Category: Cinema 31
In a surprise move, the Walt Disney Co. announced Wednesday it will swap
out its SoapNet basic cable channel in 2012 for a new cable network
targeting preschoolers.
The new 24-hour channel, Disney Junior, will emphasize early math,
language skills, healthy eating and lifestyle and social skills through
animated and live action programming targeted to children 3 to 7 years
of age, according to company officials.
Disney Junior will inherit SoapNet's 75 million subscribers, ending the
decade-long run of SoapNet, which offered same day repeats of such
broadcast network-based soap operas as All My Children, Days Of Our
Lives and General Hospital.
"The decision to ultimately transition SoapNet to accomplish this was
not arrived at lightly," said Anne Sweeney, co-chair, Disney Media
Networks and president, Disney/ABC Television Group in a statement.
"SoapNet was created in 2000 to give daytime viewers the ability to
watch time-shifted soaps, before multiplatform viewing and DVRs were
part of our vocabulary. But today, as technology and our businesses
evolve, it makes more sense to align this distribution with a preschool
channel that builds on the core strengths of our company."
The 24-hour Disney Junior schedule will include 200 new episodes
annually of both new series, including Jake and the Never Land Pirates,
and such current shows as Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Handy Manny, Special
Agent Oso, Imagination Movers and Jungle Junction. It will also dip into
Disney's vast array of theatricals with 101 Dalmatians, Aladdin and
Little Mermaid.
The new Disney Junior brand will provide affiliate partners with a
video-on-demand offering, a high-definition network and a
Spanish-language SAP feed.
The service will compete for the attention of the preschoolers, first-
and second-graders and their parents with Nickelodeon's Nick Junior and
PBS Kids Sprout, a joint venture between Comcast Corp., HIT
Entertainment, PBS and Sesame Workshop., and Qubo, an alliance between
Scholastic, Ion Media Networks, NBC Universal, and Corus Entertainment.
The Hub, Discovery's upcoming joint venture with Hasbro,will target a
slightly older kid audience, when it bows in October.
Disney Channel will rebrand its Playhouse Disney early morning block
Disney Junior sometime in 2011. The block will remain on Disney Channel
after the 24-hour network is launched .
The channel will be headed by Disney Channels Worldwide president
Carolina Lightcap, who said that Disney Junior will compliment the
company's other Disney-branded channels around the world.
"By adding a dedicated U.S. channel for preschoolers to our global
portfolio, we look forward to enhancing that sense of magical
storytelling and parental trust, and expanding our offerings, locally
and globally, from morning to night, to deliver more Disney-quality
content that will resonate with generations to come," Lightcap said in a
statement.
Disney ABC Television Group Daytime President Brian Frons told
Multichannel News that SoapNet will continue to offer same-day repeats
of ABC soap operas All My Children, One Life To Live and General
Hospital, as well as NBC's Days Of Our Lives and CBS' The Young and The
Restless. The network also offer off-network dramas such as Beverly
Hills 90210, Gilmore Girls and The OC.
He added the network over the next two years will look to redirect
viewers back to the broadcast network as well as online to ABC.com and
Hulu to view their favorite serials.
"The golden lining in this is that we have the time and the cable
platform to direct viewers back to ABC, ABC.com and Hulu to let them
know they can watch these shows," he said. "In SoapNet viewers found a
channel that shared their passion for the genre. Hopefully they'll
continue to find the soaps that are on the channel in a way that works
for them and that is good for the company."