The History of Sprout & The Failure of Universal Kids (Part 1)
On September 6, 1999, the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) rebranded its block of children’s programming as PBS Kids. Alongside the block, a 24-hour PBS Kids channel was launched, offered as a digital subchannel to member stations, and carried on subscription providers through a funding agreement with DirecTV.
The PBS Kids Channel was made in response to the launch of Noggin (a collaboration between Nickelodeon and Sesame Workshop), which held the pay-TV rights to Sesame’s program library at the time. This resulted in Dragon Tales being the only SW-made show to air on the former network.
While the PBS Kids block flourished, its companion channel was largely unsuccessful. When DirecTV declined to renew its funding agreement with PBS, the latter company chose to shut the service down in Q3 2005. During this time, PBS entered a four-way venture with Comcast, Sesame, and HiT Entertainment in October 2004 to launch a new channel for preschoolers.
The forthcoming network was named PBS Kids Sprout in April 2005, and debuted as a video-on-demand service in the same month. Sprout’s linear channel (and website) wouldn’t launch until September 26, 2005, replacing the PBS Kids Channel on cable providers.
Unlike most preschool-oriented services, Sprout’s programming (including series from PBS, HiT, and Sesame Workshop) was scheduled in blocks according to the time of day. Mornings were about getting ready for the day ahead, before transitioning to learning activities in the afternoon, and finally winding down and bedtime prep during the evening.
On-air hosts were also utilized. Kevin Yamada hosted The Birthday Show, a showcase for birthday greetings and family-submitted cards. Meanwhile, Melanie Martinez (not the singer) hosted Sprout’s evening block The Good Night Show, leading viewers in calm activities such as yoga, sign language, and crafts.
Less than a year into Sprout’s launch, substantial changes were already being made. Melanie was fired in 2006 over her role in two controversial PSA spoofs, resulting in Noel MacNeal (known for his roles in Bear in the Big Blue House and Oobi) stepping in as an interim host.
Eventually, The Good Night Show would find a permanent host in Michele Lepe, who played the role of Nina. In addition, other characters introduced before and after Melanie’s exit included Star (a star-shaped puppet), Hush (a real-life goldfish), and Lucy (a firefly puppet).
On Sprout’s second birthday (September 26, 2007), The Birthday Show was revamped as a 3-hour live program called The Sunny Side Up Show, featuring a multitude of hosts over the course of its run and starring Chica, a chicken puppet who would quickly become Sprout’s (semi-)official mascot. It was also around this time that Sprout began investing in long-form original series, such as Noodle and Doodle, Jim Henson’s Pajanimals, and The Chica Show.
From 2011 to 2013, a number of acquisitions led to Sprout becoming a network of NBCUniversal. The transition was first initiated when Comcast acquired majority ownership of the former in January 2011, moving their share of Sprout over to that company.
HiT Entertainment was sold to Mattel in October of that year, leaving its original parent company Apax Partners to assume ownership in its place. Sesame would sell its stake in Sprout to NBCUniversal in December 2012, while Apax and PBS’s stakes were acquired at different points during 2013. Upon completion of the acquisition, the PBS Kids branding was removed from Sprout’s name.
Under NBCUniversal, Sprout took over weekend morning blocks for NBC (NBC Kids) and Telemundo (MiTelemundo), while also continuing to acquire and produce more contemporary preschool series such as Astroblast! and Ruff-Ruff, Tweet and Dave.
These changes culminated on Sprout’s 10th birthday (September 26, 2015), when the channel underwent a major brand refresh and purged nearly all of its archival series. Only two PBS shows, The Berenstain Bears and Caillou, remained on the lineup. The rebrand also affected Sprout’s programming blocks. While The Good Night Show stayed relatively the same, The Sunny Side Up Show revamped its barnyard set into a city apartment, now known simply as Sunny Side Up.
In Sprout’s final year on the air, The Good Night Show was discontinued in March, while a new pre-taped morning block called Sprout House (later Snug’s House) replaced Sunny Side Up in August. After the channel relaunched as Universal Kids, Sprout continued in the form of a branded 3 a.m. to 6 p.m. block, before being phased out in January 2018.
