for example people watch more linear tv. Over 4 hours a day. Even kids.

 

[Goldstar!]

Kids embrace technological change faster than adults. Why would kids want to wait until Wednesday at 4 PM to watch an episode of show on Cartoon Network or Nickelodeon, when almost every animated show or movie ever is available to them 24/7?

If these kids networks don't appeal to kids anymore, what purpose do they serve?

It's the same reason why the broadcast networks stopped programming for Saturday mornings. They couldn't compete with the 24/7 cable channels like Nickelodeon, Disney Channel and Cartoon Network. Why should kids flock around the TV to watch a 4-hour program block one day a week when there are cable channels that run kid's shows all day, every day?

Am I sad about the sorry state of kids' channels? A little, but we've seen this kind of thing happen before. SatAM TV died because the entertainment industry changed so much that it was no longer sustainable financially.

Now we're seeing the same thing happen with basic cable. Nowadays, there are so many choices available that kids don't need to rely solely on Nick, Disney Channel and CN. As was said before: entertainment is a fast-moving industry that slows down for no one. The big companies will adapt to these changes and will act on them accordingly. The Big 3 will continue to exist, albeit in a different form.

 

[JulianRO]

However, in Europe for example people watch more linear tv.

It depends from country to country.

Where I live the audiences for kids channels dropped significantly. For example, Disney Channel once had a peak audience of over 120000+ people watching at the same time in 2014, now it's barely 15000. Same for the other channels too.

CN for about 3 years airs marathons with Gumball every night...... and now they've moved some cartoons from the former Boomerang on it since Boomerang became Cartoonito.

I don't watch Nick and I'm not a fan of it, so, I can't speak about it.

Currently streaming is the cherry on the top of the cake, but this also isn't perfect.... Disney+ doesn't have almost nothing from the former Saban/BVS/Jetix library, Max is also really bad, from what I heard SkyShowtime is okay when it comes to the catalogue of cartoons but I'm not a fan of it.

I personally don't watch kids channels anymore since late 2017. The good era of cartoons here was from the 90s until 2013-2014, at last.

 

[PrevueLovesAnimeTV]

And if they don't get their act together, then i will do a future network breakdown for Kids TV to please anyone but will be from my inside jokes
Key to things:
Networks and their New names and taglines(info and tidbits and other stuff go here)
Nickelodeon - PPMTV featuring the WB - Casually ask you daughter what that girl's name is, then take your laptop into the bathroom (They Aren't #1 Anymore due to them airing the Same Junk over and Over Again)
Disney Channel - Deeznuts' The Pibby Bluey Ohio Bowser Fart Peppino Network - No Rizz until you switch over to Deeznuts Sus (Too Much Bluey and making excuses to switch to Disney+ with Hulu and ESPN+ aka Deeznuts Sus)
Cartoon Network (Has Cartoons for Everyone except it's mostly Adult Swim)
Nick Jr. - PPTV - Watch some Toy Advertising All The Time (Payroll Patrol is a Half-Hour Toy Advert - Note to Self: Call the FCC for Yoyle's Sake)
TeenNick - Nick Three - I have no idea what this channel really is anymore (Too Much Spam, Need i say More)
Nicktoons - Spongebob TV - Under the Sea with Fun 24/7 (The UK has done this before with NickSpongebob and with Spongebob TV)
Boomerang (Has Variety but might die in a few years)
Junior and XD - Same Names as Always - I Was Right Again, They won't change (but Why Change a Good Thing)
Discovery Family - Metropole Television USA - M6 coming to America via Paris (Petronix also airs on M6)
Universal Kids - UniDERPal Youtube iPad Kids TV - Come Play with the Same Spam Every Day for iPad Kids Only (They Play nothing but Cocomelon)
MeTV Toons (Like Boomerang but with the MeTV Branding and it's everywhere that MeTV is)

No New Name or Tagline for CN nor Boomerang because of Gunnar being a good man

Neither does MeTV Toons because it's New