Is it even possible for there to ever be a fourth successful kids cable channel?

[Stumpos]

With how Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon, and Disney Channel have always been the big 3 for cable kids channels since the late 1990s, I wonder if it was ever possible for there to be a fourth successful one to make it the Big 4 successful kids cable channels?

There have been two attempts to have a fourth big kids cable channel with:

• Fox Family tried with the Fox Kids line up in 1998, but it ended up performing so awful that it ended up shutting down only three years later in 2001 to the point where they had to sell Fox Family Worldwide to Disney because it was that unprofitable and probably helped sink the Fox Kids block a year later in 2002.
• The Hub/Discovery Family also tried in 2010 and it was more successful initially, but things started going downhill in 2014 when The Hub rebranded to Discovery Family and Margaret Loesch left with a couple shows such as The Haunting Hour and Family Game Night getting cancelled because of the rebranding. While it lasted longer than Fox Family and is currently still airing, they stopped producing new original programming after 2020 (Pony Life as the last original series) and 2021 was the last time they had premieres of their original programming (Pony Life and Rescue Bots Academy airing their final episodes that year). And it's unknown how much longer the channel will last after Hasbro's contract with the channel ends after March 31st of next year.

Seeing how both of those channels ended up not being able to grow into being the potential fourth big kids cable channel, I do wonder if it would've ever been possible for such a channel to exist.

Heck, Nickelodeon definitely didn't start off successful during the first five years (1979-84) and didn't really become big until Gerry Laybourne, Fred Seibert, and Alan Goodman improved the ship in 1984. Find more information on this in poparena's Nick Knacks videos.

Disney Channel also didn't start off as successful when launching in 1983, not gaining the momentum until Michael Eisner came in 1984.

So it does show even the big 3 didn't become overnight successes.

So I do ask, would it have ever been possible for a fourth big kids cable channel to become successful and make the Big 3 a Big 4 (similar to how FOX eventually became part of the Big 4 in broadcast television in the 2000s with ABC, NBC, and CBS)?

 

[Dr.Pepper]

Anything is possible but for a fourth channel to work it needed a hook. Nick was the first kid’s channel, CN was the first channel for cartoons only, and Disney, is well, Disney. The Hub and Fox Family didn’t really have a clear direction, or at least I knew the former didn’t.

 

[Goldstar!]

Seeing how each of the Big 3 are suffering on cable right now (some more than others), I don't see a 4th kids cable channel emerging from the shadows anytime soon. Launching a new linear cable channel in this current market would be a colossal waste of time and money.

Fox Family failed partially because of constant in fighting with Pat Robertson's people over what should or should not be airing on the channel and when. Fox Family was obligated to run The 700 Club at least twice a day. This coupled with the fact that many of the shows that aired on Fox Family weren't actually produced by FOX. Half of those were either shows produced by Saban Entertainment or 3rd party acquisitions and imports from other countries.

The Hub failed largely because it was owned by a toy company (Hasbro). Because of this, other toy companies refused to run ads on a channel that was owned by one of their competitors, and so they avoided The Hub like the Plague. The Hub had a hard time finding sponsors and eventually could no longer support itself financially.

Universal Studios has a kid's cable channel (Universal Kids) that no one watches.

If a 4th kids cable channel were to happen, it would need to: a) have to be owned by a major studio or company and have a huge library of TV shows and movies at it's disposal, and b) offer something that you can't get from any of the other 3 kids channels.

Digital extra channels like Boomerang, Disney XD and Nicktoons don't count as those are just offshoots of the big networks.

 

[Pooky]

The gate does seem to close at a certain point; Video Games are much bigger business than Cable these days, but we haven't had a new company make a significant entrance into the console market since Microsoft in 2001, and of course they had some pretty relevant prior experience.

 

[harry580]

I wonder about the many what if scenarios like what if news corporation/fox did launch fox kids channel in the early to mid 1990s instead of waiting to buy international family entertainment to launch fox family

and also, I think universal made the worse decision to drop their ownership in qubo since universal would just make qubo their own 4th kids channel (maybe sprout would become qubo jr instead & g4 would become qubo toons instead)

 

[JMTV]

If it was me 10-15 years ago, I would've say yes. Nowadays? No, for multitude of different reasons that I don't want to repeat myself again.

 

[The Overlord]

If it was me 10-15 years ago, I would've say yes. Nowadays? No, for multitude of different reasons that I don't want to repeat myself again.

Yeah, you might as well ask "can someone open a successful new chain of video rental stores"?

 

[JMTV]

Yeah, you might as well ask "can someone open a successful new chain of video rental stores"?

Yeah, especially after Blockbuster kick the bucket, it’s like, yeah good luck lol

 

[TheGuy]

With current times NO and tbh I don't really see why there should be

 

[Stumpos]

If it was me 10-15 years ago, I would've say yes. Nowadays? No, for multitude of different reasons that I don't want to repeat myself again.

Yeah, you might as well ask "can someone open a successful new chain of video rental stores"?

With current times NO and tbh I don't really see why there should be

For all these three responses, I was aiming more for at any moment in time. It obviously isn't gonna be right now (especially with TV ratings falling), but what about at a more successful time period in the 1990s and 2000s?

 

[aegisrawks]

Well, with ratings such as 80k, if anyone opened up a channel for kids, was available on many cable servers and had the right content, anyone can do it.

Sadly, Cable is a dead end for kids now, Disney Channel has Bluey and some other cartoons that do 300k but that's as far as kids content goes.

The Loophole of "We are making Adult Swim take over CN" WBD is sadly the only way Cartoon Network can even dream of being profitable.

But if you want some ACTUAL HOPE: Me TV Toons, FILLED to the brim with cartoons for just about any cartoon fan. From so many eras and with so many styles and tastes.

The sad part is that its NOT A KIDS NETWORK. AT ALL.

 

[JMTV]

For all these three responses, I was aiming more for at any moment in time. It obviously isn't gonna be right now (especially with TV ratings falling), but what about at a more successful time period in the 1990s and 2000s?

Probably both.

But if you want some ACTUAL HOPE: Me TV Toons, FILLED to the brim with cartoons for just about any cartoon fan. From so many eras and with so many styles and tastes.

The sad part is that its NOT A KIDS NETWORK. AT ALL.

And that’s a good thing because are cartoons are made for all ages, and it should stay that way.

 

[PrevueLovesAnimeTV]

Qubo tried to show the Big 3 that They needed a Superhero of Good Educational TV that was like Public Television but with Ads and also that there was room for one more

 

[Review Metabee]

Fox Family's downfall is that Fox themselves weren't supplying new and original programming, it was where Fox Kids shows would go if Fox had no interest in airing them anymore.

 

[Action!]

In today's world, no. In 2000ish, yes.