The seismic shifts in the way kids watch TV has led to major changes in the partnership between Discovery Communications and Hasbro in the Hub Network.
The kidvid channel that launched in October 2010 will be rebranded Discovery Family Channel as of Oct. 13. Hasbro’s ownership stake in the channel will drop from 50% to 40% as the programming focus shifts to Hasbro-produced children’s fare in the daytime hours and family-friendly fare in primetime.
The changes were sparked in part by the fact that the sides were coming up on the expiration of their original partnership agreement. With so much of kidvid viewing moving to VOD and SVOD platforms, the partners realized that a linear channel squarely devoted to kivid has limited growth potential. That reinforces how much the rise of on-demand options has changed the game for linear TV programmers in just the four years since the Hub was born.
At the same time, Discovery’s research showed that the Hub attracts a healthy “co-viewing” audience of kids and adults watching together in primetime. With the brand overhaul, the plan is to program original series designed to appeal to multigenerational family auds in primetime. The partners see an opening for a channel that is consistently focused on drawing multigenerational viewers in primetime.
Hasbro, meanwhile, gains more flexibility to sell new and existing shows to digital outlets such as Netflix and Amazon. Kidvid is a huge component of overall viewing for the SVOD heavyweights, even though it doesn’t get nearly as much attention in pop culture as original series aimed at adults.
Discovery bought out the additional 10% stake in the channel from Hasbro. That allows Discovery to consolidate the outlet’s revenue and earnings with those of its 12 other majority-owned channels in the U.S.
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