Future of Discovery Family?

[zeebre12]

What do you think the future of Discovery Family will be? It's ratings are not great and it doesn't really compete with the main kids channels and now has Universal Kids to contend with also. Other than the few Hasbro series it doesn't get much attention and it seems Discovery/Hasbro have bailed on it lately. It doesn't seem to be a priority for either. If Hasbro bails what happens? Could it be shut down/sold?

 

[PinkieLopBun]

Hasbro actually recently put Littlest Pet Shop: A World of Our Own on Discovery Family and Rescue Bots Academy is coming later this year, so I don’t think they’re done with it yet.

 

[Takao]

It'll continue to exist as a leach surviving off of cable bundles until it is no longer profitable to do so.

 

[superkeegan9100]

Hasbro actually recently put Littlest Pet Shop: A World of Our Own on Discovery Family and Resue Bots Academy is coming later this year, so I don’t think they’re done with it yet.

There will be a day where Hasbro's contract for Discovery Family will expire, and Discovery has little-to-no kids shows on their own. Discovery Family is basically dead weight anyway besides those shows. TBH, I wouldn't be surprised if all of Hasbro's current slate of kids' programming moved to Netflix, as that Stretch Armstrong show is currently streaming there. (on a side-note, you misspelled "rescue.")

 

[LinusFan303]

Hasbro still owns 40% now if they sell that stake then yeah that might be the end of Hasbro support on the channel and those shows would most likely leave until that they'll continue as they see fit. . Otherwise, it's kind of a deadweight channel now. They have added repeats of Food Network,HGTV etc shows (since Discovery owns that now) and air random movies , otherwise unless Discovery ends it or decided to try something else it's probably going to be whatever it is now.

 

[zeebre12]

How does that work with Stretch Armstrong? Do Hasbro now have a deal with Netflix or did they always have one? I thought Hasbro would have a contract with Discovery that their shows air on Discovery Family. Is it a recent deal? Could it air on Discovery Family after a certain amount of time?

 

[PinkieLopBun]

How does that work with Stretch Armstrong? Do Hasbro now have a deal with Netflix or did they always have one? I thought Hasbro would have a contract with Discovery that their shows air on Discovery Family. Is it a recent deal? Could it air on Discovery Family after a certain amount of time?

I don't think they have a contract saying that their shows have to air on Discovery Family since Transformers: Robots in Disguise aired on Cartoon Network (after initially being announced for The Hub).

 

[superkeegan9100]

I don't think they have a contract saying that their shows have to air on Discovery Family since Transformers: Robots in Disguise aired on Cartoon Network (after initially being announced for The Hub).

It was like that when the network was The Hub, but after the change to Discovery Family, Hasbro decided to step out of their comfort zone and pitch shows for other networks (like RID, which you mentioned).

 

[LinusFan303]

How does that work with Stretch Armstrong? Do Hasbro now have a deal with Netflix or did they always have one? I thought Hasbro would have a contract with Discovery that their shows air on Discovery Family. Is it a recent deal? Could it air on Discovery Family after a certain amount of time?

Hasbro never was exclusive to the network , they own part of it so they put their shows on there but they can put them anywhere they feel they want and whomever is accepting of the content.

 

[superkeegan9100]

In other words, they put shows on Discovery Family if they feel like it.

 

[retropartyfilm]

Hasbro still owns 40% now if they sell that stake then yeah that might be the end of Hasbro support on the channel and those shows would most likely leave until that they'll continue as they see fit. . Otherwise, it's kind of a deadweight channel now. They have added repeats of Food Network,HGTV etc shows (since Discovery owns that now) and air random movies , otherwise unless Discovery ends it or decided to try something else it's probably going to be whatever it is now.

If Sony would want to acquire Discovery Family, Maybe Sony launch a new kids channel, first time in the United States, since Pop Channel in the UK is owned by Sony Pictures.

 

[superkeegan9100]

If Sony would want to acquire Discovery Family, Maybe Sony launch a new kids channel, first time in the United States, since Pop Channel in the UK is owned by Sony Pictures.

You're not the first person to bring that up. @RegularCapital suggested the very same idea, but they'll have to rename it to something else as there's already a Pop in the US.

 

[LinusFan303]

Maybe KIX, since there's no Kix in the US that I know of.

 

[superkeegan9100]

Maybe KIX, since there's no Kix in the US that I know of.

Kix was renamed to Pop Max back in September of last year.

 

[LinusFan303]

Kix was renamed to Pop Max back in September of last year.

Guess they snuck that past me. Wonder how Pop (US) Would feel about a channel being called Pop Max.

 

[retropartyfilm]

Maybe Pop would come to the United States, replacing Discovery Family on most providers.

 

[Nexonius]

Well, since the relationship between Dream Works Animation and Netflix has degraded because of Hulu, Hasbro could be a big provider on the kids front if Discovery Family were to go away.

 

[zeebre12]

If Sony would want to acquire Discovery Family, Maybe Sony launch a new kids channel, first time in the United States, since Pop Channel in the UK is owned by Sony Pictures.

If Sony were to enter the US market they might go OTA rather than pay TV like in the US/Italy. There is surely a market for an OTA kids channel in the US? It's a big market even for OTA. Italy/UK have several FTA kids channels and Sony operate 3 in the UK and have recently launched Pop in Italy. It a wonder Sony never tried launching a kids channel in the US?

 

[Takao]

If Sony were to enter the US market they might go OTA rather than pay TV like in the US/Italy. There is surely a market for an OTA kids channel in the US? It's a big market even for OTA. Italy/UK have several FTA kids channels and Sony operate 3 in the UK and have recently launched Pop in Italy. It a wonder Sony never tried launching a kids channel in the US?

I'm not sure Sony could legally launch an OTA channel in the US due to foreign ownership laws. Even excluding those, we'd probably need movement on kidvid commercial regulations to get interest in doing a more commercial kids OTA sub-channel.

 

[zeebre12]

I'm not sure Sony could legally launch an OTA channel in the US due to foreign ownership laws. Even excluding those, we'd probably need movement on kidvid commercial regulations to get interest in doing a more commercial kids OTA sub-channel.

Don't Sony already operate Get TV as a subchannel in the US? What do the kidvid commercial regulations mean?