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4Kids TV

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4Kids TV
"The Game Station" logo used from September 8, 2007 to December 27, 2008
NetworkFox
LaunchedSeptember 14, 2002 (September 14, 2002)
ClosedDecember 27, 2008 (December 27, 2008)
Country of originUnited States
Owner4Kids Entertainment
Formerly known asFoxBox (2002–2005)
Original language(s)English

4Kids TV (often stylized as 4K!DSTV and formerly known as FoxBox from September 14, 2002 to January 15, 2005) was an American television programming block and Internet-based video on demand children's network operated by 4Kids Entertainment. It originated as a weekly block on Saturday mornings on the Fox network, which was created out of a four-year agreement reached on January 22, 2002, between 4Kids Entertainment and Fox to lease the five-hour Saturday morning time slot occupied by the network's existing children's program block, Fox Kids. It was targeted at children aged 7–11.[1] The 4Kids TV block was part of the Fox network schedule, although it was syndicated to other broadcast television stations in certain markets where a Fox affiliate declined to air it.[2]

History

The "FoxBox" logo used from September 14, 2002 to January 15, 2005

The block aired a preview special on September 1, 2002, and was formally launched on September 14, 2002, under the name FoxBox, a joint venture between the Fox Broadcasting Company and 4Kids Entertainment,[3][4] replacing Fox Kids, which the network announced it would discontinue as a result of the 2001 purchase of Fox Family Worldwide by The Walt Disney Company (which resulted in much of the content featured on the block moving to Disney's networks and blocks).[5] The block was rebranded as 4Kids TV on January 22, 2005.[6] 4Kids Entertainment was fully responsible for the content of the block and collected all of the advertising revenue accrued from it.[2] However, Fox's standards and practices department still handled content approval and responsibility of editing the series to meet FCC broadcast standards.

The programming block aired on Saturday mornings in most areas of the United States, though some stations carried it on Sundays (often due to scheduling conflicts resulting from the block airing on stations affiliated with other minor networks that had their own older children's anime program blocks which competed with FoxBox/4Kids TV, including the Kids' WB on The WB and later The CW, and for its first year, the Disney's One Too block on UPN). On October 2, 2007, 4Kids Entertainment announced it would program a competing Saturday morning lineup for The CW, the new block, The CW4Kids (later renamed Toonzai, with the original name becoming a secondary brand), premiered on May 24, 2008, replacing the Kids' WB programming block, which had been carried over to The CW from one of its predecessors, The WB, when it launched on September 23, 2006. The block was renamed as Toonzai on August 14, 2010, and continued to air until it ended August 18, 2012, being replaced by Vortexx a week later and the block continued to air until it ended on September 27, 2014.[7][8]

On November 10, 2008, 4Kids Entertainment announced that 4Kids TV would conclude at the end of the year due to intervening conflicts between Fox and 4Kids, as the latter company had not paid the network for the time lease for some time, while the network was unable to maintain the guaranteed 90% clearance for the block due to affiliate refusals and an inability to secure secondary affiliates to carry the programming in markets where the Fox station denied clearance for the block. 4Kids TV ended on December 27, 2008.[9][failed verification] Fox announced that the four-hour time period would no longer be used for children's programming, owing that it was no longer viable due to the insurmountable competition from children's cable channels (such as Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, and Disney Channel).[10] On January 3, 2009, the network gave two hours of the programming time that the 4Kids TV block occupied back to its affiliates, while the other two hours would be retained by the network for a paid programming block titled Weekend Marketplace, which replaced 4Kids TV on January 3, 2009.[11] The 4KidsTV logo now only exists as the closing logo for 4Kids Entertainment for shows produced by the company distributed outside of the United States (particularly those made before the 2012 auction of most of 4Kids' assets to Saban Brands).

Fox would reverse course and indirectly resume airing children's programming for the first time since 4Kids TV ended through an agreement announced on December 17, 2013, when it signed a deal with Steve Rotfeld Productions to launch Xploration Station, a two-hour block of live-action educational programs focused on the STEM fields, which debuted on September 13, 2014. As the block accounts for two of the three weekly hours of educational programming required by the Federal Communications Commission's Children's Television Act, the Fox affiliates that opted against airing 4Kids TV, Fox Kids, or Weekend Marketplace (including those owned by the network that were acquired through its 1996 merger with New World Communications and those acquired through that deal that were owned by Tribune Broadcasting, now Nexstar Media Group) elected to run Xploration Station as it is an E/I-compliant lineup syndicated primarily to the network's affiliates, relieving them of taking on the full burden of purchasing educational programming aimed at children from the syndication market (although some Fox stations, including those owned by the Sinclair Broadcast Group—the vast majority of its stations had carried Fox's previous children's blocks, decided to decline the block anyway due to existing commitments to syndicated programs compliant with Children's Television Act recommendations).[12][13]

As of 2022, some former 4Kids TV shows (such as Chaotic (only in Spanish), Dinosaur King, Sonic X, and various entries in the Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise) are made available to stream on the free ad-supported Tubi streaming service, which Fox acquired on April 20, 2020.[14][15] Outside of Tubi, Sonic X is also available on Netflix as of December 2019, though only seasons 1 and 2. In addition, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is made available to stream on both the free ad-supported Pluto TV and subscription-based Paramount+ streaming services following that property's 2009 acquisition by Nickelodeon, while the English-language version of Chaotic is on Peacock.

Programming

Former programming

Original programming

Title Premiere date End date Source(s)
Ultraman Tiga September 14, 2002 March 1, 2003 [3]
Kirby: Right Back at Ya! December 27, 2008 [16]
Ultimate Muscle August 19, 2006 [3]
Fighting Foodons August 30, 2003 [3]
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles February 8, 2003 December 27, 2008 [16][3][17][18]
WMAC Masters July 5, 2003 August 30, 2003
Sonic X August 23, 2003 December 27, 2008 [16]
Funky Cops July 3, 2004 [16]
Shaman King August 30, 2003 September 3, 2005 [16][17]
Cubix: Robots for EveryoneE/I September 6, 2003 June 12, 2004 [16]
Winx ClubE/I May 22, 2004 December 27, 2008 [17][19]
F-Zero GP Legend September 4, 2004 March 5, 2005 [17]
One Piece September 18, 2004 November 12, 2005 [17]
Mew Mew Power February 19, 2005 July 22, 2006 [19]
Magical DoReMiE/I August 13, 2005 August 19, 2006 [19]
G.I. Joe: Sigma 6 August 27, 2005 December 30, 2006 [19]
Viva Piñata August 26, 2006 August 2, 2008
Yu-Gi-Oh! September 2, 2006 August 25, 2007
Yu-Gi-Oh! Capsule Monsters September 9, 2006 November 25, 2006
Chaotic October 7, 2006 December 27, 2008 [20][21][22]
Yu-Gi-Oh! GX September 1, 2007 June 14, 2008
Dinosaur King September 8, 2007 September 6, 2008
The Adrenaline ProjectE/I September 29, 2007 April 5, 2008

Acquired programming

Title Premiere date End date Source(s)
Stargate InfinityE/I September 14, 2002 March 15, 2003 [3]
The Cramp Twins[a] February 8, 2003 August 19, 2005
Pirate Islands March 8, 2003 August 2, 2003 [23]
Back to the FutureE/I March 22, 2003 August 30, 2003 [24]
Martin Mystery May 8, 2004 June 19, 2004
The Menu June 5, 2004 August 27, 2005
Alien Racers May 7, 2005 July 23, 2005
Bratz August 20, 2005 April 7, 2007 [19][25]
Di-Gata Defenders July 28, 2007 December 27, 2008
Biker Mice from Mars August 9, 2008 December 27, 2008

Short-form programming

Title Premiere date End date Source(s)
Incredible Crash Dummies September 18, 2004 2005 [17]

4KidsTV.com

Online network

4Kids launched an online video player on its website on September 8, 2007, and gradually added full-length episodes as well as additional video clips and online-exclusive content.[26]

Relationship with Fox and broadcast ambiguities

The block had a somewhat infrequent relationship to the Fox network. The programming was produced for Fox and offered to the network's owned-and-operated stations and affiliates first, so the Fox station in any given area had the right of first refusal. In the event that a Fox affiliate or in some cases, an O&O of the network—opted not to carry 4Kids TV, the block then became available for the local broadcast rights to be acquired by another television station. In fact, it was due in part to these carriage ambiguities that 4Kids dissolved the block in 2008, as they had been promised clearance on at least 90% of Fox's stations.

Most of Fox's owned-and-operated stations opted to carry 4Kids TV (these were mainly stations that had been owned by the network since Fox launched in October 1986 or were Fox charter affiliates that Fox Television Stations had acquired since that point). However dating back to the existence of the Fox Kids block, the twelve stations that Fox acquired from New World Communications in 1996[27] (and had earlier affiliated with the network through a 1994 multi-station affiliation deal[28]—which prior to then, had been affiliated with ABC, NBC, or CBS) generally did not air 4Kids TV. In some of the New World markets, 4Kids was not carried on any station. In a majority of these markets, an independent station carried the block; in others, it was carried by either a WB or UPN affiliate, and later a MyNetworkTV or CW affiliate. The only exception was in St. Louis, Missouri, where Fox O&O (now affiliate) KTVI carried the block (although it aired 4Kids TV two hours earlier than the network's recommended scheduling for the block, beginning at 5:00 a.m., due to the station's Saturday morning newscast).

Some of 4Kids TV's programming (such as Winx Club, The Adrenaline Project, Magical DoReMi, Stargate Infinity, reruns of Back to the Future: the Animated Series, and Cubix) met the criteria to be considered educational and informational under the requirements defined by the Children's Television Act, and counted toward the three-hour-per-week mandatory educational children's programming quotas outlined by the Federal Communications Commission.

Markets where 4Kids TV did not run

City of license/market Fox station Notes
Birmingham, Alabama WBRC Station never had interest in carrying Fox children's programming and alternate Fox Kids programming affiliate WTTO (channel 21) dropped it in fall 2000.
Greensboro/Winston-Salem/
High Point, North Carolina 		WGHP Station never had interest in carrying Fox children's programming and alternate Fox Kids programming affiliate WTWB (channel 21) dropped it in early 2002.
Greenwood, Mississippi WABG-DT2 Digital subchannel newly-launched in 2006 after the cable-only service Foxnet was phased out and started only carrying Fox primetime and sports programming due to a lack of syndicated programming, especially in mornings, so WABG also declined to carry weekend morning programming, including 4KidsTV.

Markets where 4Kids TV ran on a MyNetworkTV affiliate

City of license/market Fox station MyNetworkTV
station
carrying block
Chicago, Illinois WFLD WPWR-TV
Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas KDFW KDFI
Detroit, Michigan WJBK WDWB/WMYD
Miami, Florida WSVN WBFS-TV
Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota KMSP-TV WFTC
Portland, Oregon KPTV KPDX
San Antonio, Texas KABB KMYS
Tucson, Arizona KMSB-TV KTTU

Markets where 4Kids TV ran on a CW affiliate

Note: These CW affiliates ran 4Kids TV on Sundays, due to their obligation to carry their primary network's children's lineup on Saturday as scheduled.[29]

City of license/market Fox station CW station
carrying block
Atlanta, Georgia WAGA-TV WUPA
Cleveland, Ohio WJW-TV WBNX-TV
Fresno, California KMPH-TV KFRE-TV
Omaha, Nebraska KPTM KXVO
Phoenix, Arizona KSAZ-TV KASW

Markets where 4Kids TV ran on an independent station

City of license/market Fox station Independent
carrying block
Austin, Texas KTBC K13VC
Kansas City, Missouri WDAF-TV KMCI-TV
Milwaukee, Wisconsin WITI WMLW-CA
Tampa, Florida WTVT WMOR-TV

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Although acquired, 4Kids was the exclusive license and merchandising holder for the series in the United States.

References

  1. ^ "4Kids Entertainment Wins Bid To Program Fox Broadcasting Network's saturday Morning Block" (PDF). 4kidsentertainment.com. January 22, 2002. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 14, 2006. Retrieved August 25, 2016.
  2. ^ a b Flint, Joe (January 20, 2002). "Fox, 4Kids Approach Deal For Children's Programming". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved August 11, 2012.
  3. ^ a b c d e f "What's inside the Fox Box? 4Kids Entertainment Launches An All-New Kind Of Kids Broadcast Network Starting September 14, 2002" (PDF). 4kidsentertainment.com. May 14, 2002. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 14, 2006. Retrieved August 22, 2016.
  4. ^ Paula Bernstein (January 18, 2002). "4Kids buys 4 hours from Fox Kids". Variety. Retrieved August 13, 2009.
  5. ^ "Disney buys Fox Family". CNN Money. July 23, 2001. Retrieved August 11, 2012.
  6. ^ "Fox Box To Be Rebranded 4KIDS TV". Anime News Network. January 18, 2005. Retrieved August 11, 2012.
  7. ^ "CW Turns Over Saturday Morning to 4Kids". TelevisionWeek. October 2007. Archived from the original on May 2, 2008. Retrieved August 12, 2012.
  8. ^ Michael Schneider (October 2, 2007). "CW turns to 4Kids on Saturdays". Variety. Retrieved August 12, 2012.
  9. ^ "4Kids Entertainment Reports Third Quarter 2008 Results and Settlement of Fox Litigation". QuoteMedia.com. November 10, 2008. Archived from the original on February 27, 2009. Retrieved December 16, 2015.
  10. ^ "Fox Ends Saturday-Morning Cartoons". The New York Times. November 24, 2008. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved March 18, 2019.
  11. ^ Michael Schneider (November 23, 2008). "Longform Ads Replace Kid Fare on Fox". Variety. Retrieved January 11, 2009.
  12. ^ Paige Albiniak (December 17, 2013). "Fox Stations Add SRP's Two-Hour STEM Block". Broadcasting & Cable. Retrieved June 29, 2014.
  13. ^ Amanda Kondolojy (December 18, 2013). "Steve Rotfield Clears New Science and Technology Two Hour E/I Block With FOX Station Group". TV by the Numbers. Archived from the original on December 22, 2013. Retrieved June 29, 2014.
  14. ^ "Anime". Tubi. Retrieved July 22, 2023.
  15. ^ Goldsmith, Jill (April 20, 2020). "Fox Closes Purchase Of Tubi In Day Of Streaming Deals". Deadline. Retrieved July 5, 2023.
  16. ^ a b c d e f "Fox Box Uncrates '03-'04 Season Line-Up Kids Will Be Jumping Inside The Fox Box This Fall" (PDF). 4kidsentertainment.com. May 20, 2003. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 14, 2006. Retrieved August 22, 2016.
  17. ^ a b c d e f "4Kids Entertainment Announces new lineup for Fox Box Fall 2004 One Piece And F-ZERO -- Gp Legend Added To Fox Box Lineup" (PDF). September 1, 2004. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 14, 2006. Retrieved August 25, 2016.
  18. ^ "4Kids Entertainment Announces New Setting For Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Television Series Beginning Fall 2006" (PDF). 4kidsentertainment.com. February 1, 2006. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 14, 2006. Retrieved August 29, 2016.
  19. ^ a b c d e "4Kids Entertainment Announces 2005 Fall Lineup For 4Kids TV" (PDF). 4kidsentertainment.com. September 7, 2005. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 14, 2006. Retrieved August 29, 2016.
  20. ^ ""ENnter The Code" 4Kids Tv Launches New Animated SEries Chaotic" (PDF). 4kidsentertainment.com. September 30, 2006. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 22, 2006. Retrieved August 29, 2016.
  21. ^ "All New Chaotic Premiered on FOX Saturday, Sept. 13th". .4kids.tv.com. September 11, 2008. Archived from the original on February 1, 2010. Retrieved September 10, 2016.
  22. ^ "New Chaotic: M'arrillian Invasion&trade: Exclusive World Premiere". 4Kids.tv.com. September 10, 2008. Archived from the original on February 1, 2010. Retrieved September 10, 2016.
  23. ^ "Fox Box Adds Pirate Islands To Line-Up" (PDF). 4kidsentertainment.com. February 23, 2003. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 14, 2006. Retrieved August 24, 2016.
  24. ^ "4Kids Entertainment Adds Emmy Award Winning Show "Back To The Future" To Fox Box Lineup" (PDF). www.4kidsentertainment.com. March 13, 2003. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 14, 2006. Retrieved August 24, 2016.
  25. ^ "4Kids Entertainment And MGA Entertainment Announce Bratz Television Show To Be Broadcast On 4Kids TV" (PDF). 4kidsentertainment.com. July 19, 2005. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 14, 2006. Retrieved August 29, 2016.
  26. ^ "4Kids.tv Relaunches in Conjunction with Sixth Season of 4Kids TV on Fox" (Press release). Business Wire. September 11, 2007. Retrieved September 11, 2016.
  27. ^ Brian Lowry (July 18, 1996). "New World Vision : Murdoch's News Corp. to Buy Broadcast Group". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved June 22, 2012.
  28. ^ Carter, Bill (May 24, 1994). "FOX WILL SIGN UP 12 NEW STATIONS; TAKES 8 FROM CBS". The New York Times. Retrieved August 21, 2021.
  29. ^ "Program Schedule". WUPA. Archived from the original on July 1, 2007.
  • Fox
  • IMDb page for "The Fight for the Fox Box": a half-hour television special featuring multiple crossovers from various FoxBox shows.
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