KidsClick
{{short description|US television program}}
{{About||the Hong Kong children's program|Kids Click}}
{{pp-semi|small=yes}}
{{Use American English|date=February 2023}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2023}}
{{Infobox programming block
| name = KidsClick
| image = KidsClickLogo.png
| image_size =
| alt =
| caption =
| formerly_known =
| premiered = {{Start date and age|2017|07|01}}
| closed = {{End date and age|2019|03|31}}
| channel = This TV {{small|(2017–18)}}
TBD {{small|(2018–19)}}
Syndication {{small|(2017–19)}}
| division =
| country = United States
| available = Nationwide, though not in every market
| key_people = {{ubl|Daniel Barnathan|(Vice President, Family and Children's Programming and Sales)|Jonathan Dern|(Executive Producer){{cite press release |title=Sinclair Names Dan Barnathan VP Family and Children's Programming and Sales; Jonathan Dern Executive Producer |url=http://www.wdrb.com/story/35708695/sinclair-names-dan-barnathan-vp-family-and-childrens-programming-and-sales-jonathan-dern-executive-producer|author=|agency=PR Newswire|publisher=Sinclair Broadcast Group|via=WDRB-TV|date=June 20, 2017|access-date=June 21, 2017}}}}
| headquarters =
| major_contracts =
| parent = Sinclair Broadcast Group
| sister =
| format = Weekday/weekend morning cartoon block
| runtime = 3 hours
| language = English
| footnotes =
}}
KidsClick was a daily children's programming block distributed by Sinclair Broadcast Group, which premiered on July 1, 2017. The block, which primarily consisted of long-form animated series as well as some short-form content, was carried in the U.S. on terrestrial television network TBD, and on Sinclair-owned/operated television stations in several markets.{{cite web|title=Sinclair Wants Back in on Kids' TV|url=http://www.broadcastingcable.com/news/local-tv/sinclair-wants-back-kids-tv/165500|author=Diana Marszalek|periodical=Broadcasting & Cable|publisher=NewBay Media|date=May 3, 2017|access-date=June 19, 2017}} At launch, the block was available in 75 million households. The block marked the return of traditional weekday cartoons and Saturday morning cartoons to terrestrial television,{{cite web|url=http://rbr.com/kidsclick-multi-platform-programming-block-set-for-sinclair|title='KidsClick' Multi-Platform Programming Block Set For Sinclair|first=Adam|last=Jacobson|work=Radio+Television Business Report|date=May 2, 2017|access-date=July 24, 2017|publisher=Streamline Publishing}} as well as the first children's programming block on U.S. free-to-air television not to comply with Children's Television Act regulations since the Saban Brands-produced Vortexx was discontinued on September 27, 2014.
The This TV iteration of the block accompanied an existing, unbranded lineup of educational programming on weekend mornings, which had aired on the network since November 1, 2013, after the discontinuation of Cookie Jar Toons (which coincided with original co-owner Weigel Broadcasting transferring its 50% interest in the network to Tribune Broadcasting, as well as the Cookie Jar Group's absorption into DHX Media [now WildBrain]); it also marked the first time that This TV had carried children's programming on Monday through Saturday mornings since Tribune (whom Sinclair later attempted and failed to acquire){{cite news|title=Sinclair Broadcast Group to buy Tribune Media for $3.9 billion plus debt|url=http://www.latimes.com/business/hollywood/la-fi-ct-tribune-sinclair-20170508-story.html|author=Stephen Battaglio|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|date=May 8, 2017|access-date=June 23, 2017}}{{cite web|title=Sinclair Broadcast Group Sets $3.9 Billion Deal to Acquire Tribune Media|url=https://variety.com/2017/tv/news/sinclair-tribune-merger-station-group-1202416416/|author=Cynthia Littleton|periodical=Variety|publisher=Penske Media Corporation|date=May 8, 2017|access-date=June 23, 2017}} assumed partial ownership of the network. On July 1, 2018, This TV discontinued carriage of KidsClick, which was transferred to Sinclair's TBD channel, which had been carrying the block on a transitional basis since May 7 of that year.{{Cite tweet|user=KidsClickTV|number=1014882581073063937|date=July 5, 2018|title=We were sad too, but the good news is we are still on TV on TBD. You can check their market list to see where we are in your area: http://tbd.com/watch-on-tv . You can always watch on our app or site as well: https://kidsclick.com|access-date=July 19, 2018}}
On March 29, 2019, shortly after closing sister site Circa News, KidsClick's Facebook page announced the block's discontinuation on March 31, 2019.{{Cite web|url=https://www.facebook.com/kidsclicktv/posts/2288933411170833|title=Kidsclick|website=www.facebook.com|language=en|access-date=March 29, 2019}}{{cite news|url=http://www.niemanlab.org/2019/03/circa-sinclairs-millennial-focused-news-site-and-the-final-remains-of-some-interesting-mobile-ideas-is-shutting-down/|title=Circa, Sinclair's millennial-focused news site (and the final remains of some interesting mobile ideas), is shutting down|last=Hazard Owen|first=Laura|date=March 27, 2019|work=Nieman Lab|access-date=March 31, 2019}}
History
On May 2, 2017, Sinclair Broadcast Group announced that it would launch a multi-platform children's programming block on linear television and online platforms. The company partnered with MGM Domestic Television Distribution to develop and distribute KidsClick, a joint venture between Sinclair Broadcast Group and Toon Goggles, which it planned to air nationally on This TV and select network affiliates (particularly those affiliated with The CW, and the MyNetworkTV programming service, as well as some Fox-affiliated stations that do not carry local morning newscasts in the block's designated timeslots) and independent stations owned or operated by Sinclair on July 1, 2017. Its content encompasses short- and long-form material and is distributed online, through web browsers and mobile apps in video-on-demand and live streaming formats.{{cite news|last1=Jacobson|first1=Adam|title='KidsClick' Multi-Platform Programming Block Set For Sinclair|url=http://rbr.com/kidsclick-multi-platform-programming-block-set-for-sinclair/|access-date=June 21, 2017|work=Radio & Television Business Report|date=May 2, 2017}}{{cite web|url=http://www.toonbarn.com/other-cartoons/kidsclick-launches-video-demand-options-zak-storm-contest/|title=KidsClick launches video-on-demand options, Zak Storm contest|work=ToonBarn|date=November 8, 2017|access-date=January 19, 2018}}{{cite web|url=http://www.toonbarn.com/other-cartoons/kidsclick-launches-online-live-streaming-option/|title=KidsClick launches online live streaming option|date=December 26, 2017|access-date=January 19, 2018|work=ToonBarn}} The network's distribution and website utilized Imagine Communications' cloud technology from Sinclair's Las Vegas studios for their market triopoly.{{cite web|url=http://www.inbroadcast.com/Imagine_and_SBG_Deliver_KidsClick_Content.asp|title=Imagine and SBG Deliver 'KidsClick' Content|date=January 19, 2018|access-date=January 19, 2018|work=InBroadcast}}
Sinclair returned to the children's television market with KidsClick several years after The Program Exchange was discontinued (a barter syndicator of programming which ended up as the last company providing non-educational children's content to television stations before its 2016 dissolution), an industry estimated to be worth $1 billion, which is currently largely split in advertising revenue between Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network.{{cite news|last1=Mirabella|first1=Lorraine|title=Sinclair Broacast Group anticipates more acquisitions [sic]|url=http://www.baltimoresun.com/business/bs-bz-sinclair-broadcast-earnings-20170503-story.html|access-date=June 21, 2017|work=Baltimore Sun|date=May 3, 2017}} Speaking to the return of children's programming on American commercial broadcast television, Steven M. Marks, COO and EVP of Sinclair Television Group, said in an earnings report on May 3, 2017: "That's a $1 billion-plus spot business that we don't get a dime from. So again, it's an illustration of going back into the marketplace and fishing in ponds that we haven't fished in. So that's $1 billion that is pretty much split between [two] cable networks: Nickelodeon and the Cartoon Network. Disney is a subscription network. 18 years ago, we were the kings of reaching kids every day. There's no reason in the world why we can't be successful in that space."{{cite web|url=https://finance.yahoo.com/news/edited-transcript-sbgi-earnings-conference-234615387.html|title=Edited Transcript of SBGI earnings conference call or presentation 3-May-17 1:30pm GMT|work=Thomson Reuters|publisher=Yahoo! Finance|date=June 14, 2017|access-date=June 19, 2017}}
On March 29, 2019, KidsClick announced on Facebook that the block would shutdown on March 31. Sinclair also discontinued sister property Circa News three days prior to the announcement. Sinclair would later claim that the block was discontinued "for business reasons", but that its use of cloud technology was a successful testing ground to use the technology for its digital broadcast networks.{{Cite web|last=Miller|first=Mark|title=Broadcasters Play To Cloud's Strengths For Playout|url=https://tvnewscheck.com/article/top-news/253577/broadcasters-play-to-clouds-strengths-for-playout/|access-date=September 17, 2020|website=TV News Check|date=September 17, 2020 |language=en}}
KidsClick ceased operations on March 31, 2019, with an airing of Oggy and the Cockroaches as its final program; all advertising made no mention of its shutdown, and the promotional spot at the end of the show mentioned it would return the next Saturday morning. For the vast majority of stations carrying it, temporary or permanent paid programming, religious programming, other syndicated content, or alternate E/I-complaint shows overlaid the former timeslot until more permanent programming was scheduled in the fall; this would turn out to be the national news service from Sinclair, The National Desk, for many Sinclair stations. Paid programming and some Internet-originated content series replaced it on TBD. Several days later, the block's website was taken down, with the domain redirected to the main Sinclair corporate page.
In 2022, three years after KidsClick's shutdown, nineteen stations, along with Sinclair itself and Nexstar Media Group, were proposed to be fined $3.4 million for a violation of children's ad guidelines, involving advertising for Mattel's Hot Wheels airing during episodes of Team Hot Wheels without being screened out, which under said guidelines, made the entire half-hour a program-length commercial.{{cite news|url=https://deadline.com/2022/09/fcc-sinclair-hot-wheels-childrens-television-act-1235124032/|title=FCC Proposes $3.4 Million In Fines To Stations For Violating Children's Ad Limits With Hot Wheels Commercials|last=Johnson|first=Ted|date=September 21, 2022|website=Deadline Hollywood|access-date=October 27, 2022}}
Scheduling
The block was preferred to air every Monday-Friday from 6:00 to 9:00 a.m., and Saturday and Sundays from 7:00 to 10:00 a.m. local time, though scheduling variances existed in certain markets due to network programming obligations (such as One Magnificent Morning airing from 8:00 to 11:00 a.m., which delayed or preempted the KidsClick Saturday Morning lineup on CW-affiliated stations that carried both blocks), existing contracts for other syndicated programming or with paid or religious programming providers, or a preference to air news and sports programming in those slots.{{cite web|title=Kids Click coming to The CW Twin Cities on July 1st|url=http://thecwtc.com/news/local/kidsclick|work=WUCW|publisher=Sinclair Broadcast Group|date=June 14, 2017|access-date=June 19, 2017}} It aired in a downscaled letterbox format via This TV, as that network had yet to upgrade to an HD master feed; it otherwise aired in HD or at least in widescreen on most of its affiliates and via the TBD network later on.
Because the programs featured on KidsClick did not meet educational content guidelines defined in the Children's Television Act by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), This TV continued to air a block of live-action travel and wildlife series from Steve Rotfeld Productions immediately after the weekend broadcasts of the KidsClick lineup to fulfill the mandate (accordingly, the network's E/I block switched from a singular, three-hour block aired only on Sunday mornings to two separate 90-minute-long blocks that will air on Saturdays and Sundays).{{cite web|url=http://thistv.com/schedule/sched/2017-07-01|title=This TV Schedule - Program listings and guide|website=This TV|publisher=Tribune Broadcasting/Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer|access-date=June 19, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170619071307/http://thistv.com/schedule/sched/2017-07-01|archive-date=June 19, 2017|url-status=live}}{{cite web|title=This TV Schedule - Program listings and guide|url=http://thistv.com/schedule/sched/2017-07-02|website=This TV|publisher=Tribune Broadcasting/Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer|access-date=June 19, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170619071425/http://thistv.com/schedule/sched/2017-07-02|archive-date=June 19, 2017|url-status=live}} Sinclair-operated independent stations that aired KidsClick also continue to provide E/I-compliant programs acquired from the syndication market through individual distributors, from Fox's Xploration Station block managed by Rotfeld, or via the Litton Entertainment-distributed Go Time block to meet the quotas.
Programming
=Former programming=
==Original programming==
Some of the following programming made their debut or some previous programming that premiered on other networks aired new episodes on KidsClick.
==Acquired programming==
=Special programming=
=Scrapped programming=
| class="wikitable sortable"
|+ !Title !Planned premiere date !Original network !Source(s) |
| G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero
|rowspan=5|July 1, 2017 |Syndication |
| Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers |
| Sonic X
|4Kids TV (Fox) |
| Transformers: Prime
|Discovery Family | |
| Transformers: Robots in Disguise
|Cartoon Network |
Affiliate list
{{See also|List of TBD affiliates}}
The following is a list of stations that carried KidsClick in syndication as of its March 31, 2019, discontinuation, which included the possibility that a TBD affiliate on a station owned by Sinclair or another owner would air the programming block in the same market near or at the same time:
References
{{reflist|2}}
{{Former KidsTVBlocksUSA}}
{{SBGI}}
Category:Television programming blocks in the United States
Category:Television channels and stations established in 2017
Category:Television channels and stations disestablished in 2019
Category:2017 American television series debuts