CBS...to consider airing Nick shows on 2022/2023?

[aegisrawks]

Following the announcement of the second merger between Viacom and CBS Corporation, current CBS Corporation CEO Joseph Ianniello was receptive to the possibility of the return of Nickelodeon children's programming to CBS.[24] As CBS is currently under contract with Litton Entertainment to carry the CBS Dream Team E/I programming block until the end of the 2022-23 television season, any Nickelodeon programming that CBS would decide to add would not be required to meet E/I requirements; advertising restrictions would still be enforced for any programming targeted at children under 13.[23]

 

[PF9]

The two most popular Nicktoons, SpongeBob and The Loud House, actually have enough episodes (or will soon) to be syndicated to local TV stations by CBS Television Distribution. Among the charter station groups that could carry such reruns could be CW and independent stations owned by CBS Television Stations. In Detroit (effectively the market where TLH is set), the shows would air on WKBD-TV.

This idea sounds good too.

 

[Tacomaster]

Probably not. The reason they switched to Litton in the first place was because of a loophole that said educational shows on free TV must be for kids 2-16, but the advertising limits are only on shows for kids 2-12. TLDR: More money.

 

[LinusFan303]

Networks are looking for a way to get rid of this whole E/I stuff anyway ,it's more in their way than beneficial to them. I do see Nick specials airing for like Christmas on CBS primetime but going back to having a Nick on CBS Saturday morning block probably won't happen.

 

[TheCartoonRailfan]

I remember seeing Rugrats, The Wild Thornberries, Hey Arnold!, and Chalkzone on Nick on CBS. However, if Nick on CBS were to make a come back, I highly doubt they will air any of the NickToons. The block will probably only focus on Nick Jr. shows to comply with the E/I regulations.

 

[RandomMe]

I reckon that some time back the FCC obliged to repel the "mandatory E/I" laws for every terrestrial television network (though there might have been some exceptions, including minority stations), so I guess it's a step in the right direction.

SpongeBob only aired on CBS on special occasions the same way ABC aired Phineas and Ferb, but never aired the conventional episodes. SpongeBob did have limited conventional terrestrial exposure in Spanish when Tr3s had a handful of affiliates.

 

[Takao]

I thought this was nonsense, but the Wikipedia article you quoted actually cited an interview from CBS' president from August:

Disney and NBCUniversal have been very aggressive in using all of their platforms to boost a new TV show or film. Is there going to be a lot of promotion across the divisions of ViacomCBS?

We’re going to absolutely do that. Bob is the CEO and he’ll look to make sure that makes sense for the total company. We can talk to the cable networks audience with All Access and with Showtime and vice versa. Having Nickelodeon kids programming blocks on CBS on weekends is another idea. We can think about promoting the Grammys on MTV and promoting the VMAs on the Grammys.

Q&A: He was tied to the old regime at CBS. Can Joe Ianniello pave its future under Viacom?

Once the heir apparent to disgraced CBS chief Leslie Moonves, Joe Ianniello will now steer the legendary media company through its second merger with Viacom but he faces a host of challenges.

www.latimes.com

I'm not sure there's anything more recent than that. The thing is, Joe Ianniello left Viacom last month ...

 

[Tacomaster]

I thought this was nonsense, but the Wikipedia article you quoted actually cited an interview from CBS' president from August:

Q&A: He was tied to the old regime at CBS. Can Joe Ianniello pave its future under Viacom?

Once the heir apparent to disgraced CBS chief Leslie Moonves, Joe Ianniello will now steer the legendary media company through its second merger with Viacom but he faces a host of challenges.

www.latimes.com

I'm not sure there's anything more recent than that. The thing is, Joe Ianniello left Viacom last month ...

In that case, maybe it's possible. The wording did make it sound like it was Bob's idea, not Joe's. Then again, there is the advertising loophole I mentioned earlier that gave rise to Litton...

 

[aegisrawks]

Oh joy, I should have researched this better. Sorry everyone.

 

[PF9]

I still would love CTD to distribute SpongeBob and TLH reruns to local stations. They by far are Nick's most popular shows at the moment. I would really love off-network syndication of children's cartoons with 100+ episodes to be a thing again. Other shows in the genre I could see being successful in local reruns are My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic and Pokemon (the latter not syndicated to stations regardless of affiliation, but rather airing on Weigel's H&I and MeTV subchannel networks).

 

[RandomMe]

That would be a great idea, as far as syndication is concerned, as well as the growing number of cord-cutters in the United States.

 

[aegisrawks]

I REALLY hope this was Bob Bakish idea and that it will come to pass. Because its really unfair for kids to have even Sesame Street behind a Paywall.

 

[AdrenalineRush1996]

It's a good concept but I don't know if it would lead to a revival to the once-dominating Saturday morning/weekday afternoon 6-11 oriented block method that brought us Fox Kids, Kids' WB, ABC Kids, Nick on CBS and so on once Litton's contracts on the other three networks (NBC, ABC and The CW, Fox's Xploration Station is not under Litton) expire, given that it has pretty much been defunct for the past seven years or so to make way for those, not to mention that cable channels like Cartoon Network, Disney Channel, Nickelodeon and Disney XD already occupy the position on showing cartoons to said target audience that used to be such for those aforementioned blocks prior to the shift to education-oriented blocks during the last decade.

 

[aegisrawks]

Who's to say the cable channels will survive to 2023. Cord cutters and general growing hate for paying cable could do them in.

 

[Sunnydee]

I would love for this to happen and I think it would help CBS in the long term, but I'm not sure how they could make it work.

Right now they have CBS Dream Team from Litton for 3 hours to fulfill the E/I quota. If the E/I rule stays, they can't really get rid of the Litton stuff.

Saturday Mornings on CBS right now have 3 hours of Litton and 2 hours of CBS This Morning. I'm not sure where they could put the Nick shows (there's not a whole lot of room on Sundays either). Unless they waited til the Litton contract expired and brought in E/I Nick Jr. shows or made the package optional for stations to air somewhere, maybe?

 

[Tacomaster]

I would love for this to happen and I think it would help CBS in the long term, but I'm not sure how they could make it work.

Right now they have CBS Dream Team from Litton for 3 hours to fulfill the E/I quota. If the E/I rule stays, they can't really get rid of the Litton stuff.

Saturday Mornings on CBS right now have 3 hours of Litton and 2 hours of CBS This Morning. I'm not sure where they could put the Nick shows (there's not a whole lot of room on Sundays either). Unless they waited til the Litton contract expired and brought in E/I Nick Jr. shows or made the package optional for stations to air somewhere, maybe?

They did do Nick Jr. on CBS in the past, as well as a full on Nick on CBS. And if we go the ABC Kids route(cherry picking episodes of shows that have good morals in the specific episodes), even SpongeBob and The Loud House could make it on the block. I’ve also heard that nobody in the supposed target age range of kids or teens really watches Litton blocks either, and Litton is just using teens to exploit a loophole.

 

[CNC]

They did do Nick Jr. on CBS in the past, as well as a full-on Nick on CBS. And if we go the ABC Kids route(cherry-picking episodes of shows that have good morals in the specific episodes), even SpongeBob and The Loud House could make it on the block. I’ve also heard that nobody in the supposed target age range of kids or teens really watches Litton blocks either, and Litton is just using teens to exploit a loophole.

Wait a minute.....Litton using teens to "exploit a loophole?" I'm out of the loop, what does that mean?
I know for the fact that Litton is pretty much owned by the Hearst Corporation, which also pretty much owns the A&E Network.

 

[Tacomaster]

Wait a minute.....Litton using teens to "exploit a loophole?" I'm out of the loop, what does that mean?
I know for the fact that Litton is pretty much owned by the Hearst Corporation, which also pretty much owns the A&E Network.

Advertisements during shows must be limited during shows for kids 2-@2, but E/I content is allowed for kids 2-16. So, Litton can use shows supposedly aimed at teens(13-16) to fulfill the E/I quota without limiting precious ads, and even allowing companies to sponsor shows. This practice has been widely criticized, and since teens watch a lot of “grown up” shows, the shows are basically not targeted to teens at all, save for the legalities.

 

[Takao]

Wait a minute.....Litton using teens to "exploit a loophole?" I'm out of the loop, what does that mean?

Preteen Saturday Morning Kids Shows Abandoned By Broadcast Networks

An exemption in the Children's Television Act has allowed networks to increase ad time while abandoning programming for kids under 13.

deadline.com

By claiming their programming targets "teens" Litton is able to run twice as many commercials than they would if they said they were aimed at kids. This also allows them to do in-show advertising that would be prohibited if intended for kids.

Of course, Litton's stuff isn't really aimed at teens either. They only say it is to qualify as E/I programming.

 

[mimitchi33]

SpongeBob only aired on CBS on special occasions the same way ABC aired Phineas and Ferb, but never aired the conventional episodes. SpongeBob did have limited conventional terrestrial exposure in Spanish when Tr3s had a handful of affiliates.

Is there any proof of the "SpongeBob on CBS" thing besides 2012's "It's A SpongeBob Christmas?". I've heard people say "Christmas Who?" aired around the time Nick on CBS was a thing, but there's no evidence supporting this like when Rugrats aired Christmas specials pre-Nick on CBS run (I watched that Rugrats airing). I even tried searching old newspapers, and no results.