The kids brand has been around since 2006 in the United States as a block and standalone channel and most people there (including other markets) never heard of it.
Most of its shows are forgettable except Veggie Tales and most who knew the brand probably grew up watching something from there at some point.
In May 2006, Ion Media alongside NBCUniversal, Corus Entertainment and Scholastic and Classic Media (now DreamWorks Classics with the old branding being used sometimes) announced that they were launching a new educational brand for kids called Qubo.
The brand would have a programming block on NBC, Telemundo and Ion Television as well as on demand service and seperate TV network.
As stated by Rick Rodriguez (former president of Qubo), the brand would be a bilingual offering content in English and Spanish. The reason they call it Qubo is based on the fact you can use it in both those languages without any changes.
In September 2006, NBC launched the kids block which replaced the Discovery Kids block (owned by Discovery, discontinued it to focus on the kids channel). At launch the lineup consisted of shows such as Jane And The Dragon, 321 Penguins, Veggie Tales and Larryboy.
Now the issue here was all the religious stuff was censored out because they violated the rules of NBC's standards and practices department. Many people including the creator of Veggie Tales hated this so the brand pulled those shows off Qubo in 2009.
Ion Media requested must carry policy from the FC to further expand the brand. A year later, they signed carriage agreements with Advanced Cable Communications and Blue Ridge Communications.
After Comcast acquired NBCUniversal in 2012, NBC and Telemundo announced that they would be discontinuing the Qubo block. NBC replaced theirs with NBC Kids and Telemundo replaced theirs with Mi Telemundo.
This left Ion Television as the only network as the only channel with the Qubo block.
In October 2013, Ion Media Networks acquired Corus Entertainment, Scholastic and by the time Classic Media's shares of Qubo of course these 3 brands obtained programming redistribution from Qubo.
On January 2015, the block on Ion Television was renamed Qubo Kids Corner because it was moved from Friday mornings to Saturday mornings.
Here's why it hasn't been successful even after having huge brands behind them:
1. Many of Qubo's programming isn't all that great. Most of their shows are throwaway and forgettable pieces of nothing. The ones that aren't existed way before Qubo like Veggie Tales and Babar The Elephant.
2. It doesn't exist everywhere. Qubo is affiliated with 67 stations across 36 states and Washington, DC. Many major areas like Baltimore, Merlin and San Diego California are not in Qubo territory.
Add the fact it has no app and you got an epic fail.
Just as Medora Entertainment speculated the channel would be shutting down:
On January 14, 2021, Scripps announced that it will discontinue Ion Plus, Qubo and Shop Ion effective February 28. The spectrum allocated to the networks on the former Ion Media stations will be repurposed to carry the Katz-owned networks starting March 1. with the initial slate of Ion Television O&Os adding those networks following the expiration of Scripps/Katz's existing contracts with other broadcasting companies the day prior, and other stations following suit as contracts with existing affiliates expire throughout 2021 and 2022; in markets where major network affiliates operated by Scripps already carry a Katz-owned network, some will be offloaded to the Ion stations to free up limited spectrum capacity during the ATSC 3.0 transition..
There are rumours that Qubo with be replaced with Ion Kids regardless I don't any kids channel will gain much recognition in the United States since viewers are opting towards streaming.
Read Also:
- The history of PBS Kids
- Could Cartoon Network shut down in the near future?
